Too cold to walk your pooch? How about an indoor dog park?

On a frigid day earlier this year, Alana Petursson was struck by an idea asshe was dragging her dog around the block on an involuntary walk.

Gus, an 11-month-old boxer, hates cold weather.Petursson hates ittoo.

She thought to herself, 'Wouldn't it be great if there was an indoor space where Gus could get some exercise?'

"I live in a one-bedroom apartment and I got a dog and he needed somewhere to run around," Petursson said.

"I went online and looked up indoor dog parks and they didn't exist."

The seed had been planted.

Petursson quit her job, took all of her savings and earlier this month opened an indoor dog park in New Westminster.

She called it Gus' Indoor Dog Park and Daycare because, as she's not ashamed to admit, Gus kind of runs the place.

Indoor dogpark

Petursson found an old warehouse to rent, gutted it and transformed it into a pooch's paradise.

"It was an old, nasty warehouse and it took about six weeks of construction," she said.

"It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears."

There is Astroturf on the ground that Peturssonrollsup when she needs to hose down the floor underneath.

There are squeaky toys, tunnels and ramps for the dogs and a couple of big-screen televisions so that owners can watch sports while their pets play.

"I'm basically married to this place now," Petursson laughed.

"I'm here about 100 hours a week but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love it here."

Business has been slow so far,but Petursson hopes the latest snowstorm will help bring in some new customers.

"We're trying to get our name out to let people know that there is an alternative if they also have dogs that don't like being out in the snow," she said.

No one would be happier than Gus, a notorious socialite, if the space was packed with dogs.

"Gus loves it here," Petursson said.

"He has the dog's life. He gets to come here, play all day and go home and just be passed out."