12/03/2019
Main Line Pet Community Monday Member Spotlight with Kathleen Begley
𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐨𝐠𝐬
Kathleen Begley , owner of Sleeping with Dogs, loves, loves, loves dogs. Anyone who doesn't, she thinks, has never had or been around one. She has been blessed with 10 dogs during her lifetime, and has seen them through diabetes, heart failures, trachea collapses and various cancers. She is very experienced giving medicines orally or by injection. She has read dozens of books on caring for dogs, and remains cool, calm, and collected in any medical situation.
Kathleen began her career as a journalist, writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Sun Times, and Seattle Times. She later became a professional speaker and has delivered seminars throughout the world. In between, she wrote five books and taught communications and entrepreneurship at 12 colleges and universities, including Penn State Great Valley. For more than a decade, she wrote a weekly column for the Daily Local News in West Chester; many of her articles were about dogs. Kathleen earned her bachelor's at Temple, her master's at Villanova, and her doctorate at Delaware. She currently teaches at Immaculata.
In August 2018, Kathleen was involved in a horrific traffic accident while on a speaking job in New York City. The mishap resulted in seven surgeries and numerous hospitalizations. During her recovery, her three dogs, Mikey, Vanna and Abby, all died. Those losses were worse than the accident. During her lengthy recovery, Kathleen got the idea for Sleeping with Dogs, a boarding alternative for shy animals who thrive best in their own homes while their parents are away. To combat abandonment issues, Kathleen moves into her client's residence and stays 24/7 with their pets. She literally sleeps in the same bed with their dogs. She even gives the pets a daily nighttime massage and reads them a bedtime story. A few months ago, Kathleen adopted two seven-year-old Shih Tzus from Tiny Paws Rescue. Their names are Lenny and Squiggy, taken from characters on the old TV show Laverne and Shirley. And, yes, both dogs sleep with her on a Tempurpedic mattress in a king-size bed in her home near Malvern. Kathleen considers herself one very lucky dog.