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Jason Lensch

By Jen Director Knudsen

Each month, iParenting.com spotlights a father who inspires and moves us, who embodies the qualities that we all admire in a person, a man and a father. Above all, the Dad of the Month is dedicated to his children. Rich or poor, famous or not, he shines as an example of what fathering is all about.

Jason Lensch had a seminal year in 1997. In February of that year, he experienced "the birth of two things," he says. "My first son and my first journey into a business venture." His wife, Jennifer Robinson, gave birth to Benjamin, and Jason embarked (pun intended) on Sadie's Dog Time, a dog daycare and kenneling business.

Now, eight years later, neither his first son nor his business is in its infancy. He is successfully bringing up both, along with a second son, Zachary, now 4. Lensch, 35, says the nature of his job allows him to spend a ton of time with his children, arguably more than many fathers. It's a perk he relishes and always did, even when his two new ventures were in their baby – and highly dependent – stage.

Lensch says he was "totally in awe of having that little being totally dependent on [me]," and he loved caring for Ben's every need during the day while Jennifer worked at a women's clothing boutique during his first year. But of course, the pull of his dual responsibilities had its challenges. "It was quite a balance, but very rewarding because here I was working, and I got to spend time with my son," he says. Ben is now a second grader at a local public elementary school.

Lensch and his wife are both from Ashland, a small arts-oriented college town in Southern Oregon, just north of the California border. The two began dating their junior year in high school and stayed together when she went off to study at the University of California Santa Cruz and he pursued a sociology degree and soccer career at a small college outside Portland, five hours north of Ashland.

Eventually, the distance became too big a burden and they both transferred to Oregon State University in Corvallis. Shortly after graduating, Lensch landed on the Portland Pride, a now-defunct professional indoor soccer team for which he spent two years playing midfield and forward. In 1996, a back injury ended his athletic career. "The soccer thing was not a real lucrative job," he says. "It was purely a dream I had as a little kid."

But playing the sport was not his only desire. Dogs had always commanded his interest and love. "Dogs had always been something I'd always been very passionate about," says Lensch, the eldest of three brothers and the one charged with caring for his family's first pet, Coco, a male cocker spaniel he got while still in elementary school. "I always had an interest in working with dogs."

As a young adult, he began training and looking after dogs. Doing so sparked the idea to "build something from the ground up" and start his own dog-care business, a venture that would allow him to spend time with and learn more about his canine companions. "They're just always in good moods," he says of man's best friend. "They bring a smile to my face, every time I'm with them."

After being sidelined by his back injury, Lensch began visiting Portland-area pet stores, veterinarians, grooming shops and kennels to research how he could better serve dogs and their owners, all in one place. When his business began, he had up to two clients; today, he juggles up to 15 dogs' needs at a time.

Sadie's Dog Time – named in honor of the first dog, a golden retriever, that he and Jennifer owned together – offers daycare playgroups; overnight kenneling in the couple's own home; picking up and dropping off; and "endless belly rubs," according to the business' brochure.

One client's testimony sums up just how successful Lensch's business has become: "If I was reincarnated, I'd want to come back as Jason's dog."

Lensch is the first to say his march toward becoming a successful businessman was one shared with his kids. As an infant and once Jennifer returned to work, Ben enjoyed the daily dog walks from the perch of his dad's baby backpack. He also enjoyed feedings of pumped breast milk via a bottle and diaper changes either in the family's well-traveled car or in the dog owners' homes after the dog had been dropped off, Lensch says.

As Ben grew and developed fine-motor skills so he could feed himself snacks, Lensch's juggling act got a little easier. But it was never simple keeping every ball in the air. (Yet he still finds time to read, but even a couple of his favorite books – Running the Amazon (Vintage, 1990) by Joe Kane and It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life (Berkley Publishing, 2001) by Lance Armstrong – are chockfull of action.)

"I'd have to pack for two things," Lensch says: the dogs and his child. Never did he leave the house without one bag stuffed with leashes, poop bags, directions and owners' house keys, and another crammed with a change of baby clothes, extra diapers, food and the backpack for carrying Ben.

About two years into the business, Ben played "fetch" with his dad's charges – sometimes up to eight dogs who'd romp at nearby off-leash dog parks – and spent up to seven hours a day interacting with and observing his dad as Lensch carried out all his responsibilities.

Fortunately, Jennifer could work relatively flexible hours to allow for Ben's naptime or caring for him at home, should he get sick. But, needless to say, schedules didn't always jibe – Ben sometimes was forced to either nap in the car or skip one entirely. "Sometimes the nap schedule didn't work out, and he'd be cranky, tired, asleep in the car before we got home," Lensch says.

"I got very good at entertaining my son in the car" with music, games, frequent stops, Lensch says, calculating he used to drive roughly 60 miles a day – or 15,000 miles a year – before limiting his clientele to areas closer to his own home.

Today, Lensch has a little bit more time to spend solely with his boys (and their 6-year-old male golden retriever, Jesse). With Zach in preschool three mornings a week and Ben in school fulltime, he can more easily schedule his work responsibilities around his boys' needs.

For example, Zach, a pre-kindergarten student at a nearby preschool, needs a smooth transition into his school day, just as his older brother did. So when Lensch drops off Zach at Congregation Neveh Shalom's Foundation School, he always does one activity with his son before heading off to work. Sometimes the pair builds a Lego tower together or they play cars. "Oftentimes, three to four other kids will come over and join in, and we get a whole game going," he says. "And that just really makes Zach feel better, and it makes that time so much easier to say goodbye."

Jon Skolnik, 49, who had Ben as a preschool student and now Zach, says Lensch's commitment to staying a moment longer at drop off is a boon not only to his own son but to Zach's classmates. "He's never in a hurry," Skolnik, a preschool teacher for 10 years, says of Lensch. "He just always has time. And that's just at such a premium these days. Some adults are just magnets for kids, and he just has that style that they're attracted to."

Lensch recognizes he's a much more "present" father than many others. And mothers tell him they wish their own husbands were as involved with their children as he is with Ben and Zach. Yet, ironically, Lensch says one of the pitfalls of his job is his limited time to interact with other men. "Spending all that time with my kids isn't terribly conducive to being with other fathers," he says, and Jennifer acknowledges she now has this advantage where her husband does not.

Jennifer spent four years at home when her boys were little and now is a merchandiser, clothes buyer and assistant to the manager at Paloma Clothing. She loves her 33-hour-a-week "social job," but also was glad to have been home all those years, sharing an "equal part" of the childrearing and household responsibilities – including preparing four dinners and other meals each week, she says.

Jennifer believes this is one reason their very athletic and active sons are so well rounded and self-confident. "They definitely got a good combination of parents to keep up with them," she says. The boys are active outside of school in soccer, baseball, basketball and gymnastics. Lensch takes his sons to many of those activities and plays some of the sports with them.

With all the running around Lensch does – for his family and business – perhaps he never really gave up his soccer career, after all.