"Pets understand humans better than humans do"
- Ruchi Prabhu
Both my husband, Andrew, and I have grown up with cats and dogs and really enjoy caring for them as if they are our own pets. Andrew has his own photography business (weddings, pets and family portraits), however enjoys helping me out with any pet sitting, home boarding or pet visits and dog daycare etc., plus of course photographing the pets we look after if the owners want some special images.
The cats on the left were our three (Bod, Poppy & Biscuit - we only named Bod as the other two were rescues) and they were adorable. They have sadly passed away now but they all died at a good age of 18 and 16. We rescued one from the Blue Cross that was 18 (a large tabby called Azlan - like the Lion in the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe). He was very grumpy for the first few months, as he had never lived with other cats and it was a new place for him to settle in having sadly lost his previous owner, but we persevered with kindness and love and he then followed us around the whole time. He passed away at the grand old age of 23!
Andrew and I have a current DBS (Disclosure Barring Service) check certificate and have looked after many pets in the past. We have rescued several cats from the Blue Cross charity and I worked there on a voluntary basis. I have a Canine First Aid Certificate and have recently passed my IMDT (Institute of Modern Dog Trainers) Ofqual Level 3 home boarding and home day care certificate.
The qualification goes through all the safety measures and requirements for the dog boarding licence, to make sure your dogs are looked after in the best possible way and the correct environment, plus there were also various scenarios with different types of dogs in a home boarding environment which I had to answer questions about and reference everything correctly. It was quite involved but I was very pleased to pass with an overall score of 86%. I don't often blow my own trumpet but it helps to reassure those that want to book me to care for their very important member of the family!! Andrew has worked hard to make our home and garden safe and there are lots of intersting areas and levels with some steps leading to varous terraces. If you click HERE to watch a video of our garden.
We have started up just before lockdown on a formal business basis, rather than doing favours for lots of friends and family, which is bad timing but we are raring to go and have a collection of clients already. We have pet sat a couple of Roumanian rescue dogs in their own home and they were adorable. We have also pet sat and did home visits for a couple of young cats to give them attention and food. We have home boarded some lovely dogs too. We love our job!!
Fast Facts
I am Jackie and my husband, Andrew (a photographer and fellow animal lover) works with me.
I was born in Luton (I wish I could say somewhere more exotic sounding) but spent most of my childhood in Ruislip. Andrew is a Suffolk boy from Ipswich.
We currently have no pets to make it easier to look after dogs that prefer individual attention in our home (and we are not allowed to own cats when dog boarding).
We like going on the occasional holiday abroad, when we aren't looking after your pets, and are exploring more of England, Ireland and Scotland gradually at the moment.
Andrew and I met at dancing (Ceroc) and have been married for 16 years. We still dance and love it.
Andrew really enjoys capturing the animals we care for on camera. Nearly all of the images on this web site were taken by Andrrew.
