Rose’s family are all dog lovers, so when her sister presented her with a new puppy, Rose felt it was time to take a step back from teaching and spend more time at home with Molly, her retrodoodle (a golden retriever-poodle mix).
“We would go on these adventures, so I thought ‘why not take other peoples’ dogs with me?’”
And Barking Mad Dog Adventures was started. In the last year, Rose’s business has grown from a few pack walks a week, to doing up to 10 adventures from Tuesday to Friday.
In her specially outfitted van, Rose picks dogs up from their homes and then the adventure begins.
Rose has created packs with like-minded or similar sized dogs, up to eight at a time. Most come every week, or more than once a week.
Some of her favourite adventures are through some of Invercargill’s lesserknown bush tracks, but she mixes up the adventures with beach and forest walks too.
“The dogs love it, and the owners love that their pup comes home exercised and happy.”
Rose walks rain, hail or shine, and on hot days will often let the dogs take a dip in the river to cool off before heading home.
She’s aware that toxic algae is something she needs to keep an eye out for before letting the dogs off the lead.
“The safety of the dogs is really the most important thing, for the owners and for me and my business.”
