How I became a Pet Sitter

I have had numerous jobs since the age of 17, such as a checkout operator, nurse, barmaid, secretary and paralegal as well as gaining qualifications in beauty therapy, complementary therapies, teaching and a degree in law! However, I had never really felt any of these were my true calling and had been unhappy in the majority of my previous jobs.

When I was made redundant from one of my jobs, I just could not get another permanent job. After spending hours writing out hundreds of application forms and getting the odd interview but then repeatedly being rejected, I finally decided that enough was enough and that if no-one else was going to employ me, then I would start up on my own and be my own boss!

The obvious choice was pet sitting as I loved animals and had owned both dogs and cats since I was a small child and I was also working voluntarily at the Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter as a dog walker and cat socialiser at that time which I really enjoyed. I can remember lying in bed that night and asking God to please show me a sign if the pet sitting business idea was a good one and that I would be successful.

The very next day, I was walking my friend’s dog in Whitley Bay and I saw the most magnificent double rainbow. I had seen a few rainbows before but never a double one. I wouldn’t have even spotted it if I hadn’t seen another dog walker staring and pointing his camera phone at it. I had been feeling really grumpy as a few minutes ago it had been teaming with rain and I was totally drenched and freezing cold but this turned to elation and I can remember exclaiming “Oh wow!!! That’s amazing! How beautiful! I wonder if that could be my ‘sign’?”

I can remember returning home and googling ‘double rainbows’. One of the answers was:-

“A double rainbow is considered a symbol of transformation and is a sign of good fortune in eastern cultures. The first arc represents the material world, and the second arc signifies the spiritual realm.”

Seeing a double rainbow is considered a very auspicious occasion!

So there you go – that’s how my pet sitting business came about. From that moment, I was totally committed to making it work.

It took a while to get going though, to be honest. I can remember posting about 3000 leaflets that my friend, Michaela had very kindly designed for me, free of charge, through people’s letter boxes and I was gutted not to receive one single phone call. NOT ONE! I was just on the verge of giving up when a lovely lady called Irene rang me and asked if I could visit her two cats every day for a week at Easter as she was going away on holiday. I can remember thinking ‘Oh dear, when she finds out I’ve never done this before, she probably isn’t going to want me to do it and will get someone else. However, luckily for me, she decided to give me a chance and I will always be grateful to her for that and a couple of weeks later I got my first dog and then another and I’ve never looked back!