LONDON'S NO. 1 DOG WALKING AGENCY
Memoir of a young woman who set up business as a dog walker in London.
Back in 2006 the book's author Kate MacDougall had a steady, though dull, job at London auction house Sotheby’s. From her description, it does indeed sound gut-wrenchingly boring, consisting almost solely of those bottom-of-the- rung admin tasks that absolutely no-one can truthfully say they enjoy - filing, photocopying and as the author says, 'appeasing unnecessarily awful people over the phone or email'.
After she broke two expensive porcelain pigeons belonging to a customer in Acton she decided it might be best to quit and head for pastures new. Probably a good idea.
It isn't clear how it happened, but she came up with the idea of starting her own dog-walking company, a strange choice of career/ job for someone who it appears wasn't mad about dogs. She called her new company 'London's No. 1 Dog Walking Agency.'
In the book she writes about the next few years of her life, together with the dogs she meets along the way. One of the dogs mentioned is rescue dog Stanley, who because of his past, found it hard to be separated from the family who rescued him. We also meet Kate's boyfriend Finlay who doesn't like dogs at all (making me dislike him) but even his anti-dog stance - it is mentioned many times - doesn't stop Kate dragging him, unwillingly, along with her on dog walks. There are snippets included in the book, no doubt supposed to be humorous which will make true dog lovers cringe. For example, when you're looking after someone else's dog and have a list of what to feed him/her on and what to avoid, you don't simply ignore the owner's written instructions and proceed to feed the dog with whatever happens to be at hand, resulting in the dog becoming ill. The readership are going to be folks who like / have an interest in dogs - that's what the book's about. Maybe some of the less appetising bits should have been edited out.
As the story progresses, Kate is still at sixes and sevens with her life, unsure of what she really wants to do and how she sees her future panning out. She comes across as completely naive - childish really - about most aspects of adult living although she is touching thirty at the time. Her mother, on whom the author frequently depends for advice, doesn't approve of her daughter's dog-walking job, in her view, this is 'decidedly subclass ... her need for comparability placed it somewhere between scullery maid and pet shop Saturday girl'.
However, the book has made me realise that if I ever have the need to hire a dog walker/ sitter I would be doubly careful of who I hired since reading this. The author writes about enlisting a walker to help her out at one stage. Apparently this person had made multiple hoax calls to the police about planting bombs in hotels, but she says, " I decided to hire him anyway". WOW! She goes on to say he was arrested a month later for saying he had planted a bomb in the laundry room of the Savoy. Just the kind of guy you'd want to hand over your beloved pooch and house keys to.
The book, published by Bonnier is available in hardback, ebook and audio.
I was provided with a copy of the book in return for an honest review.
Return to features index HERE
Back in 2006 the book's author Kate MacDougall had a steady, though dull, job at London auction house Sotheby’s. From her description, it does indeed sound gut-wrenchingly boring, consisting almost solely of those bottom-of-the- rung admin tasks that absolutely no-one can truthfully say they enjoy - filing, photocopying and as the author says, 'appeasing unnecessarily awful people over the phone or email'.
After she broke two expensive porcelain pigeons belonging to a customer in Acton she decided it might be best to quit and head for pastures new. Probably a good idea.
It isn't clear how it happened, but she came up with the idea of starting her own dog-walking company, a strange choice of career/ job for someone who it appears wasn't mad about dogs. She called her new company 'London's No. 1 Dog Walking Agency.'
In the book she writes about the next few years of her life, together with the dogs she meets along the way. One of the dogs mentioned is rescue dog Stanley, who because of his past, found it hard to be separated from the family who rescued him. We also meet Kate's boyfriend Finlay who doesn't like dogs at all (making me dislike him) but even his anti-dog stance - it is mentioned many times - doesn't stop Kate dragging him, unwillingly, along with her on dog walks. There are snippets included in the book, no doubt supposed to be humorous which will make true dog lovers cringe. For example, when you're looking after someone else's dog and have a list of what to feed him/her on and what to avoid, you don't simply ignore the owner's written instructions and proceed to feed the dog with whatever happens to be at hand, resulting in the dog becoming ill. The readership are going to be folks who like / have an interest in dogs - that's what the book's about. Maybe some of the less appetising bits should have been edited out.
As the story progresses, Kate is still at sixes and sevens with her life, unsure of what she really wants to do and how she sees her future panning out. She comes across as completely naive - childish really - about most aspects of adult living although she is touching thirty at the time. Her mother, on whom the author frequently depends for advice, doesn't approve of her daughter's dog-walking job, in her view, this is 'decidedly subclass ... her need for comparability placed it somewhere between scullery maid and pet shop Saturday girl'.
However, the book has made me realise that if I ever have the need to hire a dog walker/ sitter I would be doubly careful of who I hired since reading this. The author writes about enlisting a walker to help her out at one stage. Apparently this person had made multiple hoax calls to the police about planting bombs in hotels, but she says, " I decided to hire him anyway". WOW! She goes on to say he was arrested a month later for saying he had planted a bomb in the laundry room of the Savoy. Just the kind of guy you'd want to hand over your beloved pooch and house keys to.
The book, published by Bonnier is available in hardback, ebook and audio.
I was provided with a copy of the book in return for an honest review.
Return to features index HERE