Sarah’s Snouts Services blossomed out of one of the hardest times of my life, and continues to grow into a dream come true. It was always my answer when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, even after I’d already passed the “grown-up” stage where people stop asking that question. I’ve always had a deep love and passion for animals. Abandoning the idea of post-secondary education, I instead ventured into the retail world where I gathered SO much knowledge and worked my way up into management positions. Not long after that, I found myself working for a marketing company managing their research call centre. It was in 2017 when my world really started crumbling. I got diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder and was advised to leave my job. I spent the better part of 2017 trying to navigate life with this knew knowledge (and little understanding) of what exactly I had been struggling with my whole life. I couldn’t work, I couldn’t socialize, I could hardly convince myself to eat most days. I started fostering dogs for a rescue group and quickly fell in love with the idea of being around as many animals as possible. I posted a status on Facebook saying I was off work and had a fairly big fenced in backyard and that I was more than willing to offer up my time and space for any fur friends interested or in need. The post got shared quite a bit, but I didn’t get any real interest. Finally, in early summer, a friend referred me to someone who was looking for a dog walker and I was lucky enough to nab the opportunity to hang out with one of the sweetest, best behaved fur friends I’d ever experienced. I found myself finally looking forward to getting up and getting out because spending time with animals has always been something that made my heart happy. It was a 3 month gig, and I was happy to have the small commitment of hanging out with my new fur friend whenever his hu-mom was working. After 3 months, when they were packing up to move along to another place his owner was nice enough to offer to be a reference for me if I decided to look into getting more clients. And thus, Sarah’s Snouts Services was born. I’ve been so lucky to accumulate so many amazing clients and fur friends so far, and I can honestly say I love what I’m doing. As I wait to go through some professional treatment/therapy for my mental illness, my Snouts have been the best therapy to bridge the gap between wait times that I could ask for. Every new Snout I add to my pack adds something special to my life. Together, they all continue to make me feel loved, confident and capable. With the reassurance of every wet kiss I’ve been able to utilize the knowledge I’ve accumulated in business management to really put my best foot forward in this new journey. I couldn’t do it without them and I couldn’t do it without YOU. So thank you, to all my clients – past, present and future - for making my dreams come true, one healing paw print at a time.
