Ever wondered about the journey of the dog harness from ancient times to the trendy, comfortable designs we see today? Well, buckle up (or should we say, clip in?) because you're in for a delightful trot down memory lane! The Early Days: Hounds and Harnesses Imagine, if you will, the ancient world, where dogs were not just pets but crucial partners in survival. The earliest dog harnesses weren't about making a fashion statement or ensuring your pooch was Instagram-ready.   What do you mean?   Forget Tiktok fame, these ancient day pooches had work to do. Imagine a burly mastiff ..read more

Every dog owner knows the sheer joy of coming home to a wagging tail, wet nose, and excited eyes. Dogs have an uncanny ability to fill our lives with unconditional love, loyalty, and endless happiness. They deserve to be celebrated, and what better way to do so than on the upcoming “National Spoil Your Dog Day”? First things first, no we didn’t make this up (I wish we did), Google it – it’s a real thing!   National “Spoil Your Dog Day” is celebrated on the 10th of August each year, and is a day entirely dedicated to pampering, doting on, and spoiling our four-legged companions like neve ..read more

Dog cafes like Charlie + Co have become increasingly popular in the last few years and it's easy to see why! These establishments have quickly become the ultimate hangout spot for dog owners and their furry friends, and naturally we absolutely love it! At Charlie + Co, we’re blessed to have the responsible and well-behaved customer base we do. However, the line “We couldn’t bring our dog here they’d wreck the place” is something we hear regularly from customers who come in without their dogs! With so many people worried about how their dogs might behave in a public space like a dog café, we ..read more

If I would have written this blog post 9 months ago, you would undoubtedly be reading a completely different blog post right now. Starting any new business is no easy feat, the workload is large, the team is small, the hours are longggg but there’s still never enough of them! I’m sure all small business owners will be able to resonate, on some level, with the reality that when you start a business you feel like you are doing the role of about 5 different people: you’re the owner, the designer, the customer service assistant, the salesperson, the accountant, the stock-taker, the HR department ..read more

Keeping up with my New Years Resolution, I'm back with another blog post! This time I thought I'd shift the focus away from my funny failures, to another dog business' successes. I sat down (virtually of-course, as I don't actually have time to sit) with Clinical Animal Behaviourist, Rachel from Nose to Trail Pet Services to ask her some questions. Rachel is a Clinical Animal Behaviourist with over 10 years experience in the industry. Rachel runs her own pet services business and often often hosts workshops and training events at Charlie + Co , including 'Doggy Language' and 'Settle Train ..read more

If you are reading this, congrats! You've made it through the first two weeks of 2023. I won't say Happy New Year, I think we're passed that now aren't we? This year instead of setting myself the stereotypical new year's resolution of joining the gym and eating healthy (bla, bla, bla), I decided to set myself the goal of getting back into blogging! I hope this blogging stint will last a little longer than some of my previous gym memberships! via GIPHY Some of you may remember some of my earlier blogs, wayyyyyy back before Charlie + Co even began. If not, you can laugh at them here , but ..read more

Wowza, it’s been a hot little minute since I last did a blog post! In my last blog post, SIX MONTHS AGO, I gave you all a brief backstory of why we started Charlie + Co and at the end of the blog post I promised to, and I quote, “do more behind the scenes stories of our new business venture”. Well, I haven’t quite kept my promise BUT with some exciting things going on at Charlie + Co HQ these last few weeks, I thought now would be a great time to catch up with you all and give you a little update on the behind-the-scenes happenings at Charlie + Co. Since we last spoke, we’ve had an incredible ..read more

Ahhhh I can’t even tell you all how long I’ve been waiting to write THIS blog; well I can it’s been about 8-9 months. If you’ve been following my blog posts for a while you might remember I teased an ‘exciting project’ in my previous blog back in June 2020. I want to be real quick in letting you all know that the ‘exciting project’ was not a baby; I swear when you get to a certain age all your “guess what’s” are assumed to be pregnancy announcements. The ‘project’ I teased isn’t a physical baby but I suppose in a round ..read more

I’ve noticed this week that the longer I leave it in between blog posts the more the fear sets in about ever blogging again. I can’t believe it’s been almost 3 weeks since my last blog post! Life has just run away with me these last three weeks. In between our actual work, Paul and I have been busy working on an exciting little project which we hope to let you all in on in due course; I’ll confirm right now that said ‘exciting project’ is not a baby. I’m officially at the stage in my life where any “guess what’s“ are assumed to be pregnancy announcements. On our family Zoom quiz night on Sat ..read more

“Walkiessssss”, a word that is almost guaranteed to prompt an uncontrollable excited response from almost any dog; except Charlie it would seem! For weeks Paul and I have been waiting for the big day, we planned the route we would take him on, checked the weather, cooed over how much he’s going to LOVE the lake and LOVE the canal and LOVE the park; well what an anti-climax. He hated his harness, he hated his lead and he wanted to be carried the whole time; on all the socialisation ‘carry walks’ he cried to be put down and NOW he cries to be picked up? Classic lad behaviour, doesn’t know what ..read more