| Poop Guys BLOG The Poop Guys were formed in Feb 2006 by me, Rebecca, when I decided i wanted to run my own business. My fiancé Colin & I had immigrated from England in Jan 2005 & it was time at last for me to go back to work ( the immigration process had not allowed me to work up until then...! ) It all began the previous February, in 2005, when we had bought our home in Saskatoon. All was well until the snow melted & i discovered to my horror that there was Doggie poop everywhere,left by the dogs who used to live in the house !! Could i find a company to take this stinky mess away..? No !! The lawn care companies wouldn't touch it & although there were people who advertised in the local paper that they did yard work, none were registered companies. So i took it upon myself to clear it up myself... and disgusting as it was, i did it. It gave me an idea !! A bit about our pets ( see photos left) We brought our 3 cats over from England with us - Gizmo ( stripy one ) Jasmine ( Sealpoint Siamese ) and M ( Brown / Black / White bib) & had added a 4th cat, Bruno (white/grey points, the cat asleep on the deck ) in March 2005.That summer we got our first dog, Charlie - the blonde one - and soon adopted our 2nd dog Rudy from the SPCA in December 05 ( the black one ) Then in Oct 2006 we adopted a 5th cat, Thomas from a farm ( white/dark grey ) Next we decided to give Judah the old dog from the city a retirement home on our farm ( he is the one asleep on the black rug) now he can bark all day long ! Then in Nov 07 we couldn't resist Little Timmy who came to us from Meadow Lake Humane Society. April 08 we brought home "new to us" dog Kicks to our gang and she is proving to be a fun little addition to our family. i think we should stop at 10 pets don't you ?! Back to the History Lesson So in Spring 2006, although i had been clearing up after my own dogs through out the winter, i needed to give my yard a spring clean up ! I realised i couldn't possibly be the only dog owner in Saskatoon who had a bit of dog poop left over from winter....so there in lies the birth of The Poop Guys. My dad thought i was joking when i said i wanted to pick up Dog Poop...well.. could you blame him ?! I researched companies in the States & England who offer the same services, and tailored my services around them. Did you know almost every city in Canada & the States has a Poop Removal Company ? Every one except Saskatoon that was !! I registered the company name, after several painful hours deliberating over what to call "it" and then built this website you are looking at now. It took me a month to get everything up & running but i was all ready come Spring Melt Time in 2006. Well, to say we started off with a bang is an under statement !! It was extremely busy and i found myself working 12 hour days for 7 days a week for about 6 weeks ! Thanks to all the people who got The Poop Guys up & running, you know who you are !! 2007 was even more successful and we got the vehicles done up with some posh graphics ( thanks go to Imagine This on Quebec Ave for all their help) Back to 2006...When the dust settled, i was able to start building up the company, offering dog walking, pet sitting & kitty litter services, amongst other things. I just love walking the dogs, being outdoors is great & it was rewarding to see dogs learn to walk properly on leash. When you come back week after week & they are excited to see you, it makes it all worth while. This year i have started to Bike some Doggie clients - they love it and it is keeping me fit ! Pet Sitting is another service i realised people needed, especially visiting dogs & cats in their home whilst their owners are away, bringing special toys for them to play with, seeing all different breeds & personalities you learn a lot. I had my police records check done so that clients could be reassured i was trustworthy - although i would never have been allowed into Canada with a Criminal record anyway. At Christmas time Pet Sitting went crazy - we visited a record 14 cats in one day, not including the dogs - and we still managed to have lunch before sunset!! Sadly this year we have had to say goodbye to some of those cats we became friends with, Rest In Peace Kiki and Oni, you will be sadly missed but never forgotten. I am sure they are kicking back in Kitty Heaven enjoying themselves ! Late 2006 we started to open our own home to boarding dogs & cats so that those pets who were shy of the kennels & who also wouldn't do very well left at home alone could have somewhere to stay while the owners were away on holiday. Some of our first clients included Banjo, (the bone muncher ! ) who still stays with us, Bosco & Mollie, two pugs who rule our house whenever they stay and Maggie & Juno who also seem to like our never ending supply of raw bones ( thank you Vaganza's on 33rd street with out whom our visiting dogs would not be as content ! ) In March 2007 we moved out of Saskatoon, to the village of Borden, which is only 30mins NW on HWY 16 towards The Battlefords. We still operate as normal, much to everyone's surprise back in Saskatoon ! It is a lovely drive to and from town, and we now have the added luxury of 6 acres of fields, woodland & wildlife to offer our boarding guests. We have really been developing the "Home Boarding" side of the business this year, Colin is helping out when he can to look after a guest or to help out Poop Scooping. We constructed a large fenced area surrounding the property in the summer so that dogs can play off leash just like at the dog park and inside have dedicated an area for our little guests to play together, away from the big dogs - we also have a Cat room now which is only booked out to one family at a time. In Oct. 07 Colin finished building an outside Cat run which is now in constant use by our cats ( even in minus temperatures, snow & rain.....silly cats ) & is available to visiting cats also. It is covered & completely escape proof -( believe me if there was a way out to get to the nearby birds our cats would have found a way ! ) And it is separate from the dogs area, although they can see each other, which annoys the dogs no end. ha ha. I still come into Saskatoon every day, to walk dogs, visit cats & Scoop Poop. The home boarding is getting more & more popular, we can house no more than 8 visiting dogs at the moment so we try not to advertise too much and many of our bookings come through word of mouth. Our own dogs love to have visitors - don't be worried by the initial barking guests receive as a greeting, they are really a friendly bunch ! And guess what, when you come to pick your dog up, he will be barking at the gate too !! Well, they are on holiday you know ! 2007 exceeded all our expectations & we thank you if you were one of our customers ! In 2008 we are planning to expand the boarding side even more and we are putting some serious time & effort into constructing more outside free run areas and we would like to be able to accommodate more dogs this Xmas too - we hate to turn away our doggie customers so we might just have to build an addition just for them !! After work, we are still doggie mad, Rudy FDCH is into his 2nd year in Flyball and Kicks her 1st with Diamonds in the Ruff ,Charlie completed beginners Agility with Sondog Agility & had such fun Rudy is now learning and soon Kicks will too . Our relatives from UK come over to visit when they can & we enjoy those times lots...but we are never going back to England ha ha !! It's too nice here in Saskatchewan :-) More news to follow ! |
A little bit about us
