A little about me and how All Tails "R" Waggin came to be

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I am 52 years old and for my entire life I have loved and owned animals. As a child I was always curious and wanted to play with any pet and/or wild animal I could get my hands on. I have owned horses, a couple of cows, chickens, rabbits, hamsters, snakes, and a whole lot of dogs and cats over the years. ( I'm down to 8 dogs.)

My parents were sure I would go to college to become a Vet, but the thought of having to operate on an animal did not sit well with me. So I decided to become a Social Worker like my parents. I graduated from OSU in 1993 and after a year of social work, I decided that was not the career for me.

I Decided to quit my job at a Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center where I was working.  In the weeks before I quit my job, one of the patients I was counseling mentioned his wife was a Dog Groomer.  I was curious about this career and asked him lots of questions. I had never considered Grooming, but thought this would be the perfect job. I could work with animals and wouldn't need an operating table, just a grooming table.

After Grooming for about 6 years, I decided to build my dream kennel. With much preparation and research, the new kennel was completed and opened in April 1999, and like they say, "Time flies!"

Lastly, I would like to say, either Buy from a responsible breeder or adopt your next pet. I have 5 rescued mutts and 3 Dobermans (2 of which are A.K.C. Champions ). Just do your homework and don't support brokers buying from the Amish! I have been involved with various great rescue groups, and have helped countless abandoned, abused, and neglected pets and puppy mill dogs find their new forever homes. The natural progression of this, was of course, to start my own rescue, called ..what else...All Tails Rescue.

We have an official Petfinder page, which is also linked on our Adoption/Rescue page. Petfinder is a great resource for anyone looking for a new pet. All the pets we have up for adoption are listed there. Check it out!! We feel that everyone needs to do their part to help the increasing rise in the homeless pet population. It has become my strongest passion to help as many pets in need as I can while I'm on this earth! To this point we have rescued close to 2,000 pets.

In order for us to keep all of the dogs safe and healthy, we have also built a new isolation area in the back of the building to house all of our incoming rescues and strays. This area is completed isolated from our customers dogs in the main kennel/ deluxe buildings. This has allowed us to bring in a much greater number of dogs into our rescue program. It allows us to bring them in safely, have them assessed by a vet, given their vaccinations, wormer, etc. so nothing they may have will ever be passed to a customers pet. This is completely out of our own pockets, and is a way of giving back to those who have no voice...(just a bark).

There are thousands of pets getting put to sleep every year. People need to have their pets spayed or neutered, have them trained, and don't give up on them if they become a little tough to handle. It is really a shame that some people these days have the attitude that their pets are disposable.

Pets should be treated as a loved family member which cannot just be thrown away. All of us in the pet care field have heard every excuse in the book about why someone needs to give up their family pet. It's because they have a behavior problem, a medical problem, they need to move into a new house, that is too small for the family pet, or they just had a new baby, and their 7 year old golden retriever with hip dyspepsia now needs a home.

We have heard all the excuses. I am writing this, in hopes that if only one person reading this, who was considering getting rid of their pet, changes their mind that's one less dog that will be homeless. It is an epidemic, and unless someone is deathly ill, there is no excuse for dumping a pet. Please help spread the word!

Well, It has been quite an ongoing endeavor, but definitely worth the ride! It's every persons dream to own their own business and also do what they love. I am lucky to have both!

Renee Nichols