Owners of doggy day care firm in Halifax say the struggle has been worth it after having to close previous business due to Covid

Vanda Futerko and her daughter Krista opened Happy Paws, located on Soho Street, just off Queen’s Road, in December 2020 and have recently opened a new pet shop along side their dog day care business.

That was after their hopes of running a day centre for the elderly were stopped due to the coronavirus pandemic, forcing them to close their business after just one day.

"Before Covid we took this property on, and we had the intention of opening it to be a day centre. We opened for one day, because of Covid, and then we had to shut,” said Vanda.

"We didn't know where we were after many months. I'd taken this property on with no income and when it got to September I was on my knees. I'd run out of money and was

thinking 'what am I going to do?'

"My daughter said, 'can't we turn it into a doggy day care centre as it’s what she wanted to do all along?' we went through the process, applied for planning and a licence and it's the best thing we've ever done.

"We are very passionate about dogs having two of our own and we love it, we love all the dogs, and they absolutely love coming here.”

Vanda said they have had to work extremely hard but are happy now that the business is thriving and would like to thank everyone that helped to get their company started, as well as the staff and volunteers who keep it going.

"We're dead proud of what we've done. It's been a very hard and long journey, but we were so determined not to let the business fail and we haven’t,” Vanda said.

The business sees more than 30 dogs brought through their doors every day, and Vanda is hoping the addition of the new pet store will help maintain the firm's success.

"I want it to become a successful shop where people come even if they're not bringing their dogs to our day care," she added.

“Our prices will be kept competitive to help our customers and sustain our business.

“We’re just looking forward to seeing old and new faces in both the day care and their new pet shop and hope that Happy Paws continues to grow.”