When you ask a hotel concierge (remember hotels?) a question, you expect them to be able to help you with a wide range of services. Everything from dining and entertainment recommendations to dry cleaners and taxi services in the area. That philosophy is in full effect for the 350+ pet clients that Petiquette Pooch Concierge serves in South Boston, MA, and the surrounding communities.
Originally founded in 2010 and purchased by Jennifer and Al Clark in 2016, Petiquette does everything from walks and playgroups to vet or grooming appointments and pet sitting. They’ve even brought dogs to and from weddings so they could be active participants.
“We try really hard to be a one-stop shop for our pet families to make it easier for them to balance their jobs and everything else, in addition to loving their pets.”
Like most pet care businesses, the last year has been tough for Petiquette, but Jennifer is optimistic about 2021.
“It’s been status quo for a while, so the only place to go is up. My hope is that people start to go back to offices even part-time and that travel picks up again. We have lots of just overnight services clients - so travel starting up again is important for us.
The good news is that we’re starting to see that even if clients are home 100% of the time, they’re coming back because the dogs really need to get out and socialize and burn that energy off. And with so many new dogs in Southey during the pandemic, I am optimistic that over time even if people are home they’ll start scheduling more walks. While the novelty of having a dog doesn’t wear off, the realities of trying to do it all by yourself while working is bringing clients back.”
Having grown up in a family business environment, the challenges of being “on” all the time don’t bother Jennifer much. In fact, it was part of the draw when she left corporate America to run Petiquette full time while also raising humans and pets of her own.
“I don’t get many days off, but I don’t work a lot of traditional full days either. I have a really great partnership with our walkers and I can run the business from anywhere through my iPad. That means I am almost always available, but I am not tied to a single location.”
For Jennifer, PetPocketbook is key to enabling that lifestyle.
“It’s been a godsend. It’s intuitive and easy to figure out. When we first started, the previous owners would do all of the scheduling by hand every night. They would copy and paste the information with the itineraries and information about each dog for all 9 walkers, so that’s a lot of dogs (90-95/day)! With PetPocketbook, I can easily do everything I need to do on the fly.”
Jennifer - We share your optimism about 2021 and are glad we can help you live the family business dream!