HELPING HANDS PET SERVICES

Poo

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:15:00 +0000

Hello readers,

Happy New year, I wonder what 2012 will bring for Helping Hands as we go into our 5th Year of business. Its always exciting when a new year comes, already we have bookings for 2013 so thats a great start ! we are also looking for a part time dog walker for Gateshead, this is a lovely little job for someone who wants to work with great dogs, be out in the fresh air and be part of a growing family run business, already we have had a lot of applicants, but we never rush our choice, we are very particular about who we employ.

We walk the dogs in some beautiful places but i have to say i cannot believe the amount of dog poo we see??? I hate dog poo and we always try to avoid over populated places where people walk their dogs for this very reason so im baffled when we go to a rural place thinking it wont have many dog walkers going there to then see lots and lots of poo...Eeeew. The thing is we then come across walkers who scowl at us with our group of dogs thinking its us not picking up after our gang when we do !!!. I dont understand people who dont pick it up, they really are spoiling walks for everyone. Martin went to walk his dogs in a well known part of Newcastle that is popular with runners and walkers and dog walking services. Martin thought it would be a nice change for his gang, but as he was getting his dogs out of the car ready to head off he noticed another dog walking service who ignored the fact that some of their dogs were doing a poo and he noticed they didnt have any used bags either ( the bins are where you park the car ) so they must not of picked any of their mess up??? now if they go there everyday, which they seem to, then those dogs will be running in it and then contaminating their vehicles and possibly their owners homes?? so martin put his gang back in the car and left and went to a walking area that isnt full of poo. I would like to buy a field for Helping Hands dog walking service so we know our dogs can have fun walks without having to stand in other dogs mess, i think we will do that one day. Im waiting for the goverment to start financially punishing pet services with expensive licences or something, i think it will happen and it will be the good services like us who suffer and the rogue one's, the ones who dont pick up the poo or have insurance or pay their taxes because its all cash in hand or have the proper things in place to run a safe service who will get away with it. Crikey somethings never change, ive started the new year with a RANT !

Onto nice things....Toni one of our dog walkers has had her baby... a little girl called Holly and she is gorgeous. Congratulations Toni and Kal. We have had lots of new cats come onto the mobile cattery service over Christmas so a big hello to all our new clients. I love the mobile cattery service, its an extended family of cats to us, we visited Dexter and his brother Sebastian for a full month over December to the beginning of January, they are siamese and adorable....we missed seeing them everyday when the booking finished but im glad to say they have just been booked again for a few days in february so we will look forward to giving them a hug then. The dog walking service is back to full throttle after Christmas, all the dogs get soooooo excited to be with their buddies again, we cant help but laugh at their antics. Its so muddy at the moment that most days the dogs are filthly, especially the labradors, we do shower them down but my apologies for any mud that might creep into their beds when they are dropped off, im looking forward to getting out of my wellies and back into my walking boots so roll on spring. I have intended to spend more time in the office but until we get another person on board to help with the dogs im afraid you might get the answering machine quite a lot at the moment but dont be put off, leave your message and i will get back to you.

Well thats all for now, i hope your all sticking to your new year resolutions, i didnt make any but i have decided to eat healthy from now on....and im taking Paul on this trek with me, ( oh yes the big fella is coming down with me....in size ) so out with the junk and take aways and in with good healthy food. I bought a diet magazine as motivation and a woman who had started a cattery business had the same problem, no time to do anything else as the business was their total focus, so they ate on the run and from take aways, ( i thought i was reading my story ! ) she put on 4 stone before she knew it but she changed her ways and looks great now, so there is hope. No doubt i will keep you updated in my blogs with how its going, i cant give up my glass of wine at the weekend though but ive sacrificed pizza instead, so i think thats a fair trade.

Bye for now

Best wishes from

Dawn

What A Year !

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:05:00 +0000

Hello Everyone,

I cant believe we are reaching the end of 2011. THANK YOU so much for all the lovely gifts we have recieved so far, its truly overwhelming how kind and generous you are to all of us at Helping Hands.

How do I sum up 2011??.....WOW what a year !! it has been our best year yet for growth with the business, our mobile cattery service has a huge loyal clientele who have really put the word out about us, the clients coming to us from recomendations has been a record high this year, the service is so popular and is a full time job in itself and its with thanks to all our Helping Hands staff that we can run everything so smoothly and reliably....and im glad we can offer services at the drop of a hat when our clients need it , especially this year as we have had a baby boom with our dog walking clients ! when we got a text at 4.30am off a nervous dad-to-be at the hospital supporting his wife, he knew he could contact us to go and take care of their furry child at home who would need her 6am walk and breakfast. I gave one quick phone call to Martin who is their dog walker and he was duly there at 5.55am and all was well.

We had a FIRST for Helping Hands in February 2011....a client who didnt pay for her service! Now im a very fair person but this particular client kept making excuses after excuses as to why her Dog Walking fee wasnt paid, i did make allowances for the glitch of internet banking but when the promised cheques and cash didnt materialise after week 3 i knew i was being fobbed off...so what do you do???....we had contiunued to provide the service, after all when their lovely little dog is so excitied to see you and wants to go out you cant just leave them at home, so at week 4 and the last promised payment was not there i left a note, I text and I emailed the client ( just to make sure she got my message ) that we would be suspending her service if the payment was not there the following Day and her dog would not be walked , this then got a very angry responce from the client who decided she wanted to cancel her service as she did not like my tone! So the phrase " Sour Grapes " sprang to mind as she has had a superb service that she was going to lose. Sooooo long story short, after she sent a cheque that she then cancelled when she got her keys back, how rude !! I followed the only course possible... through the courts, and when i told her of my intention it triggered a lot of intimidation and bullying off this client who said she would bad mouth Helping Hands on social networking sights such as twitter and face book if i persued her for payment through the court..well that is just a red rag to a bull with me!! I did not correspond with her anymore and ignored her threats even though it did worry me a little as she is quite high profile in the NHS and we have a massive amount of NHS clients...but again Sour Grapes came to my mind, she is upset that i suspended her service and she would not have the flexible service that she needed and relied upon. Im very pleased to say that the court was quite rightly in our favour and placed an attachment of earnings on this clients wages.

Spring was a great season, the lovely weather brought everything to life and lots of bookings for clients going on last minute holidays to take advantage of the heatwave. The Royal wedding put a cheer in everyone's day, any excuse to have a party ! I managed to spend some time with my family in Nottinghamshire to watch the wedding thanks to Toni, Martin and Paul for running things, it was a memorable day. Our puppy care service had new additions and the dog walking service had graduates from the puppy care service...phew it was a busy time.

Spring soon became Summer and our regulars booked in for their holidays, I can practically predict who will book and when....and felix's owner is often on route when she books, it always makes me chuckle in fact i did have a little premoniton that she may book when we were going to be out of office for a weekend ( paul and I were having a chillaxing weekend in filey ) even though Martin was checking the office messages daily I felt I should send Jean a text to contact my mobile if she needed the mobile cattery service over the weekend and then i could let Sharna or Martin know to provide the service....and bless her she phoned me to thank me for thinking ahead as she would need us.

We had a very busy end of summer....life threw a test at us! Steve our dog walker broke his wrist, Toni our other dog walker got the flu and Sharna our Cat girl and multi tasker, her new car broke down and had to be in the garage for 5 days, this was all in one week and it had to be on our busiest week ever ! So with most of the staff down plan b comes into play, fear not we are always prepared and with Martin and Emma Lister-Jarrett on hand and sharna on foot we coped brilliantly even though we were very tired by the time September arrived, we all had a feel good factor for a job well done.

Winter 2011 has started to throw its snow ...again ! We are quite use to it now, our trusty 4x4 gets us around. Santa Paws is organised this year, sadly last year my Father passed away in November and Paul's father had passed in August, so i just couldnt seem to get Santa updated with the usual photo cards, calenders and treats but this year im back on track and we are now in the week before Christmas. I just have consultations for new clients up until Thursday 22nd then that should be it...all booked in and raring to go. The last minute touches to the staff work schedules need doing and then our festive busy season begins on Friday, I cant wait, we have Dog walking Services then lots of cats, Hampsters, house bunnies, outdoor rabitts, Guinea pigs a Gecko and 2 new Ferrets having Mobile Cattery and Small Pet visiting services....Ho Ho Ho ! we all enjoy working over the Christmas holidays its a very magical time and we like to make it special for the pets, that is where Santa Paws comes in.

So all that is left to say is I wish you all a very Wonderful Christmas and New Year. I hope you get to relax, spend time with loved one's and that Santa leaves you some lovely presents under the tree. Myself and all at Helping Hands Thank You for using our services this year, Thank You for all the fabulous comments on our website and Thank you for all the promotions you have done for Helping Hands by telling family and friends about us...We are just one big and very extended happy family.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR !

See you all in 2012

Best wishes From Dawn, Paul, Martin, Emma, Sharna, Toni, Steve and Kirsty who have all been your Helping Hands in 2011 x x

Notice Something Different ?

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:05:00 +0000

Hello Everyone,

We have made a few changes here at Helping Hands. You may notice that we have changed our name slightly...we have taken off the Errand part and are now known as Helping Hands Pet Services.

We have decided to stop providing the Errand Services, dont worry to the clients who have their regular errands and Senior Service they will still continue for you, but for new and future clients its pets only. I had to think long and hard about this decision as i have been very proud to introduce the first Errand Service to the north-east, it was something that wasnt around when i started looking in 2006, there was only concierge services, which are great but a little to posh for what i was looking for, so after a lot of research i found that the americans used Errand Services daily and i knew that would be perfect for my clients. I liked the way the Errands went hand in hand with the pet services and they have been growing in popularity with some of our clients but now that we are so busy with our pet services it is hard to find someone to cover the Errands so im keeping the service just for them that do have their regular runs which we are use to providing and they fit in nicely but there isnt room for new work with Errands so its goodbye to one of the Helping Hands twins. Another reason to stop them is that they are not unique to Helping Hands anymore, ive noticed services adding errands and home help but none more rude than a new service that set up in Newcastle earlier this year who stole our Errand service. They very unscrupulously copied them practicaly word for word off our website. I did challenge the owner of the service about this and they denied ever hearing of Helping Hands...but they would say that wouldnt they ! I suppose if you think about it they wouldnt of put the time in to research and put together their services because they just took them off our website, and if your setting up a new business wouldnt you want to know who was around that you would be in competion with?? you just have to google pet services for newcastle and gateshead and it brings up Helping Hands, how this new service had never heard of us baffles me....yet they have all our services??....hmmmm just goes to show that you have to be careful when you chose your pet service as this new one in Newcastle who pet sit ....aint honest !

This year we have had a lot of heartache with clients pets passing away....six dear cats have passed, toots the guinea pig and kym the first ever dog...it still upsets me and we miss them all, sadly last week Louis the cat was put to sleep due to ill health, poor lisa his mum is devasted and who wouldnt be, louis was the most gentle loving cat you would want to meet, he loved Helping Hands visiting him and would always sit on my knee enjoying being brushed.....and today i have had an email off another client also called lisa who is the proud mum of 2 young cats called lucie and charlie, she had the very sad news that Charlie had been hit by a car last month and she died instantly. It seems lucie was at such a loss without her sibling so just recently they have adopted Ed a lovely little boy who is driving lucie mad...but in a good way....and is easing lisa and her familys grief for Charlie. So this is one part of running a pet service i dont think i will ever get use too, as we love all our clients pets just like our own and we feel every loss, we have much empathy for the owners.

Not to end on a sad note i just want to mention our Dog Walking Service. Martin and Sharna are doing a fantastic Job and they have lovely dogs on their rounds, we have had Wiston join some of the Gateshead dogs, he is a Black lab and has fitted in with his group of friends as if he has known them forever, he mainly walks with Desmo the golden lab and Jenson another very handsome Black Labrador then poppy the terrier, Ella the cavalier king charles and Sadie the springer spaniel. I must admit Winston is a very strong and powerful dog and we have noticed that he is very keen to run...after Sadie ! as you know springers love to run and run and run...so Winston has been as well with great determination, he has great stamina, he is in love and i think Sadie is with him. Sadie is very petite for a springer, she is very young, not even one yet but crikey she is boisterous and one of the lads! she loves to grapple and wrestle with the labs, to make them chase her it is hilarous to watch. I feel very lucky and privileged to be out walking these wonderful dogs, the 3 labradors love nothing better than running in the countryside fields and lanes, we have wonderful adventures with them.....even when Jenson enticed Desmo to jump in a dyke!! gosh they were filthy and smelly....the RAV smelt of it for weeks but the boys didnt care they were having great fun and even though it was a disaster we couldnt help but laugh at their cheekyness. I will get some photos of them on the website asap. I realised why my phone pictures are a bit misty and unclear...the lens needed cleaning!!! i thought it was just a rubbish camera, so im glad that we can now ( after 18 months of fog ) get some clear shots of all the pets.

Bye for now

Best wishes from

Dawn x

Twitter or FaceBook? Neither Thanks !

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:50:00 +0000

Hello Everyone,

Christmas is nearly here, we have been and bought our 6ft tree and put it up already ( 29th November ) early i know but December goes Soooooo fast i want to make the most of our beautiful tree.

I have been in a dilema recently. I know the trend at the moment is to be online as much as possible through networks such as facebook or twitter and as a business it seems the logical thing to do BUT im not so sure. To help me make up my mind I have made the effort and sat down at my laptop and surfed the net and I have come accross Pet Services who are tweeting and stuff. I think sometimes there are things being written that maybe shouldnt and its all a bit overfamiliar for my liking. Helping Hands IS out there but not on Facebook or Twitter....so the dilema was should we be? I like the idea that i can send photos instantly to these sites and i see that clients can be " Your Friend " I do have a personal Facebook page, im a billy no mate though, i have about 30 friends..how sad, but its not because im unpopular ( i hope not...eeek ) but its a time thing...I dont have any ! im so busy with my mobile taking calls, texts and answering emails there is no room for tweeting or facebook, so it would be a very negleted page which i think would give a bad impression of Helping Hands and if i had the time to tweet and face book several times a minute, hour and day ( i have seen a service doing lots of chatting ) then your not very busy with your work??? so again i think that would give a very bad impression. So the decision was made...its a NO.... Helping Hands is bang on trend but not in your face. Helping Hands is friends with all our clients anyway and we dont need facebook or twitter to know that. We have a super website to put our photos on and a page where clients can leave their comments but mostly and i think quite importantly Helping Hands has a little mystery, discretion and dignity about it unlike some of the tweeters and networkers who expose so much. I have read on some of these sites where some are derogatory about their clients and pets and yet i dont think they realise that they are being like that ( this was quite a new service i noticed ) maybe they shouldnt be tweeting or facebooking when relaxing with a beer its not a good idea! overfamiliarity is not a good thing and you have to remember the impression you are giving to clients and potential clients. Keep Facebook and Twits sorry Twitter as a bit of fun and for personal use only or do so at your own risk !

We are having our Christmas work Do soon, im looking forward to that, a couple of sherry's around Newcastle Quayside and a meal will be fun, sharna has her posh frock chosen already?? crikey she puts me to shame that one ! I suppose I will have to dig out some "girl clothes" ...Im so use to wearing my uniform and wellies I forget what its like to dress up?? saying that, for work I always wear my make up , pink or red lippy and mascara to remind me im a lady and not a dude !

Have fun putting your Christmas Tree's and decorations up.

Best Wishes

Dawn

Dont You Just Love This Time Of Year !

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all had fun at halloween and bonfire night, we didnt get anyone knocking for trick or treat this year, i think its due to where we live, its a bit dark and spooky at night without it being halloween, and as its quite a high point ( feels like a mountain ) its always very windy and gusty...so i couldnt waste these lovely offerings we had prepaired could I, so chock fest it was for me for a few days. I needed the comfort of chocolate to get me through X factor , which has been rubbish this year. We are normally huge fans, and it was great fun watching the auditions but the live shows have been very disappointing, so for the first time ever, we have switched off ! thank goodness for Big Brother and Downton Abbey is all i can say.

I love Autumn. My birthday month is October so im not sure if that has anything to do with it, but i just find these months to be exciting with the feeling of hope and expectations, it always feels magical and mysterious. I love to see all the colours of the leaves change then fall...I love to walk around the farmers market and buy the seasonal products...I love the nights to start drawing in early....I love to have cosy nights with the fire and candles lit....its a very relaxing time of year after having a very, very, busy spring and summer season....the slower pace of life and daily routine is a welcome change....Then before we know it Winter has arrived ! and things start to really speed up again....Christmas is just around the corner...I will have to get busy posting the clients Christmas Cards and remember to let santa paws know how many pets will be holidaying at home on Christmas day so he can leave them a gift under their tree. Throughout December the office phone rings off the hook, the mobile bleeps and flashes with text and email, and the diaries fill up with bookings from established clients and consultations for new clients who usually own Cats, Rabitts, Hampsters, Gerbils and sometimes a Gecko or two...dont you just love this time of year? I do !

Keep Warm

Best wishes from

Dawn x

A Sad Farewell To Kymm

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:45:00 +0000

Hello Everyone,

We have had a difficult week here at Helping Hands. One of our clients dearest dog has been poorly this week and very sadly had to be put to sleep today due to a tumour that was incurable. We all feel heartbroken at Helping Hands about this and cant imagine how Sue, Kymms owner must be feeling.

Kymm joined Helping Hands dog walking service in January 2008, due to sue's poor health we walked kymm for her everyday of the week. I remember her very first walk, she was nervous to come out with me and had to be gently coaxed by lilly ( sue's elderly mum ) kymm soon relaxed though as we strolled round her favorite park, Saltwell in Gateshead. In no time kymm was in the routine of coming out for her daily adventures, she has travelled to many places across Tyne and Wear and met lots of new doggy friends. We could walk Kymm with any dog, her gentle nature posed no threat and she was a popular dog on the service. I handed some of the Gateshead dogs over to Kirsty and she became kymms Dog Walker for a couple of years, I walked kymm at the weekends, and she loved having the variety of people including Emma and Martin when they have walked her.

Doggy Day out was a favorite trip for kymm, she loved to go to South Shields with her best friends. Kymm was great at playing football and was a challenge to any of her friends if they tried to get the ball off her, we laughed in amazement watching her skill with the ball, she could put the players at Newcastle United to shame !!

So its with a heavy heart we say goodbye to little Kymm. We have a tribute album for her on the website so take a look at this lovely little lady who will be greatly missed by us all.

Bye kymm... with Love from your walkers past and present ...Dawn, Paul, Emma, Martin, Kirsty, Toni, Steve and Sharna x x x

A Pet Loss Poem.....from RainbowBridge.com ...Dedicated to Kymm, Toots the guinea pig, cats Hardy, Fidel and Smudge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

A Day In My Life At Helping Hands

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:15:00 +0000

The Diary entry is Tuesday August 9th, a typical day at Helping Hands

5.00am...Feel's a bit chilly this morning. quick cuppa and toast before Jumping in the shower and heading off. Got some hens to let out so need to get a move on...

5.40am.... on the road to Gosforth, its lovely and quiet, hardly any traffic. The 3 ladies are now out of their hen house and free to roam the garden, we give them breakfast and find 2 eggs in their house...lovely ! We have lots of breakfast visits to do for pets holidaying at home, who is next on the list?.

7.30am... Its been a busy morning so far, Sharna has text to let me know her breakfast visits are going well and no traffic problems anywhere. On our travels we continue...places wev'e been, places to go....gosforth, Benton, Wallsend, Whickham, lobley Hill, Dunston, Birtley and Gateshead.

10.30am....Make a quick Coffee and I nip into the office to make a couple of phone calls, answer some emails, put the bookings in the diaries, sort out the keys we need for the dog walking we are doing today.

10.45am...on our travels again...on our way to start picking up Bebe, Phoenix, Miley, Bonnie, Bella Bentely, Jude, who are all excited to see each other and have their walk in the woods at Hazelrigg.

11am... luckily i dont have to do the driving as we travel, this leaves me free to check in on my Staff by mobile in between jumping in and out the car collecting the dogs.

1.45pm...Dogs all dropped back off ,worn out and happy after their run round the woods..We need some lunch, not much time so its a macdonalds drive through for a Burger...now I know why im not a size 10 !!!

2pm...The first of 2 Consultations today...I meet 2 lovely house cats that live in jesmond

3pm ...Start of the afternoon tea visits for the happy Pets holidaying at home, we are passing a clients house who needs me to collect a key so i nip in for that.

3.30pm...Salt and Pepper the outdoor Rabitts at Whickham are in a happy mood, they love the new corn treats we have brought for them, we have to keep a good eye out for the Rat that has been prowling about at night, have to make sure he cant get to them.

4.30pm... Traffic is building up, think there has been a problem on the A1...I have my second consutation at 6pm at chester-le Street and we still have some teatime visits to do. whilst waiting in traffic I text Steve, Sharna and Toni to see how their day went, all have had a good day with no problems.

5.55pm...Energy drink and im ready for my consultation.

7.15pm....The Consultation was great. Now I have to drop off some clients keys for Sharna that she needs for the following day.

8pm...put the lovely ladies to bed...the hens in gosforth that is....decide im to tired to cook so we pick up some fish and chips...the diet can start tomorrow!!

9pm ...in the office listening to messages left on the landline answering machine, I email some quotes and update the diaries

9.30pm...cosy up next to Paul to watch a bit of TV and put my feet up and chat about the day...will have to head off to bed soon though, it all starts again at 5.00am....phew what a busy day....wouldnt want it any other way though...night, night

Whats New !

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 09:55:00 +0000

Hello Readers !

I hope you have enjoyed taking a look around Helping Hands website and reading all about us. After many requests Helping Hands have brought back " A Quick Chat " After saying goodbye to blogs 20 months ago it seems our Clients have missed reading about our adventures ! So here we go again.....

What a busy spring and summer season we have had. I would like to say a big HELLO to all our new Mobile Cattery Service and Pet Visiting Clients and thank you for all the texts and wonderful feedback you have sent me after your holidays, my lovely staff and I appreciate this, and to hear that all your Cats, Rabbits, Gerbals and Fish have enjoyed staying at home and having Helping Hands to visit is great. Helping Hands have been working for South Tyneside Cat Protection too, the foster carers of cats need holidays as well so im very proud that we were booked to provide our Mobile Cattery Service, allowing the rescue cats to stay in the carers homes instead of being sent to other carers, which left their spaces available for new rescues.

I will try and keep the News page up to date each week or at least once a month, time seems to go by SOOooo quickly, already we have bookings for next year and I usually have my new diary by now but for some reason I cant quite believe we are in September?? im still thinking how lovely the Royal Wedding was last week ! So its time to get organised. I will be in the office more now, it is a full time Job running it and i have neglected it slightly lately due to the very busy months, so my apologies for clients calling the office number and permanently getting the answer machine, Its been all hands on deck so we couldnt spare anyone to take the calls. Thankfully I have my blackberry ( i can never get it out my bum bag quick enough though when it rings ) it has email, its like a little office on the go, so I could keep a handle on some of the enquiries, again my apologies for any emails sent with spelling errors, emailing on the run can cause this. We have all been working very hard and pulling together giving 200 % plus to our Services and its been a fantastic time and we all have thoroughly enjoyed it. I think we have a couple of weeks of normality before the Autumn rush kicks in, so ive bought some new office furniture and storage and Paul and myself are going to re-vamp the place, Im looking forward to getting ship shape, my trusty Helping Hands will take the reign of providing the services.

If you are new to Helping Hands website and Services you can always contact me for a chat if you have any queries or questions about the service you need and if we are the people to provide this. We have staff members, Martin, Steve, Sharna and Toni working alongside us. We provide our services everyday of the year, we are never closed, fully booked, on holiday or off sick, you can rely on Helping Hands 24 hours a day 7 days a week come rain, shine, snow ( lots of that these past couple of years ) We value our clients greatly and care for their pets and homes whenever they need us to.

Enjoy the start of Autumn, its lovely to see the leaves start to turn gold, the Dogs on our Dog Walking Services love this time of year, chasing leaves, all the different smells and weather, Im hoping to get some great photos which i have of the dogs onto our site, but my phone is not letting me so its got to go for repair. Readers of this News page will soon learn im a huge fan of X Factor and Big Brother ( red wine and pizza too ) so keep checking into Helping Hands website and see what we get up to !

Bye for now

Best Wishes From Dawn Lister-Jarrett x

Hello 2010...Goodbye to Blogs

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:33:00 +0000

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What a great festive season we have had here at Helping Hands. Thank you for all your gifts and cards, we have been very spoilt again. We hope your pets liked what Santa Paws left for them!

This weather has made christmas and new year feel very magical. On one of our dog walks on New Years day we were in Saltwell Park in Gateshead, there were lots of families and couples enjoying snow ball fights and having a stroll, the park looked wonderful. The dogs love the snow, except little kym, she only likes it when its soft.

Ive decided to stop writing my Quick chat / blog. It was lots of fun writing them for 2009, instead I will be having a "quick chat " to my site members with a monthly newsletter. Ive received lots of feedback about my blogs from clients and website visitors, not all of it good...

( Oooops it seems I offended some of the other services out there ) but im glad you enjoyed my little rantings. Ive just joined Twitter, just to see what all the fuss was about and so i could read Celeb Big Brother tweets...and its really funny, im not sure if i like it or not! I do like the fact you can follow your favourite celeb and catch a bit of gossip, but i could imagine it to be very time consuming....so i wont be Tweeting.

So thats it for the quick chats....Thanks for reading them.

Best wishes

Dawn

What a year!

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:07:00 +0000

Hello!

Well the end of the year is nigh....and what a year its been. I have had a wonderful time running Helping Hands with the help of my staff and family. Right from January we havent stopped. I thought things would go quiet in the new year of 2009 but it didnt ( much to my delight ).

We employed Amy back in January as our weekend worker and what a great member of staff she was, she did eventually have to leave us to start her career as a doctor but she stayed working for us much longer than she thought she would as Amy enjoyed the work so much. Then along came Kirsty in May , employed to be our Gateshead dog walker. I remember it was such a relief to get help with the dog walking as we were getting rather stretched and tired running all the services. Kirsty is a natural to her job and all the dogs like her as do the clients, she is a little gem!

Spring and summer were very busy, Martin our son was a huge help with the mobile cattery and pet visiting services, the cat man of winlaton we teased...he didnt mind! He thoroughly enjoyed all the pets he helped with, which included Rabbits, chickens, guinea pigs all from different families in Whickham and of course the cats. We had a lot of bookings that were for months at a time. It was great fun visiting all these pets and at the end of a long summers day we would all meet up and pop to a beer garden for a quick well earned drink. We launched our dog boarding service in July, which was a great hit. We now only provide this service for the clients who have already used the service and also the dogwalking clients, this is because we dont have enough carer's to provide a full service, but it still keeps susan and donald very busy.

Autumn soon arrived! We provided our last house sit which was in consett for a lovely cat called Holly. It was a pleasure to stay with this little happy cat and we have agreed to go again next year even though we dont provide the house sitting service now, but i couldnt resist when asked...Holly is a joy and the house is lovely, the conservatory looks out over the countryside, it felt like a holiday for us!

We employed Gina to be our new weekend worker in October...sadly it didnt work out, she just wasnt the right person for Helping Hands. I had an uneasy feeling about her commitment to us so i asked some of my clients for feedback about her and lillian one of my elderly clients hit the nail on the head " There is something about her, i cant put my finger on it " is what she said and thats how i felt, so after only 4 weeks we parted company with Gina. In November after many months of looking for the right person we employed a young lady also called Kirsty to walk some of our Newcastle dogs. What a treasure she is turning out to be. Its funny because before she applied for the job, i had been watching some stable girls working hard in their yard, putting the horses away and i said to paul, thats what we need a hard working stable hand. Well Kirsty does work with horses and owns 2 of her own! These type of girls are use to hard graft and being out in all weathers and It was a plus that kirsty also had worked at the cat and dog shelter.

December has been a very busy month so far. We have had lots of new clients booking in for the mobile cattery service so ive been busy with consultations. We have lots of cats being visited over Christmas and New Year. Im very proud of this service, its a pleasure to provide and it gives us a real feel -good- feeling knowing the cats are happy and the clients too. Its a service that makes you feel very festive, we are out for 6am on Christmas morning, its so quiet and dark, we look at the houses we pass with the odd light on and can imagine how excited the children must be looking for their gifts. We see people's homes wake up and come to life whilst on our morning visits then at teatime when we are doing the pm visits we see people's homes snuggling down for the evening, getting cosy for a night of telly. We have a few dogs to walk at lunchtime on Christmas day, so i think we will do this after our lunch, walk off some of that turkey!

So lets hope 2010 will be as fabulous as 2009 for Helping Hands. We owe it all to our wonderful clients and their pets and we couldnt have provided such great services without the help from Martin, Emma, Amy, Kirsty, Kirsty, Susan, Donald, Laura, Linda and Steve...Well done my Helping Hands.

Well im about wrote out....I must just mention the X Factor, i will be voting for Joe this weekend, along with the rest of the north-east.... what will i do when its finished...Roll on Dancing on Ice!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Bye for now

Dawn