Get to know me

Nothing is more important to me than your dogs happiness

My story starts just over a decade ago, and it goes something like this... 

A life long dog lover, but unable to have a dog of my own, I sought canine companionship by volunteering to walk dogs for those who had become unable to do themselves.  In time, this lead me to do some part time dog walking for a friend, and it wasn't long before I realised that I was happier whilst out with the dogs than I was anywhere else, and that in fact following this path was where my heart lay.  A change of career was on the cards!  I began working as a full-time Dog Walker, setting up Paws at the Park in 2016 and have been lucky enough to be doing it ever since.

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But this wasn't the final destination of my love affair with all things canine; I was fascinated by the dogs and the relationships they enjoy with each other, and wanted to devote more time to them, so I decided that rescue was going to be an important part of my future.  I began by fostering a number of foreign rescues- all of them street dogs in their previous life- helping them to adapt to a very different lifestyle here in the UK.  This brought me great joy and inspired me to move forward in my study, completing a full diploma on canine behaviour with the ISCP, graduating with distinction.   These experiences gave me the confidence and skills to take on my biggest challenge and biggest love affair to date- Molly, my very own mischievous rescue dog from a life on the streets in Bosnia.

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I feel incredibly privileged to be able to do my job, and earn the trust of the dogs I walk and their humans. Each of them take up space in my heart and receive as much love and attention as my own in the time I get to spend with them.  It's what every dog deserves! 

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I  believe in positive, non aversive methods and I think that giving my energy to the dogs that have come to me, whether through work or in other ways, has been one of the most pleasurable experiences of my life.    Creating joyful scenarios for the dogs to engage in is what this job is all about and underpinning that is the ability to recognise just what a joyful scenario looks like for each individual dog.  They are all so different after all.

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I am first aid trained and insured and DBS checked.  I pride myself on the high-standard of care and services that I offer. I have a number of clients who have become more like family, and customers who consider me to be an integral member of their dogs family too. But there is always room to extend this happy woofy family and I love meeting new people and dogs whenever the opportunity arises. I am that person who ends up sitting on the floor of the garden centre getting to know a dog and forgetting what I came in for.  And so it should be, I hope that never changes.