Meet the DogCo team
It takes a village to grow a pet care business. Here’s ours.
DogCo HQ
Michelle Kline
FOUNDER & CEO
Michelle Kline is the founder of DogCo Launch, host of the DogCo Secrets podcast, and organizer of the annual DogCo Business Summit conference. In her past life as a pet care business owner, Michelle doubled profit margins, doubled the size of the business, and tripled the size of the team, all while reducing hours of service and building an on-demand daily dog walking model.
Michelle founded DogCo to meet an unfulfilled need she saw in the pet care industry: real business education that prioritizes the owner’s well-being and provides tools and resources to support sustainable growth. She is passionate about connecting high-impact business growth strategies and real, growing pet care businesses.
Albany W.
OPERATIONS COORDINATOR
Albany turns Michelle's big vision into executable systems. With a sharp eye for structure and process, she leads internal operations, team coordination, and implementation strategy to ensure that DogCo runs smoothly at every level.
Albany specializes in building scalable systems, clarifying roles, and creating operational clarity for the team. She thrives at the intersection of organization and execution — making sure ideas don’t just sound good, but actually get done.
Juliet M.
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Juliet’s professional experience includes healthcare administration, service, and sales. At DogCo, she provides administrative support across various initiatives, from client relations to event planning.
More coming soon!
Success Leaders
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 Tittle 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 Dunkle 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 Strong 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.
Angela W.
Coaches
Doug Keeling
HIRING & RETENTION SPECIALIST
Doug Keeling runs an award-winning pet care company and is an industry-leading speaker and business coach specializing in hiring and retention. As the creator of The Pawsitive Hiring Course, Doug helps pet care business owners build their dream teams with lessons on preparing to hire, navigating a multi-step hiring process, and managing and retaining team members.
Doug can also be found on YouTube as “Doug the Dog Guy,” a leading YouTuber in the pet sitting and dog walking industry with over 8,000 subscribers.
Corinne Moore
DATA, METRICS, & TRACKING SPECIALIST
Corinne Moore is the owner of Paws & Claws Pet Service and the creator of Pawsome Metrics. With Pawsome Metrics, Corinne offers Google Sheets templates specifically for pet care professionals to track and measure data in order to make smarter business decisions.
Robert Strickland
AI, TECH, & AUTOMATION SPECIALIST
With over 18 years of experience in the pet care industry, Robert Strickland is an entrepreneur and automation strategist dedicated to helping pet business owners streamline operations, save time, and scale effectively.
As the founder of NextLevel Pet Businesses, Robert leads a community of pet care professionals, providing guidance on leveraging automation, AI, and technology to enhance client experiences and maximize efficiency. In addition to coaching and consulting, Robert owns and operates a successful pet sitting and dog walking business, giving him firsthand insight into the challenges pet care professionals face.
Collin Funkhouser
EMCEE
Collin Funkhouser is a pet care business owner, industry expert, and co-host of the Pet Sitter Confessional podcast. He provides clear, actionable insight into the rapidly changing pet care landscape and equips dog walkers and pet sitters with the strategies and mindsets needed to stay competitive and succeed.
Collin’s role as Emcee is to engage and inform Mastermind participants through their journey with DogCo. He’ll detail what’s going on in DogCo world that week and invite participants to reflect and discuss their learnings.
“A really great sentiment about the team goes here.”
DogCo Client
