Lockdown hasn't paws-ed business for local dog training and pet care start-up

Owner of Tickly Paws, Gillian Salmon, has taken to social media to help canine companions across the North East by creating online dog training videos.

Tickly Paws is a pet care business based in Gateshead, offering dog training, dog walking and pet sitting.

Gillian has over 20 years of experience working with animals and had only just taken the plunge into being self-employed when lockdown was brought into place.

Gillian said: "When lockdown happened it threw all my plans into turmoil. I hadn't even started trading yet and I was worried that had I made a big mistake by deciding to become self-employed.

"I have been receiving on going support from Lauren at Business Gateshead and I attended the business boot-camp in March just before lockdown, which gave me plenty of ideas about how to make my business a success. I have spent lockdown putting these things into place such as online networking with local organisations, creating dog training videos and Facebook live Q&A sessions which have had an excellent response.

"I had never dreamed of doing things like this online before, but lockdown has actually allowed me to learn new skills and given me the confidence to break out of my comfort zone."

Gillian was supported by The Enterprise Support in the North East 2, a project part funded by the European Regional Development Fund which offers free of charge help and advice to start-up businesses across the North East.

Tickly Paws can be found on Facebook (opens new window) and online at www.tickly-paws.com (opens new window)