Owner and General Manager, Billie Jo Vinson

I began caring for pets as a favor to friends and coworkers nearly 15 years ago, during my life as an herbalist (Whole Foods). It didn’t take long for word to get out. Soon, pet-related favors took up the Great Dane's share of my personal schedule. When eventually I asked myself why (when one spends the majority of one's social time with dogs, one does, eventually, ask oneself why), I had to admit that being with animals — working with them, getting to know them, tending to their needs — was possibly the most fulfilling "work" I’d ever done.

Still, I went pro gradually, working first on my own and then with the master dog trainer and all around animal mensch, Alison Smith. Eventually, Alison agreed to sell me a portion of her business, and Walk-n The Dog was off and running. For more than a decade, I have developed Walk-n The Dog into a thriving business with more than eighty clients. I employ two handlers, Roxanne Seraphin and Elise Gaylord, to help me with the ever-increasing load. They are knowledgeable, experienced, and highly skilled — in short, magnificent.

Which of course is critical. Caring for pets, like caring for children, requires skill and commitment but also a certain native ability, and both Roxanne and Elise have that in spades. They (we) love animals, and are therefore happy as clams to provide the kind of home-away-from-home care they need when you’re not around.