She wants to put her passion at the service of dog and cat owners. Audrey Laget, 26, is preparing to open a boarding house for pets in Chatonnay on June 27, between La Côte-Saint-André and Bourgoin-Jallieu.
What prompted you to embark on this boarding business for dogs and cats?
Well, ever since I was little, I’ve had this love for animals. My grandfather had a lot of dogs with whom I often went on walks, walking them. Since the age of 18, I had dogs, and then there, I had my youngest six years ago.
We know that one in two households in France has a pet. Do you feel this demand here from people who need to keep their animal or their animals?
Yes, yes, there were a lot of requests last year, I’ve already kept a few and it’s true that people ask a lot, but the pensions are completely full. I have seen the case again in recent days on reservations. There have been many, many requests.
So, before, it was not yet professional, right? From there, you thought why not?
It was a test, already, to see if I liked the job and if it fascinated me. But hey, since I love animals a lot, so it was more than ok. So suddenly, I did a training in May 2022 which was validated and then I started the procedures to open. It’s directly at my home so it’s true that I always have visual access to the residents and it’s buildings that have already existed, that I redid a little bit to the standards compared to what was requested during the training.
And this training, what does it consist of?
It’s all about animal welfare, transport as well. I still learned a lot of things that I didn’t know. Of all the infectious diseases, for example, I didn’t think there were so many. There are a lot of them for both dogs and cats. I have the right to keep nine animals, no more. There will be three cats and six dogs.
Nine places, is that enough or are you already planning to expand, if possible in view of the demand?
No, I don’t want to enlarge, simply because with nine animals, I would really like to focus on them and really have them access their well-being by being here. It fills up pretty quickly though. I still have a few places left for this summer, but it’s a bit tricky.
What are people looking for when they call you for pet sitting as summer vacation approaches?
So there, the last people I had were looking for small pensions a lot so that the animal would not be too stressed. When there are a lot of them, there is a lot of barking and therefore inevitably the animals can be stressed. I will live normally like all the people who live on Smic, but in the end, that is more than enough for me. As long as animal welfare is there, that’s what matters.
- Boarding costs at least 15 euros per day for dogs, 16 for cats. You have the information on Audrey Laget’s Facebook profile. It will welcome its first residents on June 27.
