Meet the DogCo Success Leaders

DogCo Launch is centered on community for pet care professionals, and Success Leaders are with members at every step in their Mastermind journey.

It takes a village to grow a pet care business. This is ours, and it can be yours, too.

As the founder and CEO of House of Paws Pet Care, Maris has turned her lifelong “side-gig energy” into a St. Louis pet care empire with a team of 25+ pet care professionals. Her professional experience includes retail management and a minor obsession with airtight SOPs.

A 2026 Pet Sitter of the Year Top 5 Finalist, Maris holds certifications with CPPS, Fear Free, and is a CPR Instructor. She’s passionate about being a disruptor in the pet industry and mentoring the next generation of pros.

Maris S.

Carla is the founder and CEO of Texas Ruff House, a multi–team, enrichment-focused pet sitting and dog walking company in Pflugerville, TX. With over 12 years in professional pet care, she has built a trusted brand serving the North Austin suburbs.

Carla specializes in operational clarity, team development, and creating repeatable frameworks that allow pet care businesses to grow beyond the owner. She scaled Texas Ruff House through a combination of heart and disciplined business strategy, including onboarding systems, service design, and premium positioning.

Carla T.

Rebecca Thompson is the founder and owner of Skyline Dog Walkers in Houston, TX. After being a teacher for more than a decade, Carla is now passionate about a different kind of education and development — helping early stage pet care businesses build sustainable foundations and believe in themselves on the journey.

Rebecca T.

Lauren is the owner of The Pet Lady, Ltd., which began as a family business and quickly became her mission to build a pet care company that’s scalable, sustainable, and not held together by vibes alone.

Recently, Lauren fell back in love with data — client data, market data, behavior data, all of it. If it can be used to track, optimize, and grow a business, she's into it. Lauren owns her type A energy and fully embraces her passion for writing SOPs.

Lauren D.

Julie Gabrilska owns Walden Pet Services, serving pets and their people in Concord, MA, and the surrounding communities. Julie joined the company as a full-time dog walker in 2016 after leaving a career in architecture, purchased the company in 2021, and has since doubled the business and scaled it into a seven-figure company supported by a team of 50+ pet care professionals.

Julie runs her business with an architect’s mindset: ask why, understand how, then build something that works in the real world. She’s known for digging into what actually drives results — why something worked, why it didn’t, and what needs to change. From designing smoother operations to turning chaotic schedules into something that runs like clockwork, she thrives on the logistics side of running a large service team.

Julie G.

As the founder and CEO of Auntie Abby’s Pet Care, Abby has grown a solo pet-sitting venture into one of the Des Moines metro’s most trusted pet care companies, leading a dedicated team of 25+ pet professionals.

Known for building a heart-centered business rooted in community, philanthropy, and exceptional care, her company has earned recognition as a Des Moines People’s Choice winner and continues to scale rapidly toward seven figures.

Abby S.

Angela Watts owns Pawsitive Dawg Walking & Pet Sitting in Waltham, MA, and has spent her career blending education, behavior science, and animal care. She was a special education teacher for 15 years and holds a Master’s degree in Behavior Education, previously obtaining a BCBA certification and keeping behavioral work at the heart of all that she’s done since.

Angela has built Pawsitive Dawg Walking into a thriving company with 38+ professionals and is proud to be nearly out of the field so she can focus on mentoring and big picture leadership. Her professional passions and strengths include behavior analysis, leadership development, systems building, and creating structured, supportive environments for both people and animals.