Samantha Carter needed a break from dog ownership.
Not because it was too much work or she didn’t have the space in her heart to love them, but because she was tired of having her heart broken.
“I have had dogs my whole life,” Carter said.
“I had a samoyed, a peekapoo and a pug. However, after my last dog passed away I found it was too upsetting to think about losing another dog. So I took a break from dog ownership for a few of years.”
During that time she met her husband Andrew, and with each of them bringing two children to the relationship a blended family was formed.
That’s when Carter and the kids began bugging her husband for a puppy, but it wasn’t a sound financial decision with college tuition on the horizon.
Instead, Carter got creative and opened her own business, known as The Fairy Dogmother of Hespeler. Dog walking, house calls and boarding for small and medium sized dogs are all services she provides.
“Realizing a dog of our own was unlikely, I asked my husband if I could borrow someone else's dog and bring it into the house to play with or stay over,” Carter said.
“At the time I didn't really know how I was going to find a dog to borrow. It was theoretical, but I went online and discovered Rover.com. It was the answer that I had been looking for.”
The website is a way to find pet sitters and sparked the idea for her new business.
The need for canine companionship became much more important over the past year. Carter, a full-time elementary school teacher for over 20 years at the time, is a caregiver at heart but life circumstances had left her feeling burnt out, anxious and depressed.
“My therapist and I both noticed that when I had a dog with me I was a little brighter,” she said.
“The snuggles made a difference, petting the dogs eased some anxiety and because I had to take care of the dog it forced me to go outside to walk the dogs. My doctor had been telling me for years that I should exercise more to help with anxiety and depression but I never had the time or energy.”
As Carter prepared to return to work last month, the anxiety began to creep back in, prompting her to take a leap of faith and open her dog business full-time.
It was a terrifying decision with a lot of unknowns, but it felt right.
“I feel that dogs are just as much a member of the family as the kids,” she said.
“They bring joy, teach responsibility and love their family just as much as they love the dog. Most of the families that I have met spoil their fur babies rotten and I love it. I love spoiling them too. I truly love every dog I care for as if they were my own.”
Carter will always have that motherly instinct, even as he own children begin to age and embark on their own lives as adults.
Now she’s looking to share some of that love with the community and the furry friends within it.
“As the mother of teenagers who are no longer needing me as much, I’m filling my need to 'mother' by taking the best possible care of other people's fur babies,” she said.
“I've always been a caregiver. Making other people happy makes me happy. So, really I'm just trading caring for people's children for caring for people's animals. Both are equally lovable.”
For more information on The Fairy Dogmother visit the fairydogmother.ca.
