It’s a dog-buy-dog world.
Fetch! Pet Care has acquired fellow pet-sitting service Lucky Mutts. The five year-old Reno franchise, owned and operated by Jen Eastwood and Betty Scott, is now making available its various services, including dog walking, pet taxi, play dates and private boarding, to Lucky Mutts’ roster of clients.
So far, five clients whose pets are on a regular dog-walking schedule, have moved over, said Eastwood, and the pair are reaching out to the other 60 or so clients, some of whom require only occasional service. Fetch! Pet Care has also hired two of Lucky Mutts’s dog walkers.
“That means a familiar face for pets and clients,” says Eastwood. “We did our best to make it a seamless transition.”
Krysta Jackson started Lucky Mutts four years ago when she couldn’t find a walker for her dog, Muttley.
But since then Jackson has become a graduate student in accounting at the University of Nevada, Reno, and started working for both the school and the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, leaving her little time to run the business.
The Fetch! Pet Care partners can understand. Both have full-time careers outside the pet care business. Eastwood is publicist for the Eldorado, and Scott owns Aspen Leaf Interiors in Reno. They each spend between five to 10 hours a week on Fetch! Pet Care, and employ a coordinator who schedules services. The business contracts with about 30 dog walkers in Reno-Sparks, Carson City and Incline Village
“Our policy is to over-staff and have a large pool so can accommodate last-minute requests,” says Eastwood. “We have more than 300 clients now with the acquisition.”
The pair got into the business when Scott couldn’t find a walker for her dog. She found Fetch! Pet Care online, but discovered the national franchise had no presence in Reno. So she and Eastwood decided to start one.
NNBW staff
