Pet Projects by Costco Canada
Costco recently invited readers in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom to share stories about their pet-related businesses, and the response was overwhelming. From groomers and dog walkers to veterinarians, inventors, and more, hundreds of passionate entrepreneurs stepped forward. Narrowing down the submissions wasn’t easy, but the standout entries highlight the creativity, care, and dedication driving today’s pet industry. Urban Paws Agency is thrilled to have Layla featured among these inspiring individuals.
Gail Walsh
My Dancing Dog
Peachland and Summerland, British Columbia
Gail Walsh teaches dogs and their owners canine musical freestyle, or dog dancing, along with other tricks. Walsh shows her clients how to cut a rug together to a choreographed piece of music.
Walsh, who discovered canine musical freestyle through a dog club in 1999, has performed in demonstrations with her own dogs, including at nursing homes and at community and school events. She’s even been in a play with her furry friends.
Walsh began teaching canine musical freestyle in 2013. Furthermore, after she moved from Surrey to Peachland in 2015, Walsh wanted to introduce the sport to people living in the Okanagan area.
“When I would talk to people about it, most had never heard of it or didn’t know what it was all about, so it was hard to get started,” she recalls.
Walsh has worked with around 170 students since she started Mydancingdog.com. Walsh also shows owners and their dogs how to perform moves in a sequence, perfecting each part of a routine.
“This is a great and fun sport to learn,” Walsh says. “The tricks can be incorporated into the choreography. Some clients take the class just to have fun and teach their dog some new tricks. Others take the class to learn to do a whole routine with their dog. Routines can be for beginners and up, and any breed of dog is capable of doing this sport, from a little Chihuahua up to a Great Dane. Handlers don’t need to know how to dance in order to do the sport. If you can walk in time to the beat of music, then you can do it.”
—Dan Jones
Layla Flaherty
Urban Paws Agency
Manchester, England
A combination of a deep love for animals and her own previous career as an actor and model was the motivation for Layla Flaherty starting her animal talent agency, Urban Paws (urbanpawsagency.com), in 2015. The company provides animals for commercials, film, stage and television, and also has a “pet influencer” division where owners create digital content featuring their pets for brands.
“I just came up with this crazy idea one day, and I thought, ‘Let’s go with it,’ ” says Flaherty, who has a degree in animal physiology and professional qualifications in animal management and grooming. “At the time, the only other agencies were all based in London, so I thought, why can’t we do something like this in northern England?”
One of Flaherty’s proudest moments was when the agency supplied the dogs that played Queen Elizabeth’s corgis in the Netflix series The Crown. “It was such an iconic show, and it was amazing to be involved,” she says.
As well as a plethora of cats and dogs on the books, Urban Paws can also supply horses, rodents, birds of prey and a variety of exotic animals.
“When the Netflix show Tiger King first aired, we had non-stop requests for tigers for about two years,” Flaherty says.
—Kelly Rose Bradford
Paul Nielsen & Lisa Hannah
The Bug & Meiko Company
Nashville, Tennessee
Paul Nielsen and Lisa Hannah started The Bug & Meiko Company (bugandmeiko.com) in 2024 after discovering a passion for producing cat content on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our content celebrates the joy of cat adoption,” says Nielsen. “Our first web series is called NashCats. The show spotlights acclaimed Nashville talent, including songwriters, musicians and singers, and their relationship with their beloved rescue kitties. We offer a merchandise line, with a portion of the proceeds donated to select cat rescue charities.”
—DJ
Alexandra Bachand
Eat My Shorts Imaging
Cavan-Monaghan, Ontario
Alexandra Bachand was a registered veterinary technician before starting her pet photography business (facebook.com/eat.my.shorts.imaging) in early 2024. Her business name is a nod to the television show The Simpsons, as her son Bartholomew (age 2½) shares a name with Bart Simpson, who often says, “Eat my shorts!”
“I primarily photograph dogs but I have been known to photograph reptiles and invertebrates as well,” she says. “I can shoot either on location using the natural landscape and scenery or a portable photo studio.”
“I’m not entirely sure what sparked my passion initially but, over time, I found myself really being drawn to photographing my dog [a 9-year-old mixed breed named Diesel] and others’ pets. In doing so, I’ve experimented with different techniques, such as camera flash and different lighting, along with varying techniques for acquiring the image I had in my brain.”
Bachand continues, “I do always find a great deal of satisfaction in taking a look at my image preview in-camera immediately after taking it and seeing something really cool, even when it wasn’t what I was trying for. Sometimes it’s harder than you’d think to capture an image that brings the vision and emotion to life, but when you get it, it’s a nice feeling.”
—DJ
Erma Wilson
Vet Tales
Jackson, Mississippi
Erma Wilson started her mobile veterinary business, Vet Tales (vettalesmobile.com), in 2019. The Jackson, Mississippi, resident had previously worked at a veterinary facility.
“I’ve always loved what I do, but have not always loved where I did it,” says Wilson, who has worked with dogs, cats, goats, chinchillas, guinea pigs, hamsters and more.
“My goal is to allow fur babies the comfort of being examined in their own home without anxiety and fear.”
—DJ
Marie-France Drolet
CaniSplash
Saint-Lin-Laurentides, Quebec
Ten years ago, Marie-France Drolet’s dog Izzy loved the game of leaping into the air to catch a toy—especially in water. Inspired by Izzy’s insatiable appetite for this activity, Drolet discovered dog dock jumping: a competitive sport where dogs’ results are measured in various aquatic events including swimming, retrieving and distance jumping.
In her search for a specialized swimming pool and ramp for Izzy to practice, Drolet found that the nearest one was more than two hours from her home. So, in 2019, she opened her own outdoor training facility, CaniSplash (canisplash.com), at her small farm in Saint-Lin-Laurentides, Quebec.
“Dogs and water are an amazing combination,” Drolet says. “The dogs go crazy for it.”
As an experienced dog trainer, Drolet offers coaching sessions to teach dogs how to dash down a ramp, spring into the air to catch a thrown object and land in her above-ground pool, measuring 12.5 metres (41.5 feet) long and 1 metre (3.5 feet) deep.
“There is training for the owners, too,” explains Drolet. “There is a certain timing and technique for tossing the toy so it can be caught smoothly.”
When she’s not travelling to dock jumping competitions with her current dog, Crosby, Drolet also offers beginners canine swimming lessons and recreational rental time in her pool for dogs who just want to play.
“I truly love spending time with dogs,” Drolet says. “They don’t judge you, they live in the moment, and they give 100% all the time.”
—Kristi York
Élaine Morin
Synergie Plumes & Poils
Trois-Rivières, Quebec
Élaine Morin’s passion is bringing people and animals together.
In 2009, Morin founded the business Synergie Plumes & Poils (synergiepp.com) so she could connect her clients with the therapeutic power of animals.
Based in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Morin and her colleagues lead animal-assisted interventions to support individuals with a variety of needs, including intellectual disabilities, autism, anxiety and addiction issues.
“We focus on the link between humans and animals,” Morin explains. “The presence of an animal can have a positive effect on a person’s motivation, learning and behaviour.”
Morin’s roster of trained therapy animals consists of four dogs and three parrots.
“With the dogs, I personally love having terriers in this role,” Morin says. “They are very single-minded—they have an objective and aren’t easily distracted from it.”
Morin also admires the instincts of her parrots during interactions with clients. “They’re like a mirror, because they see the truth,” she describes. “If a person says ‘I’m fine’ but they really aren’t, the bird will innately sense that something isn’t right. In these situations, the parrot will make a noise or open its crest with agitation.”
In addition to leading client sessions and training other animal therapy professionals, Morin has developed a home-based program to help pet owners develop a deeper connection with their pets, to boost communication and introspection.
—KY
