About Us
Our mission is to provide a safe and fun environment for your pet while leaving you feeling confident about the care your pet is receiving. We understand that every pet is unique and we take pride in being able to cater to your individual pet’s needs.
Our vision is to create a new standard for the level of care pets receive.
We are a small family owned business, located near Halkirk, established as a grooming salon in 1992. Soon after we bought our family farm, we began receiving requests to pet sit. Laura's first dog had lost her leg and shoulder blade due to cancer at a young age. By this time she was 15 year old and required special care due to both her missing limb and senior years. This helped us understand the difficulty in leaving a beloved family member while away. We wanted to be able to provide a great experience for pets as well as peace of mind for their owners.
Our Boarding Team
Laura - Owner and Manager
Laura has loved being in the pet care industry for over 25 years. After graduating from an animal sciences program, Laura began her career as a veterinary assistant. Then, realizing her passion for animal welfare she started her own business as a pet groomer. After moving to an acreage outside of Halkirk she soon began to receive requests to pet sit her grooming clients. In 2009 she finally decided to take a leap of faith and start her own boarding kennel. Her goal when opening the kennel, and still is, to be able to provide a great experience for pets as well as peace of mind for their owners.
Laura has also taken a pet nutrition course and is certified in pet first aid as well as numerous other courses.
Tiana - Assistant Manager
Tiana grew up in the industry and knew from a very young age that she would follow in her mother’s footsteps. From playing veterinarian with our own pets to learning to groom dogs in her early teens, animals have always been her passion. She is a certified Veterinary Technical Assistant. In addition she has taken a pet nutrition course, pet first aid and is fear free certified, specializing in alleviating fear anxiety and stress for the pets in our care. Tiana has recently brought her first pet, Elsie, into her home and is keeping us all on our toes!
Tovah - Kennel Attendant
Tovah joined us in the spring of 2023 and has been an amazing asset to our team. She recently received her pet first aid certificate and has enjoyed learning more about the science behind dog behaviour. Coming from a background in house cleaning, Tovah excels in ensuring our facility is kept in tip top shape!
Cam - Kennel Attendant
Cam has been working for us this past year as a kennel attendant. He is very hardworking, reliable and does a great job with whatever we need him to do. We love this picture as it shows his caring nature and love of all animals.
Part Time Kennel Attendants
Jacey is going to university right now pursing her masters. When she is home, she is always helping out with both grooming and the boarding kennel. She started working as a grooming apprentice to Laura at a young age and has many years of experience working with animals. She recently adopted her first dog, a border collie cross, named Bear!
Kiara is in her last year of high school, but still makes time to help out when she is able! She has always loved working with animals and you can often find her in the kennel reading a book or watching a movie with the animals.
Kassie just recently started working at the kennel, but has always had a love of animals. She is the jack of all trades and is always eager to help with all aspects of the business. She can often be found helping out at the grooming shop or just hanging out with the animals. Her favourite game to play is fetch!
Our Grooming Team
Laura has been grooming pets for almost 30 years. She first started grooming while working at a veterinary clinic and soon after started Very Important Pets offering grooming for both dogs and cats. She has enjoyed continuing her education through various seminars and courses while learning about new styles and techniques as they change throughout the years. Laura is also pet first aid certified.
Tiana started her grooming career in her early teens as an apprentice to her mom, Laura. After graduating from highschool she started working full time at Very Important Pets. Tiana has been working as a groomer for almost 10 years now and has continued to further her education in the pet care industry. In 2018, she became an internationally certified cat groomer and she plans to go back to school to gain more certifications. Tiana is also pet first aid certified.