As many of you already know, this week Paula will be celebrating the start of her retirement and I am privileged that she has entrusted me to take over the reins of what is an amazing business and a team of fantastic, caring and dedicated colleagues.

A little about me…

For the last 20 years, I have worked within human resources and I am a Fellow member of the Institute for Personal Development.  Most recently my role involved working away from home, preventing me from providing a good home for a dog – I grew up with dogs and always wanted to have a dog in my life.  So after 1000’s of nights in hotels and working 16-18 hours a day,  it was time to make the change that would allow me to work closer to home and provide a loving home to a dog.  This new journey began in April this year and soon afterwards, I was introduced to Paula.

Why Doggy Days…

Before making my decision to buy the business, Paula and I spent considerable time together allowing me to immerse myself in the culture and values that Doggy Days was founded on and that exist today. This allowed me to feel and understand the individual experience the team provide to each and every dog that comes into Doggy Days. My industry research showed me that sadly this is not the norm, with most crèches more focused on generating high volume of paws on the floor (often with untrained and inexperienced staff) and not providing the level of care and attention that our precious dogs deserve.  The Doggy Days salon ethos is also one of kindness, patience and providing a positive experience for the dogs visiting just as you’d expect, and once again sadly, this is not always the case elsewhere.

Simply put, my values and beliefs were a match with those at Doggy Days and I wanted to be part of Doggy Days future.

The future…

As reported across all media channels the fallout of Covid 19 has been significant and is likely to continue over the coming months if not years and Doggy Days has not been immune to this. Over the past 4 months, in consultation with Paula and the team, we have created a clear plan to secure the long term future of Doggy Days. This year I’ll be investing in improving the physical environment for both your dogs and my team, as well as utilising the space to provide more products and services for you.

By the end of September you’ll see our new Salon and before December our new look crèche as well as the launch of our new ‘Doggy Days Boutique’ and coffee to go. We will provide regular updates about our progress  and all work will be conducted out of hours so you can be sure that the care your dogs receive at Doggy Days will not be impacted in any way.

Finally thank you for your continued trust in our team. Our mantra, It’s All About The Dog’ and Paula’s legacy will always be at the heart of who we are and what we do.

Thanks

Chris