The Doggie School Bus is available for $30 per day and will pick up and drop off children within a five-mile radius. Montoya has leased the use of around five acres of fenced rural land from a friend, where his canine customers may run and play until about 2 p.m. when they board the bus back to the city.
On a typical day, he cares for around 20 dogs, yet with a calm pack, he may care for up to 30 dogs. All types and sizes of dogs with a good disposition are welcome.
“I’ve never had a problem with a pit bull in my life. A German shepherd or a Rottweiler have never been a problem for me,” he remarked. Let me tell you about a Chihuahua incident that I’ve had to deal with.”
His initial pick-ups are at 7 a.m. on weekdays. While driving through West Hills Montessori School one recent Friday, he honked his horn, and the instructors and children tending a garden waved back. When he went by construction workers on his path, they all smiled and nodded. The pace of joggers has slowed.
The Doggie School Bus brings a smile to the faces of those who see it.
Montoya’s dogs are ecstatic to be able to attend “school,” and several of the bolts from their houses and onto the bus as soon as it arrives. In order to transport the dogs, Montoya adapted a 1998 Ford Econoline van, which included bespoke wood paneling in the back holding space.
In order to resemble a school bus, he painted the outside of the van yellow and added black stripes and text to the sides and roof.
Up until about halfway through the morning trip, everything was going swimmingly. Then, suddenly, an offensive stench permeated the vehicle.
At the next stop, Montoya stepped out of the car with a roll of paper towels and a bottle of disinfectant cleaning spray.
This is a regular danger for his area of work, so he is not concerned.
Monteya, 36, was born in Mexico and migrated to Canby with his family when he was 15 years old.
“My father wanted me to be a baker since my family is in the baking business,” he said. Then I apologized to my father, explaining that I adore dogs.
He spent many years working at the Dog Club of West Linn, a dog daycare facility. When the company went out of business, he kept working with a small number of customers, providing boarding and dog-sitting services out of his home.
Finally, three years ago, he discovered that his wife was expecting a child.
“We were overjoyed,” he said, but he quickly recognized that he needed to expand his company in order to provide for his family.
The marketing brilliance behind Montoya’s gold Scion xB was evident when he ordered decals and painted black stripes down the sides of the vehicle, which he used to carry the dogs for which he boarded. A major West Linn road was just at the end of his driveway, so he parked it there.
“Doggie School Bus” is written on the decals.
“Within two weeks, I had 16 clients,” Montoya said. “It was completely out of control.”
He has now upgraded to the bigger van that he currently drives. He has more than 300 clients to his credit. Every day, he comes across a new dog group to play with.
It was two years ago when a customer recorded a video of her overjoyed dog leaping out of the house and onto the waiting school bus for Montoya. The video became viral, and Montoya was able to build his Facebook profile to more than 28,000 followers as a result of it.
Doggie School Bus is poised for growth — Montoya already has a second van that he’s in the midst of painting yellow — but he’s having trouble recruiting a new employee to join the team.
“I’ve tried three other persons,” he said, “and the dogs don’t react the same way they do with me.”
When the dogs arrived at “school,” they sprang out of the vehicle and immediately began running, fetching, sniffing, and, on occasion, mounting one another. He instructs them to stop, and they do so for a while, but he keeps re-directing their attention back to him.
“Every day, all day,” he said emphatically.
Montoya, on the other hand, is passionate about his profession. He knows the names of all the dogs and can recognize the majority of them by their bark, even when they are not there.
According to him, “I’m the happiest guy on the planet doing what I’m doing.”
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