Molly (Top Dog):
At the age of six, Molly received her childhood pet, a turtle, because her Dad was allergic to furry animals. Perhaps in reaction to not being able to have her own dog or cat, she soon became the neighborhood dog walker and vacation pet feeder. With a few pit stops exploring other careers, (English teacher in Japan, Wall St. analyst, publisher, and dot-com marketing director,) Molly decided she’d go back to her roots and spend her days with the furry set. She’s happy to report she’s had no regrets. Molly owns Doggy Lama and boards dogs in her Oakland home.  

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 sincerely hope she enjoys some non-dog-related activities at times, 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.

Kat:
Kat spent five years “pre-Doggy Lama” working in a vet’s office, a doggy day care facility, and a dog kennel and is now finishing training to become a certified dog trainer. Pets in her family range from the typical dogs and cats to ferrets, birds, and rabbits. At the moment, Kat shares her living room couch with an Irish setter puppy and a shepherd-ridgeback mix. She tells us that someday she might like to work with big cats, wolves, or dolphins. Go, Kat!

Gretchen:
Gretchen has two little dogs of her own, Bo, a mini-poodle, and Lacey, a yorkie-poo, and boards up to two small dogs at a time in her Albany home. She loves to take dogs to Point Isabel, which is the largest dog park in the US (did you know that?), on neighborhood walks, and play in her fenced yard. Gretchen likes to watch silly TV shows at night with little dogs snuggled all around her and, as of this writing, has been boarding dogs for three years.

Jack:
Jack has worked on cattle and horse ranches, driven trucks, and been a professional photographer but he says working with dogs is the most fun he’s ever had on the job. Jack prides himself on having the most delicious healthy treats on the trail and swears by Johnny Cash songs for calming down a truckload of excited pups. If we were dogs, we’d want to walk with Jack, too!

Jen:
Jen grew up on an Illinois farm where they had horses, ponies, pigs, sheep, cows, geese, ducks, dogs, and up to 30 cats at a time. She recently 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 boards dogs in her home and 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.

Joanne:
Joanne mostly walks little dogs for us these days although she has a huge spot in her heart for pit bulls and pit mixes (her “grand-dog” is a pittie mix named Pepper). She tells us that when she was a child she would spend many vacations with her aunt and uncle, and a deer would come out to meet her when she would walk outside the cabin. She and the deer would walk and play together and it would even jump up on her shoulders and lick her. Once when she was eating breakfast with her aunt and uncle and the door was open, Joanne’s deer friend came right in the house and joined them. Ever since that time she has had a deep affinity for animals.

Justine:
Justine is Jack’s “better half” and, although she has another job, she’s also part of the Doggy Lama team. Justine helps Jack board dogs in their cozy Hayward home and also helps us out with our technical issues. Justine’s a Brit so she gives us a non-American perspective on politics and sometimes brings tea to share on foggy morning dog walks!

Kristen:
Dog walker Kristen has had pets all her life and spent two years wrangling dogs in a San Francisco doggie day care. She has a bunny named Albatross whom she calls a "testament to learned behavior." Albatross grew up with dogs and seems to think he is one--he attempts to wag his tail, (he ends up wriggling his whole body instead), is potty-trained, and greets his peeps at the door with the "other dogs!"

Lucia:
Lucia came to us with a decade of dog-walking and experience and almost as much time training dogs. She has worked extensively with San Francisco’s Rocket Dog Rescue and has two rescued pit bulls of her own plus a third whom she’s fostering. 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).

Nicki:
Our office manager, Nicki, spent the past five years working at a large boarding kennel in Marin where she gained valuable managerial experience. Nicki is certified as an Advanced Pet Care Technician through ABKA and does drop-in visits for kitties. Nicki ensures that Doggy Lama runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible. In her spare time, Nicki reads and writes and enjoys live music. She has a kitty and a bunny at home.

Sue:
Sue, (also known as Molly’s mom,) grew up in Midwestern 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 has two senior shi-tzus, Norma and Annie. Retired from nursing, Sue does kitty visits and enjoys boarding small and special needs dogs at a time in her home in Richmond.

Tami:
Tami comes from Southern California, where she received a “Volunteer of the Year” award from the City of Los Angeles for her outstanding work at the San Pedro Animal Shelter. Tami 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. She is the proud guardian of two rescued pit bull-mix dogs, Buster and Penny.

Vanessa:
Our buddies at Paws and Claws recommended Vanessa to help us out with our growing office work, and things have been running much more smoothly since she came on board. Vanessa lives with a cranky old cocker spaniel named Simone and in addition to kicking butt in the office has also proven to be fabulous at drop-in visits for kitties and individual on-leash dog walks.