With winter over, it’s time to do some spring cleaning after your dog. For years, DeVo K-9 Klean-up has covered the area.
Terry and Barb Dvorak, the owners of DeVo K-9 Klean-up, sold their business after 20 years to Grand Island. Ownership will officially transfer to Jeremy and Cori Ross on April 1.
The DeVo K-9 Klean-up is a dog waste disposal company, which collects dog feces from customers’ yards and disposes of it.
At the time, Terry Dvorak was working at New Holland, but knew he would need a part-time job when he retired. According to Dvorak, he came up with the idea of disposing of dog waste from similar businesses in Omaha.
“At that time, there were no others (in the Grand Island area),” said Terry Dvorak. “We were the only ones who started doing it.”
When the DeVo K-9 Klean-up started in 2002, The Dvoraks had only one customer.
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“I remember exactly who our first was,” Barb Dvorak said.
Originally, Terry Dvorak was to do pickups after quitting his full-time job. However, once they got more clientele, it became harder for one person to do it all.
For eight years, Barb Dvorak did the pick-ups, while Terry helped out when there was too much for one person. Once Terry Dvorak retired, he picked up regularly while Barb took care of the accounting.
“Almost all of our kids, some of our grandkids, a few different friends helped us out at different times,” Barb Dvorak said. “We always had someone to help us along the way.”
To publicize DeVo K-9 Klean-up, the Dvoraks had fliers, an article in the Grand Island Independent, and set up a booth at the Central Nebraska Home and Builders Show in Fonner Park. The Dvoraks also discovered more potential clients with the help of the Central Nebraska Humane Society.
“The Humane Society let me go and I was able to go through all their (records) and copy the names and addresses of people who had dog licenses in town,” Bard Dvorak said. “So if they had a dog, we sent them a letter.”
According to Terry Dvorak, Barb has been pushing for them to sell the business and retire for two or three years. Originally, Terry Dvorak had no hesitation in continuing to make pickups.
However, as the Dvoraks got older, there were other things they wanted to do. For example, attending their grandchildren’s ball games or going on vacation.
Additionally, the Dvoraks now live in Wolbach in County Greeley. Since most of their customers are on Grand Island, Terry Dvorak should drive at least 40 minutes to complete pickups.
“Decided, yes, now would be a good time to try to sell,” said Terry Dvorak.
Meanwhile, their daughter, Misty Dvorak, had discussed DeVo K-9 Klean-up with her hairstylist, Cori Ross. The business had intrigued Ross, who was considering taking a part-time job on his days off.
“Once we made the decision,” Barb Dvorak said, “Misty spoke to her, and then Cory contacted us.”
According to Cori Ross, when she spoke to her husband, Jeremy, about buying the business, he was hesitant. After meeting the Dvoraks, Jeremy Ross decided he saw himself doing it.
“He finally wants to quit his full-time job,” Cori Ross said. “And do this full time.”
The Rosses practiced in November and began making pick-ups in the winter. According to Terry Dvorak, it’s hard to clean up in the winter because the snow can make trash hard to find, set you back, and create a mess once everything has melted.
“We think if they survived this winter, which was a tough winter,” Barb Dvorak said. “They’ll be great, they can do anything.”
Over the years, the Dvoraks have bonded with their customers, with some customers using the DeVo K-9 Klean-up from the start. The Dvoraks had to find out about their customers and their dogs.
Since the Rosses made the pickups, Jeremy has already learned quite a bit about their customers. Jeremy Ross knows which houses to go to without looking at a map and has memorized the habits of dogs during pickups.
“You know which dogs are going to be eliminated,” Ross said. “Which ones are not going to come out.”
The Rosses plan to further market the business under their leadership. Even with more dog waste disposal businesses in the area, Cori Ross thinks there’s a good opportunity to win over more customers who might not know about them.
“It’s a huge market,” Cori Ross said. “And there are just people who don’t even really know it.”
With DeVo K-9 Klean-up changing hands in early April, the Dvoraks are confident they’ve left the company in good hands.
“When they take over, they can do whatever they want,” said Barb Dvorak. “But we have every confidence in the world that they will do a great job.”
