Memoir of a woman who started a dog-walking agency and coming-of-age story combined.
This memoir and offbeat coming-of-age story opens in 2006 when late twenties ‘clumsy’ Kate MacDougall decides to leave her job of four years as a back office administrator at Sotheby’s. Despite having the relevant art history degree and the right background Kate is bored senseless and thoroughly disillusioned by the thought that this might be as good as it gets for adulthood! Making an impetuous decision to become a dog-walker, much to the exasperation of her mother, hugely relatable Kate takes her first step into the unknown long before the popularity of the American pet industry and the idea of dog walking as an occupation had landed in the UK. This book is the story of the dogs, owners and walkers whom she encounters at the helm of “London’s Number One Dog Walking Agency” over the next ten years as she simultaneously works out what she wants from life as an adult. From the unreliable walkers, neurotic owners and financial precariousness of the business, to the individual dogs each with their own specific requirements, this is a readable and lightly humorous look at Kate’s experiences.
Split into twenty-four chapters, each centred around a specific dog handled by the agency with some dogs appearing on multiple occasions, spanning 2006-2014 there is also a tally of the total number of dogs on the agency’s books. There are a few utterly charming moments including the story of elderly family dog, Stanley, and the bond fostered with Tom his eccentric walker as well as plenty of owners with crazy demands. As Kate shrewdly comments the demands of the owners is more often as not a reflection of their obsessions, insecurities and lofty expectations than about the actual dog themselves! From the financial crash of 2008 that almost brought the business to its knees through to the British public wholeheartedly embracing the idea that having a full-time job and owning a dog are no longer mutually exclusive, Kate MacDougall tells it all in her own words.
I was disappointed that the funny anecdotes highlighted in the premise are few and far between and there is precious little meat added to the bones of these comedy moments leaving me feeling a little shortchanged. Whilst I like dogs I was never gripped by the snippets of their lives and I found the book to have frequent lulls where I could have quite easily put it aside. After the witty opening chapters which really captured my interest I did feel like the writing took a step down and lost its early brio. Alongside the ups and downs of the business the book also tells of Kate’s own personal journey to settled adulthood, contentment and family life with a dog-ambivalent husband.
Split into twenty-four chapters, each centred around a specific dog handled by the agency with some dogs appearing on multiple occasions, spanning 2006-2014 there is also a tally of the total number of dogs on the agency’s books. There are a few utterly charming moments including the story of elderly family dog, Stanley, and the bond fostered with Tom his eccentric walker as well as plenty of owners with crazy demands. As Kate shrewdly comments the demands of the owners is more often as not a reflection of their obsessions, insecurities and lofty expectations than about the actual dog themselves! From the financial crash of 2008 that almost brought the business to its knees through to the British public wholeheartedly embracing the idea that having a full-time job and owning a dog are no longer mutually exclusive, Kate MacDougall tells it all in her own words.
I was disappointed that the funny anecdotes highlighted in the premise are few and far between and there is precious little meat added to the bones of these comedy moments leaving me feeling a little shortchanged. Whilst I like dogs I was never gripped by the snippets of their lives and I found the book to have frequent lulls where I could have quite easily put it aside. After the witty opening chapters which really captured my interest I did feel like the writing took a step down and lost its early brio. Alongside the ups and downs of the business the book also tells of Kate’s own personal journey to settled adulthood, contentment and family life with a dog-ambivalent husband.