Just four years after starting her pet-sitting business, Debra Farrington has garnered one of the top honors in the field.
Debra Farrington’s Pet Sitting Etc., the business she runs in Hershey, has received this year’s Business of the Year Award from the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters. It was a pleasant surprise for Farrington, who stumbled into the business she started in 2007.
Farrington spent most of her professional life managing publishing companies, including a Christian publisher in Harrisburg that has since been bought out. But she switched to freelance writing about six years ago. After writing her book All God’s Creatures: The Blessing of Animal Companions, she realized that her real calling was to work with animals. After trying veterinary school she got a job with a local veterinarian’s office, doing everything from helping with surgery to working the front desk.
She started a pet-sitting business on the side and it quickly became a full-time venture. “I’ve run businesses my whole life, so I decided to run my own,” Farrington says. Her husband started working for the business after he was laid off from his job in 2008, and the pet-sitting business is close to supporting them completely.
She prides herself on running a business focused on personal service. She and her sitters care for plenty of animals with medical problems. “The vets know we can handle these things,” she says.
Farrington is hoping to hire three or four more pet sitters in an effort to expand to new geographic areas.
Source: Debra Farrington, Debra Farrington’s Pet Sitting Etc.
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen