Alyson Lane, founder of Poochee Care Limited, is celebrating her win at the Best of Welsh Business Awards 2022 in the Pet Care Category.

The prestigious awards, which were sponsored by and held at The Coal Exchange, Cardiff at the end of March, are deemed to be the fairest awards event around. Based on a system of votes and nominations, awards are given to both first place winners and runners up in each of the 33 categories.

“To be nominated is a great achievement,” said Alyson. “It means you have made a difference in your local community. But to actually win this major award makes all our hard work so worthwhile.”

Since starting her business in 2018, Alyson is thrilled that Poochee Care Limited has not only been shortlisted as a finalist in the Home Boarding Business of the Year category of the Pet Industry Federation Awards 2021 and was also a runner up in the Pet Directory Awards 2022, but has now scooped a top Welsh Business Award after just four years in business.

Alyson said she started her business after she traumatically lost her own dog, Molly, following a stay with a home-boarder. Her beloved Golden Labrador became unwell, but the carers did not advise Alyson nor did they advise any of her listed emergency contacts. When Alyson returned home, Molly’s symptoms worsened and the poor dog lasted only a few more days.

Alyson said: “That experience absolutely devastated me and I didn’t want anyone else having to suffer what we went through. So I decided to create a dog boarding experience where there is only a maximum of three dogs staying at any one time. This means that owners can enjoy their holiday without having to worry about their pets as they know they are being well looked after.”

Alyson would like to invite other like-minded animal lovers to join the Poochee Care family and can offer a Poochee Care franchise to others who would like to home-board dogs. She said: “The ideal new franchisees would be a couple – ideally semi-retired or with no children under five years of age – and with no resident dog of their own. Dog boarders can care for their new pet friends for any length of time – for long or short holidays or a weekend break.

“I would love to help other animal lovers start their own home-boarding business. Home-boarding pets is not a job for me – it’s a passion and so rewarding!”

To find out more about Poochee Care – about home-boarding your pet or starting a home-boarding franchise, contact Alyson Lane on 07483 401078, info@poocheecare.com or visit https://poocheecare.com/.