Local Business Profile – Above & Beyond Petcare
The following is a new feature of the Barrhaven Blog called Local Business Profiles. These posts allow businesses who offer services to the Barrhaven community to introduce themselves and explain their product. Our first guest blogger is Beth Sheffield from Above & Beyond Petcare.
My name is Beth Sheffield and I am here to offer pet lovers an alternative to large group walks and group care. I have witnessed more than my share of sub-par animal care in our city and this is one of the reasons I started Above & Beyond Petcare – a small locally owned and operated business that offers quality over quantity. Our mission is simple – we treat your pets like we would our own.
Finding pet care is easy. Nowadays it seems that everyone is some sort of dog walker or pet whisperer. There is no shortage of people ready and willing to take on the care of your pet – but beware of impersonators and those whose motives are simply to make money rather than provide their clients with safe, quality pet-care for your beloved pet. It doesn’t matter if you are Caesar Milan or a new pet owner, being aware of your surroundings and not taking on more pets than you can handle is key in being a safe and reliable pet care service provider.
On any given day, you can find up to 8-12 pets being herded through one of the cities few off-leash dog parks by someone who calls themselves a care giver. How can a caregiver manage that many off-leash pets and how can they offer you the guarantee that your pet’s safety and care is top priority? They can’t.
Pet lovers pride themselves on treating their pets like they are family. Why settle when it comes to pet boarding and walking services?
I have witnessed first-hand walkers who claim to walk 6 dogs that actually walk 12-15 at a time. These walkers bring their pack out for 20 minutes and then back into the car they go. I have seen group walkers searching aimlessly for one of their pack members and I have witnessed dogfights caused by passing dogs becoming fearful of the pack. This is unacceptable and irresponsible; many dog walkers use the idea of “socializing” your dog with a pack to cover up the fact that in an hour they can make over $100 per group walk.
Our team is a group of educated, highly motivated, pet lovers who are knowledgeable and passionate about providing quality pet care.
Our services include advanced pet medical care offered by our certified vet technicians. We also offer comfort-in-home boarding services either in the client’s home or the sitter’s home. We tailor our services to our client’s needs and we do not board multiple dogs at the same time. You can always rest assure that your pet is getting the one-on-one care they deserve. We do offer group walks, however, our maximum is three dogs at a time. The dogs in our trios must have multiple one-on-one leashed and unleashed walks before we include them into a group session. Most of our walks are on leash for safety purposes but we do understand many high-energy breeds benefit from the off leash experience. We require our clients to sign a waiver and this gives us the ability to allow pets off-leash in recognized off leash zones.
I think it’s about time that pet owners in our Nation’s Capital are made aware of the potential for things to go wrong and that they opt to do more research before settling on a service provider. After all, we’re talking about our family when it comes to our pets. They deserve the best possible care you can find.
For more information, you can visit our website at Above & Beyond Petcare
