Work history

My first job was at the age of 14 as a kennel maid for a busy boarding kennels. I worked summers there for two years until I left school in 1986 and unfortunately had to get a full time job.

Since leaving school I have had numerous career changes, from office worker to taxi driver, then working for the BBC in London. Eventually though, I couldn't resist the temptation to come back to working with my first love, dogs. In 2006 I volunteered as a 'foster mum' for homeless dogs, and since then I have fostered ten (some can be seen on my previous customers page). I have also transported many more (as well as other animals), saving at least two from 'death row' by collecting them from a council dog pound and taking them to a foster home. On one occasion I brought a cat 250 miles from Devon back to Essex so that it could find a home.

Although I am mainly a dog walker, I am also a part-time Instructor's Assistant at Dog Training for Essex & Suffolk Ltd in Ardleigh, Nr Colchester (a company I highly recommend).

Experience

I have always lived with dogs – my parents both bred dogs in the past, and my mother was a Yorkshire Terrier breeder during my teenage years. I took on my first dog, Buster, in 1993 when I moved into my own home. Sadly he died in 2007, after suffering a number of debilitating conditions over his final years. Now I live with my ex-racing Greyhound, Beauty, and my first 'foster' dog Fred, a terrier mix. He tugged my heart strings and I couldn't let him go!

I have over three years experience of working with a variety of dog breeds, big and small, young and old and from feisty terriers to laidback sighthounds. Each foster dog left my home more able to cope with life with a human family, with more manners than it arrived with and some basic training.

Working with and training so many foster dogs as well as my own has given me an insight into what makes dogs tick, and this enables me to look after them effectively, as well as help the owners with any training they may be working on.

I owned and bred gerbils as a teenager and into my 20s. Other pets from the past include:

• Cobwebs and Broomsticks, rabbits
• Stanley and Pteppic, rats
• George and Elwood Blues, budgies
• Hamsters
• Tropical fish

I have also lived with, although not owned myself, piranhas, snakes, spiders, axolotls and reptiles. With three brothers, all pet lovers, we've had a real mixture!

My experiences as a taxi-driver and with the BBC have given me a lot of 'Customer Service' experience, and the ability to communicate effectively with owners as well as their beloved pets.

Some of my certificates

Click on an image to see a larger version.

Jacob

My son is 14 years old, has never lived in a home without dogs or other animals and has his own tropical fish tank. He will pick up poo, clean out hutches and cages, feed animals and otherwise help take very good care of our family pets. He is not part of the business and will not be involved in the care of any pets, but if he meets your dog or other pet he knows how to treat them and when to leave them alone. He will never be left in charge of your pet.