'I've been in business for nine years. I used to work for a pet store, delivering prescription pet foods to veterinary hospitals and taking medicines to their clientele. Then the store went bankrupt. I asked the owner if I could solicit the veterinarians. He said, 'No problem'.
I started the business out of a one-bedroom Manhattan apartment with one vehicle. It was the veterinarians who made me realise there was a need for pet transportation. At that time, the company was called Veterinary Food Delivery Service. The banks wouldn't give me money and I had bad credit. But then, three years later, I painted our vehicles and put Pet Chauffeur on the outside. It was loud, it was orange and I started getting great exposure just from the colour of the car. I started getting more business, then the banks loaned me US$150,000. I relocated the business to Long Island City and now we have 15 people here and six cars on the road, Monday to Friday. On Saturdays, it's four cars and on Sundays, two.
I live below my office, so I'm usually at work by 6.30am, drawing up the drivers' schedules. I work a seven-day week and, Monday to Friday, I work 15 hours each day, but I take naps during the day. I don't go out for lunch; I always order a sandwich in or make one in the office.
Ninety per cent of the animals we transport are dogs. We also do cats, birds and a few reptiles. We sent a tortoise to London - it took six months to get him his permit. That was our first international reptile job.
In New York, animals are not allowed on public transportation and cab drivers aren't supposed to take them unless they're in a crate. A lot of cab drivers won't take animals because they say they are unclean and it's against their culture. They'll pick your dog up if business is slow, but most don't want to deal with dogs tracking mud all over the car, s**tting in their cab or shedding all over the back seat. Also, when it's raining or snowing, or really cold, people don't want to walk far. That's when we're extra busy.
We have a lot of people whose dogs we take to and from their offices; that's consistent business. We have one customer who boards his dog every weekend at the Dog Spa on 25th Street.
We have other clients for whom we pick up [their pets] and take [them] to doggy day-care in Manhattan. Doggy day-care is a sort of substitute for a dog run: a supervised, indoor facility where dogs socialise with other dogs, play all day and get fed and exercised. At the end of the day, the dog is so exhausted, it doesn't need any attention for the rest of the evening. The most important thing is the owner doesn't feel guilty about not spending time with it. So it's a good outlet for people who work long hours and don't see their dogs much.