Muirfield Village Voice Interviews The Pet Nannies

The Muirfield Village Voice interviewed Amy Suggars, owner of The Pet Nannies, a professional pet sitting service, and a new sponsor of our community newsletter. Amy's business began in early 2006 when she decided to leave her role as a research scientist in "corporate America" to focus on her love of animals. She has always owned pets and has been involved with animals in some way for as long as she can remember. Her interest and involvement in dog sports and dog breed clubs gradually led into training and the study of animal behavior. She started doing pet sitting as a hobby for friends, which expanded into sitting for coworkers and gradually grew from there.

After conducting research on the pet sitting market she learned that a large majority of households have pets but the number of pet sitters available is quite low. The demands today's society places on pet owners through long work hours requires owners to be away from home a large part of the day; therefore, the need for good pet care is quite high. Amy learned that just fifteen minutes of exercise a day actually extends a pet's life. A pet's preference for familiarity, routine and a friendly face versus a kennel environment led Amy and her business partner decided to turn their 15 years of pet care and training experience into a full time pet sitting business.

Amy, a resident of Central Ohio for the past 16 years, covers a large territory providing services to residents in Delaware County, Powell, Lewis Center and Dublin. She describes her typical day as being somewhat regular but enjoys a variety of activities too. She begins her day at 8AM with visits to pets whose owners are traveling. From 11AM-3PM she performs her daily dog walks with her regular clients. Dinner visits occur for the out-of-town customers in the late afternoon and "last call" visits are conducted from 9-11PM. With no more than eight to ten hours between visits, Amy manages a complex schedule. With a territory so large, she takes care to schedule each day so that she spends less time driving and more quality time with her pet clients.

Amy has been very pleased with the success of her business. Her prior involvement in the business world has allowed her to apply customer service, project management, communication and organizational skills to her day-to-day activities. With over 200 clients in her database and an 80% repeat customer rate, Amy attributes her success to her love of animals. When asked what she likes best about her job she replied that she enjoys the bond that is formed with the pets as well as their owners. She likes seeing the little faces waiting at the window as she visits each home. Amy finds reducing the stress in people's lives by taking care of their pets a very fulfilling part of her job.