Check Out Elizabeth Regal’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Regal.

Hi Elizabeth, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Since my early youth, I have been a working singer, musician – guitarist, actress, director, and activist I am from the east coast, Tennessee growing up in the country. Taking care of pets and being outdoors was second nature to me. Like many artists, I had to have my “day job.” I never considered walking dogs or overnight pet care. I had my pretty mundane boring real estate and finance career. I didn’t want to be a starving artist or work tireless hours at a job I did not truly want.
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I didn’t have much family and wanted to have more personable connection in my life that I was not getting in my other day job. I was at a loss to find a way to support my art doing a day job I actually loved while feeling fulfilled at the end of the day. I was over working for companies and careers that simply did not fulfill my needs, emotions, and connection with others I needed. I was stuck behind a desk and missed my childhood growing up in nature in the country playing outside with animals.
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A friend of mine that was a successful television actress introduced me to a pet care app where I could make a living on the side while pursuing my passion. I love animals with all my heart and soul.

From the first booking I got on his app with this super cute puppy, a German Sheppard I fell in love with it. He would stare at me, follow me everywhere around the house, and never left my side. I found that I was a natural at this due to my artistic, empathic, and spiritual background where I could cross over many relevant skills. ​I was able to solve her issue with being her trusted dog walker / overnight pet sitter when she would have to be away at the hospital overnight quite often. I was always excited to see him and go on fun walking adventures in the DTLA area.
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I can honestly say that the love and attention from pets is unlike anything I ever experienced with human. I love what I do. I continued to show up, give great customer service, and spoil my clients. Before I knew it 9 years went by, and I finally launched my own business that has thrived ever since.
Many of my clients confided in me their challenges in their schedules and finding quality pet care in the market.
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I listened to each one of them patiently trying to find out their needs and how we could help solve their issues standing out from the rest. Trust, customer service, convenience, and flexibility were often the biggest hurdles for most clients looking for quality pet care.

We simply give our clients comfort, convenience, and the ability to give them peace of mind when they are away. We are very experienced with sick pets that require medications and older pets that may need a bit more TLC. It’s a challenge to find a quality pet care provider that will not overlook pet care owners that may need more maintenance or care for their Furrly pets.
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We have even cared for pets in hospice. We have an exceptionally high retention rate with our pet owners. They always come back to us and book over and over. We are there go to when they need a quick walk or overnight care. Many of them turned to be great long-time clients and personal friends.

I continued my journey taking care of many Furrly babies as an active volunteer for the Kitty Bungalow, A Charm School for Wayward Cats for 8 years and love every moment of it. This wonderful organization has fully trained me on how to care for pets in aspects of feeding, medical issues, illnesses & disease care, administering medications, sanitary procedures, grooming, administrative duties, animal behavior, how to deal with difficult pets, assisting in TNR, helping with charity events and holiday fundraisers, and much more!
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I have also volunteered for several animal shelters in Los Angeles as the ASPCA and NKLA (No-Kill Los Angeles) in the care for dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens.
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Pet care has changed my life for the better. I am so blessed to walk into this journey by accident.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I have been quite blessed with resources, clients, referrals, and tons of luck. It was not a straight path though. It was a challenge years ago back in 2015 when I started petsitting and dog walking professionally. The competition is fierce with hundreds of petsitter in a nearby radius. When I started with Rover I had no idea of how to market myself and get clients.

After 7 years in the grind, I decided to out on my own. I was blessed with a grant from the state thanks to the Small Business Development Center that walked through a 6 week program to get my grant and launch my dream, to be a business owner. I launched Furrly Friends in 2022 with a fresh new start ands new clientele.

My first marketing event was DTLA Dog Days back in 2023. I was greeted into the community with friendliness meeting many other pet vendors. I met Janriel and Alexandria from FitPals at the event as they were the booth to the left of me at my first year there. They are a top-notch highly rated pack walking dog walking service that provides groups walks and dog training. They gave me plentiful advice, resources, and countless referrals to grow my business fast. They are a huge contributor to our success.

The first year was a challenge as I has to spend countless hours on social media, flyering, attending pet events as a vendor, providing excellent customer service, newsletters, and many other ways to stand out from our competitors.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I can honestly say there is nothing more important to our clients that trustworthiness and truly caring about their pets and their needs. We go out of our way to exceed expectations, show up on time, provide daily updates, leave their home spotless clean, and be knowledgable.

We stand out from there competitors in a number is areas. It truly broke my heart to hear that many clients with their senior and disabled pets are commonly turned down or overlooked for service. We take care of all pets regardless of they are sick and need meds, disabled, senior, or behavior problem pets. We assess the situation with the client and try to come up with solutions. All client’s pets deserve equal care with no judgement.

One heartwarming story was of a Goldendoodle puppy need Iris I had in the Echo Park area. She was abused and neglected by her owners and rescued. Something tragic had happened to her to make her afraid of going up and down stairs. I would carry her for months up and down the stairs like a baby until she was not afraid anymore. She was a regular client for a year. By the 6th month she was up and down the stairs as if she had been doing it for years.

Having worked in animal shelters as Kitty Bungalow and the ASPCA, it takes patience and consistency. Pets can be slower to trust that humans, but with consistent behavior modification and love they are the most unconditional lovers of humans. 🙂

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Pets have taught me more than any human about what unconditional love is. They overlook flaws, disabilities, and what we look like. They shower their owners and caretakers with trust and face licks.

I have learned a great deal about animal behavior with different breeds from Australian Huskies known for their herding tenancies, to Dachshunds in being higher maintenance and vocal, to Basenjis being a but reactive needing consistent obedience training from a young age. We learned what makes each breed tick and also what are some consistencies we notice.

I learned a great deal on dog training from leash pulling, to reactive dogs, to dogs with separation anxiety. It is greatly helpful to informed on animal behavior, to nutrition, and client needs.

Pricing:

• Dog Walks & Drop-ins – $30 for 30 minutes, $10 each additional pet
• Dog Walks & Drop-ins – $50 for 60 minutes, $10 each additional pet
• Overnight care in client’s home – $85 per night – (24 hour period), $20 for each additional dog

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.furrlyfriends.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/FurrlyFriends
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FurrlyFriends
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/furrly-friends-west-hollywood-2
• Other: https://share.google/ViHTPpvqFcYcvnEXY

Image Credits
We own all the images. It is the Furrly Friends LLC copyright.