My journey to founding 4 Paw Friend is probably a little different from most.
Before working with dogs, I spent 27 years in hospitality. It was an industry that taught me the importance of hard work, customer service and building relationships, but it was also a period of my life where I didn’t always look after myself as well as I should have.

In 2024, I entered recovery, and it completely changed my life. Recovery gave me the chance to rebuild from the ground up and create a future based on honesty, consistency and genuine
purpose. It taught me that every day is an opportunity to become a better person—not only for myself, but for everyone around me.

About a year and a half ago, my best friend and I founded 4 Paw Friend with one simple goal: to provide exceptional, reliable pet care across South London. What started with a handful of
dogs and a lot of determination has grown into a thriving business that I’m incredibly proud of.

I also want to recognise my former business partner. We built this company together from the ground up, and I’m genuinely grateful for everything we achieved as a team. Although we’ve now gone our separate ways, the foundations we built together helped make 4 Paw Friend what it is today, and I’ll always appreciate that.

Running a business isn’t always easy. There have been incredible highs and some difficult moments too. But through everything, one thing has never changed—the dogs. Every single morning they greet us with excitement, trust and unconditional happiness. They remind me every day why I chose this path, and they’ve played a huge part in my own recovery journey.

Today, I’m proud to work alongside an amazing team who share the same passion and commitment to outstanding pet care. Steve, Austin, Jefferson, Marcus and Jack all play an important role in making sure every dog receives the love, attention and care they deserve, and we’re excited to welcome more team members as we continue to grow.

We’ve also worked hard behind the scenes to build something different. We developed our own bespoke booking platform, allowing clients to book online, make secure payments and receive updates about their dog’s walks. Our aim has always been to make pet care as convenient and reliable as possible—almost like a Deliveroo-style service for dog walking and pet care across South London. Our philosophy is simple: if you’re in our area, we’ll always do our very best to help.

Looking ahead, our ambition is to open a dedicated dog daycare centre in South London while continuing to expand our dog walking, feeding and home visit services. We want to create somewhere dogs genuinely love coming to, while giving owners complete confidence that their pets are receiving the very best care.

For me, 4 Paw Friend is about far more than walking dogs. It’s proof that people can rebuild their lives. It’s about second chances, resilience and showing up every single day with kindness, integrity and hard work. Recovery gave me a new beginning, and this business has given me a purpose I never knew I was missing.

I’m incredibly proud of how far we’ve come in such a short time, but I truly believe we’re only just getting started. Most of all, I’m grateful—to our amazing clients for trusting us, to my fantastic team for everything they do, and to every dog that’s become part of the 4 Paw Friend family.

They’ve changed my life just as much as I hope we’ve made a positive difference to theirs.