I am licenced by Brighton & Hove County Council for dog boarding and doggy day care, I am police checked, fully insured and have a qualification in animal first aid. I am also a qualified dog behaviourist.

 

Over the years I have spent a lot of time overseas and, as an animal lover, often found myself rescuing abused, sick or abandoned animals.

 

About twenty years ago, I was in Portugal and spotted a poor little dog shivering in the corner. She was so thin and her eyes looked so sad, I knew I couldn’t simply feed and leave her, so I took her back to the villa I was staying in. She was a wreck; filthy dirty, with cigarette burns and chewing gum stuck to her coat. She allowed me to bath her and tolerated sitting on my lap for strokes but she did not stop trembling or looking anxiously around the room.

 

By chance, the friend I was staying with also had an Italian lady staying in the villa – she spoke no English. This lady saw me with the little dog, quietly came over and, without saying a word, placed her hands over the dog, without actually touching her. The result was quite literally life changing for me. That dog let out an enormous sigh and fell fast asleep, totally relaxed for the first time in I don’t know how long.

 

What I witnessed that day in Portugal got me thinking and I came back to the UK wondering if I too could help animals in the same way as the wonderful Italian lady had done. Shortly after that I discovered Reiki and became a practitioner for humans. Some years later, through my work with the RSPCA, I heard about Elizabeth Whiter and the Healing Animals Organisation – another life changing experience.

 

I went on to complete the diploma course in healing small animals and finally found a way of combining the knowledge I had gained over the years. While on the course, a fellow student recommended James French and the Trust Technique, which lead me to animal communication – another light bulb moment.

 

In 2019 I took a huge leap of faith and sold my travel business so that I had more time to help animals. I didn’t really know what would happen next, as I needed to earn an income but had no idea how. The universe stepped in and friends started asking me to look after their dogs. And so began Furbnb.

 

In addition to my everyday work with animals, in 2013 I set up Helping Paws, an animal support group raising money to help animals in the UK and all over the world. To date we have sent over £500,000 to small rescues and lone rescuers.