New year, new signs!

I thought that this blog was something that I was going to update each month, but it is incredible how when you working in the business each day, that the days go so quickly and you just never get around to writing about it. So today I’m doing it! So many times when I was a Business Manager in the corporate world I heard people talking about “work on your business, not in it”. But somehow here you get great pleasure from working in it. I love being with the dogs each day, watching them play and learning more and more about their personalities, and each day is different. So while I try each week to work on the business, invariably you are working in it so much! And no time to blog!

Our biggest challenge in this business (apart from “wasting” time playing and cuddling dogs!) is cashflow and having the spare funds to do anything on the business. We have wanted to update the building signage since we took over last May, but somehow all the funds get sucked out to goodness knows where (I’m looking at you IRD!!). So we finally bit the bullet this month and went for it, and the immediate impact has been amazing, we are so proud of how our old building has scrubbed up so well! The feedback from our two legged clients has been amazing and each day when I drive down Porana Road I get so much pleasure at looking at them. Now just to pay for them! :-)

Each week we are seeing more and more new dogs come in and we are really enjoying meeting the owners and learning about their dogs and each of their personalities. We seem to have trends in the industry, we went through a Schnauzer phase a few months back, and we seem to be in a Labrador phase right now. We have had no less than 5 new black Labradors start in the last few weeks, so telling them apart keeps everyone on their toes. Luckily they vary in sizes and looks and each one is gorgeous in their own right. To mix it up a new chocolate Labrador has also joined the pack and is keeping all the staff entertained.

Speaking of staff, we are so proud of our new team here. Stacey and Kyla really hit the ground running and with having Stacey’s background in dog behaviour we can now offer much more enrichment for the dogs and heaps more play time. We can really see the benefits of this for the dogs, and they seem to head home that little more tired each day.

We are only six weeks away from ticking over into Year 2 of the business. It is nice now that we have our “own” staff and new signage that it now feels like it really is our baby. We are really looking forward to watching him/her grow now.

Philippa Shaw

Alpha Dog, March 2019

A month in, still sane!

The first month at Jolly Dogs has passed in a blur.  New faces (both of the Canine and Human variety!), new systems, new processes and most importantly all dogs have been returned to the right owners!

Toni kindly hung around for a week and introduced us to lots of our customers, but remembering which dog our owners were here to collect seemed to be my biggest challenge!  The memory just isn’t what it used to be!  But thankfully all our owners are lovely (Has anyone noticed that?  Dog owners seem to be the nicest people in the world!) and have been patient with us having to keep asking who they are coming to collect.  Now a month on and I have all the regulars tucked away in the memory bank, it is now just getting to know the once a month dogs!

We were blessed that our lovely morning crew Olivia and Ali stayed on and have been instrumental in getting us settled into the business (and patient as I ask dumb IT questions!).  They know all the dogs, are passionate about keeping them safe and happy and have been quick to tell Rodney and I off if our cleaning isn’t up to scratch! They also helped integrate our new afternoon staff, who are all now settled in well and were a lot quicker to remember the dogs names than yours truly!

We have now got a groomer, Lisa, join us who has 18years experience in grooming with K9 Kutz in Albany and she has hit the ground running. We have also teamed up with Fiona from K9 FUNdamentals to offer puppy training at the weekends while we are closed (look out for that event on our Facebook page!).  So it is nice to be opening up the offerings to our existing and new pack members. 

Our Pack Member of the Month competition was launched and we reached nearly 12,000 people on Facebook and over 500 votes have been made.  The top three are neck and neck and I am looking forward to seeing who the winner is tomorrow. They will be the star of our Facebook page for the next month, as well as winning a photography session with Wow Photography (the wonderful Ilan who provided the Labrador puppy canvas at reception).

So while the hours have been long, the pay not so great (or non-existent so far!) both Rodney and I are loving this new career and there are no regrets.  It’s a dog’s life, but if this is a dog’s life, I am in.

Philippa Shaw - Alpha Dog.

Welcome to Jolly Dogs: Same business, new faces

Jolly Dogs has been the brainchild of Toni Powell and her father Kim who our Jolly Dogs family know and love.  Toni has now made the brave decision to move onto new adventures in her life, so after close to five years we wave a paw goodbye and now it is Rodney and I who pick up the leash to take Jolly Dogs onto it’s next adventure.

Why a Dog Day Care business? And what gives us the right to do this?

For me personally, it has been a long time coming. When I was a banker I would day dream of setting up a dog day care business; I have always loved dogs and could see that there was a real need for a safe and fun environment for working professionals to drop their dogs off during the day to keep them busy and happy. When Bayley came into my life 13 years ago, there was no such place, and the guilt I had as a “solo working mum” meant early mornings & late nights walking Bayley and keeping him exercised and stimulated.  As well as this there was also the odd time sneaking out of work, and relying on friends to pick him up during the day for more adventures.  My philosophy was always a tired dog is a good dog and I was always looking for ways to exercise him, hard when I was working a 50 hour week!  So in the quieter times at work I would dream of setting up a day care facility, but somehow work and life just got in the way. Lack of money and being on my own was also a large factor!

Over the years I had dabbled with the dream, I looked at doing a Grooming Course, looked at a Grooming Franchise, talked to other Day Care owners but somehow the right opportunity was never there. So the banking career continued.

Fast forward five years and disillusioned with my job took me to into the internet where on Trade Me I googled “Dogs” under “Businesses for Sale” to see what was there, and up popped North Shore Day Care facility.  I felt sick to the stomach moment. Was this fate?  Was it teasing me?  Did I have the courage to do this?  I asked for the information and sat on it for two days before doing anything about it.  I grew up on the North Shore and most of my working career and all of my family are shore-side, so this was perfect for me!

In the interim, whilst emailing my friend Rodney I mentioned it to him; knowing he had a passion for dogs.  Rodney lived in Fielding though, so a North Shore day care was hardly on the agenda for him.  Little did I know that he was dead keen. It was only his prompting and persuading me to go and have a look at it that got me over the line and gave me the courage to go and meet Toni.  We chatted to her and right away we could feel her passion and see what a great, clean, positive and happy facility she ran.  Our excitement took over and before we knew it, we were organising a business plan, discussing how we could run it, and putting an offer on paper!  This was accepted and the rest is history.

Why do we think we can do this?  Two reasons. One is our respective passions for dogs. They come first in our lives and we both love dogs and enjoy all our dealings with them. Secondly, is our complementary skills. Rodney has a background in canine behaviour, has bred Labrador dogs and worked with large packs of dogs on farms. He has also studied Canine Behaviour and Nutrition.  However for him to do this on his own would be hard, as he doesn’t have a business background. That is where I come in. Whilst this is my first business venture, I have spent 12 years in banking working closely with small businesses advising them on everything from cashflow, to financing and strategy. I have also worked for KPMG as a consultant and for Barfoot in Property Management. So while this is new to me, I know I have the skills to run the business; while Rodney keeps the dogs safe, happy and entertained. He will also be providing training both individual and groups.

So we welcome you to come on this Jolly Dogs journey with us. We will laugh, cry and I am sure make some mistakes along the way, but one thing is sure, we both have the passion, drive and commitment to take the wonderful business that Toni has started and drive it into the next hemisphere.  We thank you for your continued custom and interest in Jolly Dogs and welcome you to come in and meet us anytime.

Philippa Shaw - Alpha Dog