Smiths’ Superior Pet Care is a new business that is providing in-home services for pet owners in the Omaha community. Linda Smith is the co-owner of Smiths’ Superior Pet Care.
Tell us a little about your business. – Smiths’ Superior Pet Care is a concierge service offering daily dog walking as well as at-home care and pet-sitting at your location. Our goal: To provide affordable care that is superior to boarding. We emphasize spending quality time with your pets—we don’t rush in and rush out. A daily walk is about an hour and our 24-hour care means staying with your pet most of the time.
How did you get started in the business? – Our business is new in 2014, but our experience in caring for animals goes back decades. We have owned dogs, cats, horses, exotic birds and tropical fish. Finding someone trustworthy to care for them when we travel has always been an issue, and we know others face the same challenge. There also have been times when we wished we had someone to let our Welsh corgis out or walk them during the work day. Recent changes in our lives have allowed us to put our love of animals at the disposal of others who have similar needs.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced professionally? – People don’t always see the value in hiring a service like ours when the kid down the street can drop by after school for less money. But our living room rug attests to one problem with that. We hired a college student to dog sit and it was very obvious that she didn’t show up when she had promised she would. Worse than the stains is the anxiety our pets must have felt, seemingly abandoned and unable to go out when they needed to. Another reason to hire an adult is if a pet becomes ill, an inexperienced person might not be able to differentiate between something minor and a serious illness. For instance, one cat we cared for just didn’t look right. It turned out he had developed severe pulmonary stress and we rushed him to the emergency clinic where he required intensive care.
What has been your most important achievement professionally? – I managed a riding stable while the owner was on maternity leave and when she came back she said “I couldn’t have done better myself”—and she was a real stickler for horse care. There wasn’t a single complaint from any of the boarders either.
Tell us a little about your family. – Both myself and my husband Rick grew up and lived most of our lives in the Philadelphia, PA area. My career in agricultural journalism brought us to Omaha and we love it here, where traffic is easy and the people are really helpful. I currently write on a freelance basis for several national magazines and a local commodity marketing firm. Our Omaha family includes three Welsh corgis. We have one son who is in a Master’s degree program in renewable energy systems in Iceland.
If you could choose only one descriptive word to be remembered as, what would it be? – Caring.
What is your favorite thing to do on a day off? – Dog agility is a passion for both myself and our dogs. When there isn’t a trial nearby Rick and I enjoy going to Heflinger Dog Park or walking around some of the nearby parks.
If our readers would like to contact you, how should they do so? – Our website, www.smithpetcare.com, explains our services and fees, including the discounts for repeat business and extended schedules. Otherwise, email smithpetcare@gmail.com or call (402) 916-5996.