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History

We Are the Oldest Registered Kennel in Michigan
June 2006 - 6o Years for Both Boarding and Grooming

Selve Jene Green can’t say for sure, just because she can’t find anyone to confirm it, but according to the Michigan Kennel Society, her Green Hill Kennels is the oldest operating kennel in the state at 60 years old.

The business is located at 2359 E. Hill Road in Grand Blanc Township. It initially was named El-Tee Kennel after its founders, Thomas and Lillian Burleigh, who started the business at the end of World War II. The Burleighs ran it until their retirement in 1973.

Jene Green, had decided to go into grooming when she found her toy poodle was a bit too much for the groomers in her neighborhood to handle. "They told me not to bring her back.  So, I took grooming classes and opened Gigi’s Boutique from my house,” said Green.

Then in the early 1970s, she happened to drive past El-Tee Kennels and see a for-sale sign in the yard. One year later, she and her then-husband were the owners. They renamed it Green Hill Kennels, and Jene put her love of animals to work, full time. The family lives on the property and tends animals round the clock.

  
Third-Generation Care Givers

Today, a third generation of Greens are working alongside Jene in the boarding, grooming and caring of cats and dogs. Green’s children grew up working in the kennel, and now Sandra's daughter is taking her turn at the family business.

Her daughter Sandra and her husband Rick Horn are a big part of the family business – Sandra fills in for Jene often and is her biggest support. Sandra also now runs the cleaning business Jene started in 1989. Her son Keith and his wife Kathy have the business, as has her son Brian and his wife Elaine who now operate Green Valley Kennel in Gaylord. All her grandchildren, each one an animal lover, have cleaned cages, walked and fed animals and in general helped keep the business going.

“I don’t know what I would have done without my family. It has been wonderful having them around, and I think it helped keep them out of trouble when they were younger,” said Green.

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Green Hill Kennels