PHILOSOPHY
We are highly invested in your dog’s well-being. This goes above and beyond: leash-to-collar, walk, bladder relief, back to home we go. Your dog’s health, their diet, their behavioral skills, their relationships with people and other dogs; all of these things are of the utmost importance to us and we take great pride in our attention to detail and our dedication to cultivating and fostering the growth, comfort and happiness of your dogs. We are passionate about inspiring trust in your dogs, winning their confidence with strong leadership, and loving them with the kind of demonstrative affection and animation that they reciprocate so naturally. All this highfalutin grandstanding aside, dogs are fun! As you are well aware! We celebrate that and it’s shared with you daily in witty musings of our adventures along with quirky pics or vids. We are about building relationships—with your dogs, your family and home as you wish.
Earlier today I checked in with a client who abruptly moved just outside of our service area. I wanted to check in and see how his pup was doing and how things were working out with their new service, who are fact a very large and popular service, I recommended them to him! He said things have been pretty good, “they have a bit more business to them which is fine and all but at times feels a lil impersonal compared to you”.…that statement is evidence of our philosophy in action. This is the gist: we take caring for your dogs personally.
Our Story
GoDoG was established in the Spring of 2008 by ME! Jason Durishin. I had worked in the hospitality industry for fifteen years; waiting, bartending, managing, you name it—doing just what we aspiring singers and actors do to pay the bills. I’d reached the end of the line in that industry, and performing was not paying the bills so I decided I was going to open my own bar. I had a blast writing a business plan and going all out with my vision and it looked as though it was going to cost about a million dollars! So I had to ask myself, did I really want to go deeper into that industry? I didn’t. So I read tons of books on entrepreneurship, I think Tim Ferris’ 4 Hour Workweek came out around then, my imagination starting churning. While I came up with several potential paths, I wanted something accessible, that I could do immediately - and wherein I’d still have time to pursue the arts.
Inspired by the enormous love for my then two year old Carlin Pinscher, Dirk, and a fire to work for myself, I did some research on dog walking, built a website in iWeb, had some biz cards made, got insured, took a class in CPR and first aid for dogs, advertised on Craig’s List, guerrilla marketed, collected unemployment lol, needed that, and voila! Off and running! I had no intention of growing the business beyond what I could handle myself but that summer of 2008, things just blew up rather quickly and by September I hired my first employee. Over the years I’ve had the honor and the privilege of knowing hundreds of dogs and my life has been enriched by each every relationship...And so the story goes, onward!
About the name...
Hey Jason, so what's with the name? Why y'all doggy business's have such corny names? Waggy Paws and Parks and Barks and Leashy Tails and what not? What's your excuse?
Well thanks! I'm glad you asked!
When I first started GoDoG, I didn't expect it to grow in to what it is today so I was pretty flip about choosing a name, and I loved palindromes, still do..and yes, I know, there's a famous children's book called Go Dog, learned that later, but that's not us! So being someone with a flair for the dramatic, I loved this God-Dog concept. The irony is that I would come to realize through years of taking care of dogs that they've really been gurus to me; they have taught me and continue to school me on so many beautiful spiritual principles such as patience, empathy, compassion, trust and ultimately presence. They center me. So what started out to be kinda tongue-in-cheek has really turned out to be quite a portent as far as our name is concerned. The natural rhythm of dogs continues to be a great teacher for me on how to be present in the moment. Hence the spiritual pun in the name has quite literally lived up to itself.