Table of Contents
It’s a drizzly, tropical Friday and Deborah Maida is maneuvering two frisky golden brown puppies, Cooper and Jesse, around Horn Pond in Woburn. Despite the intermittent rain, it’s a great day for a walk, but for Maida it’s all business, even if that business does include lots of tail wagging and the occasional wet kiss.
Maida and her Winchester based business No Dog Too Small, a play on the saying “no job too small,” provides training, care and education for all families and dogs of all ages, sizes and breeds.
“I’ve always had a passion for animal care and dogs and cats,” she said. “I grew up with so many animals, my parents always had us around animals and what a great thing, right?”
So great, she turned it into a business.
In 2010 Maida, a Winchester native, began walking dogs for another company, but by 2013, she felt ready to strike out on her own. Maida said she’d already run a personal training business.
“So I knew I was capable of running my own business,” she said. “I was always thrilled to create and start something new … so I started my business which is No Dog Too Small, dog walking and pet sitting.”
Evolution
Then in 2020 came the pandemic, when the entire world shut down and the big question became, “how are we going to maneuver the business so that we’re still doing it?” Maida said. She said she needed to figure out safety protocols while maintaining the company’s momentum. And she did — so much so that Maida not only managed to keep her business going during the COVID-19 shut down — she grew it.
“I started to promote mobile drop by visits,” she said.
Clients working from home or on a hybrid schedule, would leave their pets in the foyer or the mudroom where a masked up Maida would pick them up for a walk. Though clients might have cut their scheduled walks in half, Maida said she used the down time wisely.
“It was during this timeframe … I wanted to do more with animals,” she said. “I went back to do more dog training.”
Licensed through Family Paws, Maida began to work with new parents who already had dogs living in their home.
“I felt it necessary to help educate in order to prevent bites, and how you can navigate a successful home with a dog and an infant,” she said, adding, “and a growing infant, because infants become toddlers and then toddlers become little kids. There’s all different stages.”
Maida said she began to offer family plans and consultations that included teaching adults skills and animal training. She also, after much research, began to incorporate dog and cat food and supplements in her offerings from a company called PawTree.
Maida also developed services like basic puppy training, adolescent training for when dogs start jumping or getting into mischief and socializing dogs through playgroups at a local park. She even started taking on more unique gigs like teaming up with realtors and even wedding planners.
Maida said she’ll take pets out for a walk during an open house or if your dog is going to be part of your wedding, she’ll pick the pup up for the service or photos then whisk him/her away so they don’t get lost in the reception.
She also offers a walk and train program, which is what she was doing with Jesse and Cooper on that rainy Friday.
Cooper is just a year and a half old, Jesse is a little older, Maida explained. Walking the dogs one-on-one or two-on-one as it were, gives her the ability to spot certain behaviors that she can then redirect. She said she likes to walk Jesse and Cooper together because they have a nice rapport and Cooper takes behavioral cues from Jesse — most of the time.
“Of course, they’re animals, so nothing’s perfect, right?” she said with a laugh. “When I first started walking them, we’d be walking when all of a sudden, my leashes are twisted, dogs are flying and people are like ‘oh there goes that trainer, she’s doing a great job.’”
But Maida noted people don’t have to have a package deal, they can choose services a la carte. Her goal simply is to “offer a more of a comprehensive pet care business,” she said.
IT edge
You wouldn’t think animal care would have a technical edge to it, but it does.
“We work with software so each client gets updates and photos and a journal,” she said.
It also has GPS so owners know when and where their pets have been walked. For example, Maida said, Cooper and Jesse’s owners will see that they did a loop around Horn Pond Friday. They also use Slack, a communications tool so Maida and clients can be in close communication.
Growing pains
Maida’s company was growing even before COVID and up until 2017, 2018 she had been doing all the work herself. Then she took a leap and hired some help. She said her employees are trained in pet CPR and first aid and are able to take training courses on a platform called Fetch. And every new client, whether it’s for dog walking or sitting or training, starts with a meet and greet between people and animals.
“We hope that we’re building relationships through time,” she said. “Building trust and relationships, that whole process is so important.”
Maida serves animals in Middlesex County, including Winchester, Woburn, Arlington, Medford, Stoneham, Reading and Wakefield. Check out all she has to offer at https://www.nodogtoosmall.com/.
