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Molly Kenefick (Top Dog)

Despite her pleas for a furry pet, Molly’s childhood pet, (due to her father’s allergies,) was an Eastern box turtle. Perhaps in reaction, she became the neighborhood dog walker and vacation kitty feeder at a young age. Molly explored several other careers before she decided to leave the office cubicle behind for good. She has no regrets. Molly joins the walkers and their packs on the trails every day. She currently has two dogs of her own, (a black pug and a husky/golden retriever mix,) and a formerly feral cat who snuggles with her when he doesn’t have a better offer. Before she started Doggy Lama Pet Care, Molly lived on a boat for five years with her cat and dog. Her business is named after her longtime companion, Dakota the husky mutt, who was also known as The Doggy Lama.

Alex

Alex spent years in the fashion and cosmetics industry, and sometimes shows up to drop-in visits looking like the proverbial million bucks (or slightly more)! These days her primary work is molding a safe, supportive, and magical world for her four-year-old daughter, Genevieve, (a.k.a. Snoof,) who often accompanies her on drop-in visits. Alex has shared her home with a wide variety of animals, ranging from reptiles, chickens, cats, and dogs, to one blind duck; her family currently lives with a Yorkshire terrier, a tortoise, a bull frog, and golden finches.

Ashley

Ashley said in her cover letter when she applied to work at Doggy Lama that she is “contagiously passionate about dogs… they are my whole life.” While we were happy to hear that she enjoys some non-dog-related activities, too, we feel very lucky to have yet another passionate dog lover on our crew. Ashley has two rescue dogs of her own—Avery, a pit bull mix, and Ruthie, a boxer mix. She worked as a dog handler and manager at a doggy day care before she came to work with us as a walker.

Bonnie

Bonnie’s long-term goal is to be a dog trainer. Right now we’re happy to have her walk groups of dogs in the hills for us. Previously Bonnie walked dogs for a veterinary clinic/boarding facility and was a program participant with Guide Dogs for the Blind, where she raised a puppy who is now all grown up and working as a Guide Dog. She’s been a volunteer at several animal shelters and a zoo. Bonnie enjoys painting abstracts in her spare time. She and her sweetie have two rescue dogs of their own.

Donna

We heard about Donna from another dog walker who told us about a longtime volunteer at Berkeley Animal Services (BAS) who was looking for a part-time job. Donna is one of the most active grandmothers we’ve ever known, and when we saw her in action, we were impressed. Donna is a “Mentor” at BAS; she trains other volunteers how to handle the most difficult “bully” breeds. Donna uses consistency and positive reinforcement to help dogs who have landed in the stressful shelter environment become better trained and more adoptable. Donna walks one or two dogs at a time on leash for us. In her spare time, Donna loves cooking, although she recently had to order in Chinese food unexpectedly—her Rottweiler, Lola, had eaten two sirloin steaks out of a pan on the stove!

Gretchen

Gretchen has two little dogs of her own, Bo, a mini-poodle, and Lacey, a yorkie-poo, and walks up to two small dogs at a time for us. She loves to take dogs on adventures to Point Isabel, (the largest dog park in the US,) and on neighborhood walks. Gretchen has two teenagers and is very involved with their sports and passions, and relaxes at night by watching silly TV shows with her little dogs snuggled around her.

Jack

Jack was Doggy Lama’s “first hire” and has been walking dogs with us for six years. Before that, Jack worked on cattle and horse ranches, drove trucks, and was briefly a “glamour photographer,” but he says getting paid to hike with dogs is his most fun job by far! Jack prides himself on having the most delicious healthy treats on the trail and swears by Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson songs for calming down a truckload of excited pups.

Jen

Jen grew up on an Illinois farm where they had horses, ponies, pigs, sheep, cows, geese, ducks, dogs, and up to thirty barn cats at a time. She retired from AT&T where she was a service technician for 27 years—climbing up and down telephone poles with 30 pounds of tools on her tool belt! (She says working with dogs is easy and pleasurable in comparison.) Jen walks individual dogs and small groups. In her free time, she loves to redecorate her home and is “addicted” to the home decorating channel. She has three cats and two dogs at home.

Jonas

Dog walker Jonas has worked with dogs for fifteen years. He’s trained hundreds of dogs—including many that have extremely high energy, prey drive, and desire to please, including police dogs. He’s certified as a decoy/bad guy in multiple organizations and was awarded “Decoy of the Year” in 2003 by the WSPCA (Western States Police Canine Association). Jonas is well versed in using positive reinforcement for training and has trained pet dogs to pass the Canine Good Citizen test. Jonas has an eleven-year-old son who’s addicted to playing soccer, so he spends his weekends at soccer tournaments. Jonas loves to garden and saves and trades heirloom plant seeds. He and his family currently share their “rec room” with a senior American bulldog and a Cavalier King Charles spaniel mix.

Justine

Justine is Jack’s “better half” and, although she spends much of her time at a job in technology as a project manager, she’s also part of the Doggy Lama team. When she’s had enough of spreadsheets, she helps Jack walk his dogs and helps us make technology decisions. Justine’s a Brit so she gives us a non-American perspective on politics (in a super polite way). Justine is famous for bringing tea in a Thermos to share on foggy morning dog hikes!

Kellie

Kellie has found comfort in being with animals for as long as she can remember. Kellie's first dog, Brandy, a German Shepherd, protected her and her mom when she was an infant by chasing armed robbers away from their home! Kellie studied dance and psychology and danced her way through early adulthood as part of a professional swing and jazz dance troupe, which performed nationally and abroad. Being close to animals was never far from her mind, and she soon found herself back in the Bay Area working as a dog walker and pet-sitter. As part of the Doggy Lama team, Kelly does off-leash group hikes, private dog walks, and kitty visits. She loves dancing, backpacking, and spending time with her hubby and their furry family members, an eskimo-spaniel mix, a Maine coon cat, and a ragdoll kitty.

Kristen

Dog walker Kristen has had pets all her life and spent two years wrangling dogs in a San Francisco doggie day care before she came to walk dogs for us three years ago. She and her paramour have two rescue pit bulls, Bully and Mako, who would sleep all day if given the opportunity. Kristen once had a bunny named Albatross who was a "testament to learned behavior—" he grew up with dogs and seemed to think he was a dog—he was potty-trained and joined the actual dogs in the family at the door to greet family members when they came home! Kristen has studied and performed ethnic dance professionally for a dozen years—including in Cuba, Haiti, Ghana, India, Palestine, and Tajikistan.

Lucia

Lucia came to us four years ago with a decade of dog walking and training. She completed dog training school in Texas and loves teaching dogs fun tricks. Lucia has worked extensively doing dog rescue and has two rescue dogs of her own, a pit bull and a Chihuahua mix. Someday Lucia hopes to have her own rescue organization. In the meantime, Lucia is trying to get used to the lack of fog over here in the East Bay (she’s one of those rare native San Franciscans).

Marianne H

Marianne H grew up on a small ranch in the East Bay with chickens, ducks, Saint Bernard dogs, cats, cows, and horses, although she just has a dog and cat these days.  Marianne is an “organizing nerd,” who loves creating efficient office processes—Doggy Lama is so lucky to have her as our full-time Office Manager! When Marianne is not helping our clients, she can be found writing music for her a cappella group, or singing duets with her four-year-old daughter, Claire. Now that she’s a mom she doesn’t have as much time to devote to boxing, dragon boating, or spinning, but Marianne still likes to go on exotic vacations with a “helping” twist. She went on a pediatric medical mission to India and plans to go back to India next year to work with an Indian dog rescue organization.

Marianne P

Marianne P does private leash walks for Doggy Lama and drop-in visits. She worked for a veterinary clinic in Berkeley and at a large boarding kennel in Marin. She has an Advanced Pet Care Technician certification through ABKA and like all our dog walkers, went through the Dog Walking Academy course. Marianne’s miniature poodle, Jimmy, is her calm and enthusiastic assistant during most of her walks and visits. If you hear a lovely voice coming from around the corner at the park, it might be Marianne’s—she’s an accomplished jazz singer, and if they’re lucky, her four-legged clients might hear some of the tunes she’s working on.

Marshall

Marshall has loved dogs her entire life. As a kid, instead of Tiger Beat, she read Dog Fancy! While she attended graduate school, Marshall worked for two years as a dog handler at a doggie day care facility, where she learned a tremendous amount about dog behavior, pack management, and canine body language (knowledge that was also reinforced when she attended the Dog Walking Academy for Doggy Lama Pet Care). Marshall graduated in 2009 with a masters of divinity and worked for a year as a chaplain at the UCSF Medical Center/Children's Hospital, where she provided spiritual and emotional support to patients and families. Marshall lives with her life partner and their two dogs.

Nicki

Nicki spent five years working at a large boarding kennel in Marin, where she became certified as an Advanced Pet Care Technician, before she joined us to do small-dog group walks and drop-in visits for kitties. In her spare time, Nicki reads and writes and enjoys live music. She has two kitties, a bunny, and a rescue pitbull mix at home—don’t tell her about animals that need a home—she has a soft spot the size of Texas for hard-luck cases!

Sue

Sue, (also known as Molly’s mom,) grew up in the Midwest countryside amid horses, cows, chickens, rabbits, cats, and dogs. She’s had lots of adventures with animals and was once bitten on the butt by her neighbor’s rabid dog! Sue learned about “simple living” when she spent four years on a boat in the Berkeley Marina with her two dogs. Sue spent most of her professional career as a visiting nurse, and now works part time for Doggy Lama doing visits for kitties in their homes.

Tami

Tami hails from Southern California, where she received the “Volunteer of the Year” award from the City of Los Angeles for her outstanding work at the San Pedro Animal Shelter. She received the award because she established a program to train “difficult to adopt” dogs, which resulted in a higher adoption (and lower kill) rate at the shelter. These days she continues socializing and training dogs as a committed volunteer at the Oakland Animal Shelter (OAS), where she is a Mentor (Mentors train other shelter volunteers). She is the proud guardian of two rescued pit bull-mix dogs, Buster and Penny, who came from OAS. Tami walks groups of dogs in the East Bay hills. Tami makes beautiful macramé-and-stone jewelry in her spare time.

Vanessa

Lucky dogs get leash walks and fortunate kitties get drop-in visits from Vanessa, who left the corporate world to join the furry set. Although Vanessa has traveled around the globe twice, she loves her hometown of Oakland best. She has an impressive Oakland pedigree—she comes from a family of educators and community activists. Vanessa’s cocker spaniel, Simone, is in a cranky-old-lady-dog recovery program. When Vanessa first started walking dogs, Simone was reactive—pulling, barking, and often growling at other dogs. After Vanessa used positive reinforcement to work with her, gradually including Simone on selected walks, her cocker has become gentle and calm, a veritable pussycat of a dog who gets the blues if she doesn’t get walks with her buddies!