24/08/2026
A little update from behind the scenes at Don Dog Ltd... 🧡🐾
After receiving a recent negative review regarding a delay in responding to a previous client who had contacted us again after a couple of years, I felt it was important to share a little about what this summer has looked like behind the scenes.
Firstly, something that perhaps isn't always obvious from the outside...
The pet side of Don Dog Ltd is essentially just me! 🤷♀️
Yes, we are a small family business, but Gareth spends much of his time working away on task with our GP dogs. That means everything relating to the day-to-day running of Don Dog has been down to me.
I deliver the training sessions, but I am also the person behind the marketing, invoices, booking confirmations, follow-up emails, enquiries, booking changes, website management and updates, online shop orders, correspondence and social media. If you send Don Dog a message, an email or an enquiry, it is me at the other end of it.
And it has been an exceptionally busy and challenging summer.
I've been continuing to train our existing clients and their dogs through 1:1 sessions and our group classes, including scent detection, puppy training, neutrality and obedience. The repeated heatwaves have had a huge impact on us as a small outdoor business, resulting in numerous cancellations, rearrangements and rescheduled sessions, as well as significantly affecting our secure field hire.
Alongside Don Dog, I also work operationally with my drugs detection dog, Willow. This summer has involved working away on task and many hours spent travelling, while continuing my own professional development and keeping the business running.
And, of course, outside of Don Dog I'm also a wife and a Mom.
It's the summer holidays and, although we haven't managed to get away for a family holiday ourselves, I've still wanted and needed to make sure that I'm present for the all-important Mom duties as much as possible. 💕
So, if an email or message has occasionally slipped through the net, or you've waited longer than usual for a response, I genuinely apologise. It is never because your enquiry isn't important or because your support is taken for granted.
I've always been incredibly proud of the training community we've created at Don Dog. We have always tried to offer support outside normal hours where we can, accommodate last-minute changes, welcome everyone who visits us warmly and, most importantly, continue supporting our clients and their dogs beyond the hour they spend with us. 🧡🐾
That is why receiving a negative review because of a missed response was particularly disappointing to read. At the same time, I accept that I simply cannot get everything right, all of the time.
At the end of the day, behind Don Dog Ltd is one slightly frazzled, perimenopausal woman juggling dog trainer, operational dog handler, business owner, administrator, marketing department, continued professional development, wife and Mom... and occasionally there simply aren't enough hours in the day! 😅
We can't please everyone, but please know that I do care enormously about this business, our clients and the dogs entrusted to us.
To those of you who have been patient when sessions have needed changing, understanding when replies have taken a little longer, continued to book with us, recommended us and supported our little business throughout a difficult summer — thank you. 🙏🧡
I am extremely grateful. We appreciate every single one of you.
I'm hoping that as we head into September, I can finally catch up, get back on top of the inbox and regain a little bit of normality! ☺️
Thank you, as always, for supporting Don Dog Ltd and the very real human behind it.
Becky x
