Best of Western Washington Interview

This is Nominee Spotlights, a series in which the Best of Western Washington chats with local business owners to get the inside scoop on everything good.

Like so many pet owners, Arnie and Grace Martinez felt badly and worried about leaving their two dogs and cat home alone all day while they put in long hours commuting and being at the office. Eventually, they decided the long hours away from home were not going to jive with a house filled with kids and dogs. That conversation sparked the idea to open their own pet sitting business: 2 Dogs and a Cat. What started as a part-time business in 2001 is now a full time job. We caught up with Grace to get the a glimpse into the pet sitting world.

How did you get your start in the pet sitting business? I have always loved dogs and cats. As mentioned before, we were in the need for a pet sitter. We couldn't find one that would meet our needs. We knew that we had good business sense and that our love for pets and the quality of care would be a great start.

Describe your role at the business We are a co-owner operation. I handle all the A/R, A/P, marketing, advertising, scheduling, communication with clients, and some pet sitting. My husband Arnie, does most of the visits.

How would you describe your clientele? Some clients have become dear friends and we are thankful for meeting them and their furry friends. We appreciate all of our clients and know that without them we couldn't be living our dream.



2 Dogs & a Cat, on Facebook

What about you - do you have any pets yourself? Of course! When we initially started we had two dogs & a cat. About two years ago, both of our original dogs passed. We were heartbroken. Luckily, our kids taught us the value of moving on and we opened our hearts to our newest dog Bentley. Our 14 year old cat, Katie is still with us. But unfortunately, due to her old age, she doesn't like change and refuses to like Bentley!

How do new customers find you? Referrals, word of mouth, social media, and church advertisement.

Do you offer any special services to specific types of animals? We tend to cater to pets that don't do well in boarding situations, aggressive, shy, elderly, and in need of medication.

Is there a time of year that is busier than others? End-of-the-year holidays tend to be the busiest for us. We are extremely booked during that time-frame.

What is your favorite animal that you have ever sat for? There are a few dogs that I look forward to visiting whenever there is a need because we have been visiting them for so long. They are a part of our extended furry family.

What's the best part of owning your own business? Even though we have been in business for almost 12 years, we are still learning. We are always trying to better serve our clients and their furry family by addressing issues as they come up and offering new services. We truly appreciate that we are self-employed, able to provide for our family, and doing something we truly love.

Please don't leave your dog in the car...

Animals can suffer brain damage or death from heatstroke in just 15 minutes.

Happy Birthday To Us!

We are celebrating our 11 years in the pet sitting business.  Time flies when you are having fun!  Looking back at the relationships we have made with our furry friends and their human counterparts makes it all worthwhile. 

It's funny that when we tell people what we do, they either never heard of such a thing or can't believe we get paid to do what we do.  To us that means that at-large the pet sitting industry is not growing as it should be.  We constantly get confused with boarding facilities.  It does surprise us that people simply do not know what pet sitting is.  This year we will be making it our goal to become more active within our community and at a larger-scale if possible to bring pet sitting to the light.  This time next year, we hope to find less confusion about what we do as for a living!

Finally, pet sitting is a rewarding career and we are thankful for the opportunities to do what we love.

Reflections

I remember the days when I would take my eldest daughter with me to visit Harry and Gus.  She was barely learning how to walk.  And they had to adjust their hyperness to such a small person.  The years have passed by and my daughter is now 7 and can now walk Gus on her own. 

My youngest daughter went on a walk with us and there was an instant flashback of my eldest.  My youngest is almost a year and is learning how to walk.  Gus towers over her.  Since he met my eldest daughter, his family has grown.  He has learned to deal with babies, since his owners had two of their own.  Harry is no longer with us, but Gus seems to be handling it well.

I don't want to fast forward to the day my youngest is walking the dogs instead of being towered by them.

We are very fortunate to be able to take our daughters with us to "work".  Yet on sunny days when our job is to take a dog out on a walk, it hardly seems like "work".

Take Your Dog To Work Day

First celebrated in 1999, Take Your Dog To Work Day was created to celebrate the great companions dogs make and to encourage their adoption from humane societies, animal shelters and breed rescue clubs. This annual event asks pet lovers to celebrate the humane-canine bond and promote pet adoption by encouraging their employers to support TYDTWDay by opening their workplace to employees’ four-legged friends on this one special day.

On Friday June 25, 2010, businesses, animal shelters and pet-care professionals from around the world will work together to better the lives of shelter dogs everywhere. Thousands of businesses will GO FURRY to promote pet adoption by opening their doors to employees’ furry, four-legged friends on this day in celebration of the great companions dogs make.

We encourage everyone to participate in this fantastic event!  If you cannot take your dog to work, help spread the word by encouraging others to adopt a pet.

We adopted one of our dogs from a shelter.  It felt so good to know that we had saved a dog.  In the end (after 12 wonderful years), we now know he saved us.  He was the missing piece of our family.

Returning to Work

We have returned to work after a much needed vacation.  For the first time in my life I felt like I want to go back to the vacation!  Usually, it feels normal to go back to work and the normal routines of life.  But this time, I had such a good time that I finally get why people love vacations so much.  The trick was not to cram so many activities into one trip.  I am glad to get back to work so that we can start saving for our next vacation!

Vacation and Pet Sitting

We are finally going on a much needed vacation!  The last time we traveled was in 2007!  Now we will be traveling with two kids (one 7 year old, one 9 month old).  Looking forward to just landing and settling in - let the fun begin!

It's hard to take vacation when your business relies on "vacationers".  We never want to turn away business.  It is hard to say no.  But we rarely take time off and feel that we deserve a break.  We definitely don't want to burn out.  I hope we will come back refreshed and ready for the busy summer.

I will keep this short today, lots of stuff to do before we leave...

Launching New Blog About Pets, Pet Sitting, Pet Care, and More!

As experienced pet sitters we'd like to offer our input, advice, suggestions, thoughts, comments, etc. about pets, pet sitting, and pet care in general. 

This blog will be used as a tool for discussions and feedback.  We encourage you to leave comments.  We'll reply to all questions within a week, and errors in the posts will be acknowledged in the comment area.  Feel free to disagree with our points if there is need for disagreement, but keep in mind that all off-topic comments, disparaging comments, comments with more than one link, and comments that include profanity will be deleted.