Three Birthdays in August

August is a meaningful month around here, and this year we wanted to tell you why. There are three birthdays to celebrate. Two of them are ours — the third belongs to Simply Pawtastic.

We do not usually write about ourselves. This one felt worth an exception.

Before There Was a Business, There Was a Puppy

Almost eleven years ago, we left the country we were living in. A minor work visa mix-up on our employer’s side turned into a major one, and all of a sudden we found ourselves with two months to decide where in the world we would be living. We left behind careers we had built, plans we had already made, close friends, and Natasha’s family, and we arrived in the United States with four suitcases.

New York was not an accident. Both of us had known and loved this city for a long time, and living here someday was something we had always wanted. Getting here took real work, but we made it happen. However, the pressure of starting over from almost nothing does not disappear just because you have arrived somewhere you wanted to be.

We were figuring out our new life one day at a time when a couple from our building got a young puppy and asked us to stay with her while they traveled. We said yes immediately, and only afterward realized how much we had been missing having a furry baby in the house. Getting one of our own was simply out of reach for us at that point.

That couple later mentioned us to a friend, and that friend passed our name along too. One pet sit turned into another, and for a long time it was just the part of the week we looked forward to most.

So we cannot tell you the day we first cared for someone else’s pet. We had no idea we were starting anything.

What we do remember is the August we decided to take it seriously. That was the month we chose the name, put together our very first business plan, became insured, completed our Pet First Aid and CPR certification, and set the standards we have held ourselves to ever since.

The love for animals was already there, long before we even met each other. August was the month we gave it a name and a structure.

That is the birthday we count.

Our Extended Family

Do you know the feeling? Every pet parent we have ever worked with knows it, and it always starts the same way. The suitcase comes out. Your pet knows exactly what it means, and from that point on you are being supervised. Then you reach the door, you get that look from the hallway… and there it is.

Easing that feeling is the whole point of what we do. Not only keeping your pet safe and comfortable, though that will always come first, but making it possible for you to get through your day, or actually enjoy your vacation, without that weight sitting in the back of your mind.

The way we do it is simple. We care for your pets the way we would want someone to care for ours.

We mean that literally. Every pet we look after becomes part of the Simply Pawtastic family, and we do not use that word loosely. We know their personalities, their moods, their opinions about the elevator and the rain. We get attached. After a while, in the way that matters, they are ours too.

A Circle Worth Building

After years of working with pet parents in this city, one thing has become clear to us. They need more than a sitter. They need a veterinarian who answers the phone, a groomer who understands an anxious dog, a dog walker who will not rush a reserved one.

So we have been quietly building something larger than the two of us: a small, carefully vetted local circle of pet care professionals whose approach genuinely matches our own. When a member of our extended family needs someone, we want to hand them a name and a reason. Not a recommendation in general, but a professional we know has already helped one of our families with something similar.

It is slow work, and it should be. We are being as careful about it as we are about who joins our own team.