Pet Services

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Screen carefully. You ALWAYS have to do an in-person meeting with me first. This is imperative. You want to know about me, you want me to know about your dog, we need to talk scheduling, frequency of need, any and all issues you can think of. I won't take a client on until this has been done. It stands me, you, your dog, and my business all in good stead.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. Don't take it personally. Owners can often overreact to how you take care of their dog, they are, after all, four-legged children. In that respect, I believe that the biggest "inside secret" to share, is that you need to have a dog(s) of your own. If you don't, you're going to end up feeling detached from your clients, which will not bode well for the survival of your business.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. The only major thing I can think of, is that if we're talking about boarding your dog, I can ONLY accept small dogs! Unfortunately, I have a very limited size space. Also, it can only be 1-2 dogs at a time. As long as they are small dogs, I can board them. Any dog larger than 20lbs. unfortunately, is going to be too big. However, for walking and playgroup options, I can do that for dogs of any and all sizes.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. There are alot of pet service businesses out there -- dog walking, sitting, classes, grooming, etc...I think what distinguishes me from other services, is I like to give a lot of individualized attention to both my canine clients, as well as their owners. Primarily because, if you run a large commercial place, you can't. Too many dogs at one time means a lack of even interaction between you as the acting custodial parent, and the dog's needs are not met or ignored. I like to schedule things so that each client feels they get enough attention. That is something I've found severely lacking in many dog-related businesses I've found out there.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. Flexibility, and the freedom to run my business as I see fit. What I like most though, is being able to get the chance to interact with a wide variety of dogs and their owners. Thus giving me a wider scope of experience in the things I can learn working with different personalities, creatively problem solve conflicts and learn new skills with each interaction.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. Well, obviously, what are my rates, and where am I located. Also: a common question that keeps coming up is whether or not I cover all neighborhoods of San Francisco. The answer is YES!!!

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. Hmmmm.......well, ok. The other day I was working with a 14-year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and she was extremely old and slow. You have to be patient. In this business, on a single day, you can go from an incontinent ancient dog, to a puppy whose still teething. Just keep your sense of humor. Even if you think the animal has too many "special needs", think again. We ALL have some kind of "special need." Just keep some perspective -- even when they lift up their leg and piss down yours (and I've had that happen more than once), don't take it personally. Laugh.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I've worked as an animal shelter volunteer, I've been around animals my entire life, and I especially have a passion for dogs. They are my favorite animal overall. I'm very passionate about it. The timing was right, the need was there, and so I began.

Q. What are your most common types of jobs?

A. It varies, it can range from walking, to day boarding, to weekend boarding. I haven't actually expanded into grooming yet, but, I hope to in the near future. Also, I hope to begin a doggy playgroup on Saturdays starting in August for people who live around the Dolores Park area of San Francisco. Stay tuned for further details.

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. Taking care of that 14 year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. She really had a lot of special needs, and every single one of them got met. In a larger scale commercial facility, she may have been overlooked, but not on my watch. I'm proud of that.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. Reading a lot about various breeds, doing research for this type of business isn't too difficult. However, there's an extremely complex licensing process through the State of CA if you want to operate your doggy business through a commercial facility.

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. Who has a four-legged child they need looked after? ALL of you who have four-legged children! Get in touch with me and tell me what you need!