Seventeen years ago this month, I had a ‘lightbulb’ moment. Well, my wife Diane did.

“Dog walking! Why not start a dog-walking business?”

Good call!

I’d been made redundant twice in two years – once from my Bank Manager position and then by the supposed ‘friend’ into whose business I’d invested my redundancy money.

I was over-qualified for any Banking jobs that were on offer at the time, and without any other experience, it was hard for a forty-eight year old bloke to find work. For ten months I was unemployed, filling my time with reading and informally studying ethology – animal behaviour and communication.

Diane had read about dog-walking businesses in New York being en vogue, and we were aware of a smattering dotted around Scotland. It certainly hadn’t yet caught on in the UK as it had in USA.

So, with the opportunity of combining my love of animals, the outdoors and keeping fit, dog-walking it was. In fact, why stop at dogs? Why not look after any household pets when owners were at work / on holiday / unwell?

The following weeks were filled with excitement as I made preparation for setting up a professional image: accounting / invoicing system; stationery; branded clothing; van, with logo; advertising etc.

I was the first such business in the area and with the idea proving a popular one, it didn’t take too long for my diary to be filled.

Over the next few months, my diary filled with bookings to look after dogs; cats; rabbits; hamsters; gekkos; bearded dragon; parakeets; chinchilla; tropical fish; parrots; tortoises; rats …

I’m so lucky in living on the edge of the countryside. There are a great many lovely areas to take the dogs: open fields, country lanes, hills, loch-sides, woodland –  and I’ll be out there the best part of six hours each day.

Even the generally rubbish Scottish weather is not off-putting. The scenery can be awesome and the area’s wildlife presents daily delights such as buzzards and other birds, deer, foxes, rabbits, hares, squirrels, cattle and sheep.

And when the weather behaves, well I think my ‘office’ would beat most.

Do I enjoy my job? What do you think?

🙂 🙂

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