The Daily Telegraph
3 October 2007

Gone to the Dogs Squad

Most youngsters give up their childhood jobs once they finish school, but Alex Bedwani turned his neighbourhood dog-minding service into a nationwide online directory for pooch sitters. Bedwani began minding dogs when he was 10 after his parents rejected his plea for a dog of his own.

“I guess it’s the age old story that I wanted a dog of my own and I wasn’t allowed to have one,” Bedwani says. “So I came up with the idea of looking after a couple of dogs at a time in my home. My parents embraced the idea thinking that it would not last very long.”

Soon Bedwani was employing local families to keep up with the requests. A decade on what began as a way of earning some pocket money has turned into a full-time business.

Bedwani who turns 20 this month, turned to the internet last year when he could no longer meet the demand for dog minders by himself and created findadogminder.com.au. Owners can search the website for people in their area who are willing to look after pets in their home.

“The owner can then meet with the minder directly to make sure they are compatible with the dog,” Bedwani says.

Dog minders come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from families who don’t want a full-time pet to professional breeders and trainers and as well as running the website, Bedwani still minds dogs himself.

“I still like to look after my regulars that I’ve had for years even though I have the online directory now,” he says.

“its really important there is a face behind the business. Because my business is online there’s a risk that people just think it’s a computer or robot doing it all.”

Much of time is spent replying to customers’ email as well as face-to-face networking with vets and dog owners.

“I’ve invested in a BlackBerry,” he says of his attempts to keep up with his emails. “It haunts me, I just cant get away from it.”

Bedwani says dog minders need to feed and walk the animal each day and in 10 years he has never had a serious problem.

“They just have to embrace the dog and give the dog the TLC the owner would,” he says. “The people who choose this service generally have great pride in their dogs and do the right things by them so you don’t tend to get much trouble.”

Bedwani is still to own a dog of his own.

“My hands are too full with other people’s dogs to have my own,” he says. “But if I did I would get a German shepherd, an awesome but totally misunderstood breed.”

-Henry Budd

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