Purrfect Gems

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Purrfect Gems

I'm Gemma & I've been Dog walking since 2016. I'm fully insured, DBS checked & first aid trained Plus I was really bad at it!
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I provide Dog walks with extra mental enrichment, pet visits (for any pet) and pet sitting in the comfort of your own home. Here's a little bit more about myself & my journey...

My name’s Gemma and I’m a Dogoholic! My journey started back when I was at college, I studied at Brooksby Melton College where I completed a National Diploma followed by a Foundation Degree, both in Animal Management. Ori

ginally I wanted to work in a zoo but found that to get a job you needed tons of experience which you couldn’t get without a job or doing it voluntarily. So after finishing uni I tried to find ANY job in the animal industry but was struggling to find anything. I eventually settled in retail, I spent 4/5 years working in a truckstop and worked my way up to assistant manager, a position I immediately regretted accepting! I missed seeing the regulars, I hated being stuck in an office & missed doing all the dirty work. It was then that I expressed an interest in Dog walking to a friend who pointed me in the direction of Lou’s Pet Services who I joined in 2016. Lou then went on to have 2 little girls and decided to take a break from her business, giving me the opportunity to take on some of her clients. I was terrified, running my own business was never something I wanted, I was worried I wouldn’t be good at it. But I loved my job and didn’t want to risk losing it so I took the plunge, created Purrfect Gems in 2018 and haven’t looked back since! I’ve now been going solo for 3 years and love getting to know the Dog’s and their individual quirks, I’m always learning something new and now want to use this knowledge to better my services and provide more than just a bog standard walk round the park.

23/11/2024

The sunny autumn weather was stunning last week before it suddenly took a turn! ❄️🐶Where is the time going, I'm not ready to let go of autumn! 🍁

15/11/2024

"Nooo 5 more minutes!" 😂 🐶💜

29/10/2024

Autumn walks 🍁🍂🐶💜🍂🍁

28/09/2024

I'm married! 😁💒
I don't have many photos yet, but we had the most amazing day on Thursday and were extremely lucky with the weather! 💕💕💕
I can't wait to tell you all about it and see all the pooches next week! 🐶💜

22/09/2024

Summer is definitely over! 🌧️
It's been great to get back into my normal routine over the past few weeks and see some faces that I hadn't seen for a while! 🐶💜

06/09/2024

Dougie refuses to give the frisbee directly to me, he just dumps it in random places for me to collect. Much like most delivery drivers! 😂

26/08/2024

Hi everyone, for those that don't already know Purrfect Gems will be closed for business on the following dates:

Tuesday 24th - Sunday 30th September

For my wedding week as I'm getting married 1 month today! 😬💒

I will then be closed again:

Monday 25th November - Monday 2nd December

Whilst we go chasing the northern lights on our honeymoon! 🌌

24/08/2024

Smile it's finally the weekend! And we have an extra day! 🐶💜

23/08/2024

We've not been to this stream in a while! 🐶💦
The wind is deceiving, it's really warm today! 🥵

21/08/2024

I love a good action shot! 😂😂😂

20/08/2024

Summer house visits ☀️

02/08/2024

July Sleepovers 🐶🐱💜

20/07/2024

Shady walks and house visits over the last couple of days 🐶💜

08/07/2024

I've got a backlog of photos I've been meaning to post! 🤦‍♀️
Here's May & June's sleepovers 🐶

30/06/2024

I've now been Dog walking for 8 years!
7 on my own which is crazy, it was never something I wanted or thought I could do but I took the plunge when the opportunity came.
I'm so lucky and grateful to anyone that has supported me over these years.

Special shout outs to Bella, Star, Pip, Charlie & Coco who I've known since the very beginning back when I worked for Lou and are still with me! (And of course their pawrents who have trusted me all this time)
I must be doing something right 🐶💜

26/06/2024

A day of mostly house visits today ☀️
Hopefully we'll be back to normal tomorrow🤞

23/06/2024

Hi everyone,
The next 3 days are looking to be hot so I will be taking each day as it comes and making changes to walks when needed:
☀️ shaded walks
☀️ shorter walks
☀️ house visits
☀️ cancellations

I need to prioritise those that are home alone so I apologise if I end up cancelling at the last minute

07/06/2024

I was on my normal walk today with Twig and Lucky, it’s a nice walk through a meadow by the river to a park in the middle of town. It’s busy with people and dogs (which mine love) and a mix of onlead and offlead dogs.

As I got to a narrow bit this morning, a saw a couple approaching with two dogs on extendable leads and as they saw me they shortened the leads right up and I could see that the people looked really worried about walking past me and my dogs.

I put my dogs onlead, took my dogs off the path into the undergrowth, and distracted them with food (made sure they didn’t look at the dogs) as the people walked past. If I had seen them coming sooner I would have asked them if they wanted me to move off the path. Not everyone feels comfortable to ask you to give them space but it’s normally pretty obvious when people are worried about walking past you and it’s easy to help them out.

The people and dogs walked past and thanked me for giving them space- no drama and we both went on our way.

I have no idea why they were worried about walking past me- the people may have been worried about strange dogs, their dogs may have been worried about strange dogs, the dogs may have been unwell or in pain or elderly or in season. Honestly it’s NONE of my business why they wanted space but it’s my job as a decent human being to be empathetic and respect that these people wanted some space.

I didn’t offer them advice, as it’s not my place. I’m sure we’ve all had unwanted advice over the years and most of it is awful. I bet every day they get told they ‘should let their dogs off lead’, or that ‘they were making their dogs anxious by making the lead so tight’ or that ‘they shouldn’t be walking in that place as it’s an ‘offlead’ dog place’.

I know people who’ve had reactive dogs carry on helping out other owners long after their own reactive dogs have passed away as they remember what it felt like. It costs nothing to try and make someone else’s day a bit less stressful. Even if your dog is totally fine with other dogs you can help other owners out who look stressed (and it’s none of our business why they might be stressed) by giving them space.

Laura McAuliffe, 2024 Dog Communication

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+447519338235

Website

https://purrfectgems.wixsite.com/purrfectgems

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