Where it all started....

So, you've been introduced to the business but where and why did it all start?

And the answer is, right here with this beauty of a dog....Bella the Beagle.

Having been part of a goldfish, hamster, guinea pig, rabbit and then cat owning family growing up, I had always admired dogs from afar. With 3 cats in the family, having a dog wasn't even a consideration when I lived at home.

In 2008, at the age of 26, I got married to a guy in the Forces, Army to be precise. We had a lovely wedding and moved into our married quarters and began to enjoy really being adults and so naturally, after a while, we discussed the possibility of getting a dog. My husband did the majority of the leg work; the research into good breeds, finding a breeder and then arranging to go and 'just take a look'. Back then, I don't think we considered visiting a puppy tends to always lead to buying a puppy, its just not possible to go and see those gorgeous new bundles of fun and fur and not fall in love with at least one (usually the whole litter!). Anyway, off we went to visit our chosen litter of Beagles. When we arrived we fell in love with the whole pack; from grandma carrying her food bowl back after eating her dinner (although now I wonder whether she was actually carrying around to get more food), to the litter of puppies we were there to see. Every dog in that household lived a good and loved life and they had all the paperwork to show their lines - something we understood to be very important.

Visiting the puppies was just an overload of cuteness, their gorgeous tiny faces with their great big floppy, soft ears. Picking our puppy wasn't actually that hard, Bella went over to my husband, cuddled into his neck and that was it! Puppy chosen!

Over the next couple of weeks we enjoyed buying puppy things, choosing a name and most importantly, making sure we had time off work where we could be at home spending time with our new pup to make sure she was ok and settled in well.

Naturally, when we brought Bella home we allowed her space and time and generally just spent all the time watching, playing and cuddling her. We also signed up for some local puppy classes and stood proud when she completed all her exercises and received her rosette! Bella was now a fully fledged member of the family and we loved being puppy owners, despite the teething, early mornings and naturally, the toileting accidents that happened.

I could write so much about Bella and her antics over the years; her love of fox poo, chasing things and generally getting up to mischief (a few pairs of shoes came to an end from her teeth) but no doubt some of that will come later.

Dog ownership changes your life, its a responsibility and hopefully a long commitment and after a couple of years, we made the decision to take on another beagle, Holly.

Holly was needing a new home because her first home had separated and she had ended up with an elderly lady who found having a 6 month old puppy too much.

Holly was both a delight and a challenge. Her and Bella didn't hit it off immediately but after a while they became firm friends. We worked hard with Holly and helped her to settle into life with us and trained her so she could also enjoy all the things Bella did.

Sadly after a couple of years it became apparent that Holly needed more than we could give her as a family, and as we now had a toddler to also consider, after lots of talks together and with other dog professionals, we made the hard decision to rehome Holly. I searched far and wide for the right people and luckily we found them. It was heart-breaking to give her up but I knew it was for the best all round and so we were back to 1 dog.

At this point, I was back working at my office job and Bella enjoyed going to a local dog day care once a week. Every time I dropped her off for her day of fun I couldn't help but wonder how awesome it would be to have such a job and so, when I fell pregnant with my 2nd child, I decided a change of career was in order and started studying how to run a dog walking business and in August of 2015, Hayley's Happy Hounds begun....