i work with animals.

Carrie Maria runs with a homeless dog for The Monster Milers. Many of us dream of working with animals, and still more of us dream about helping animals in need. One lucky couple found a way to do both through their Philadelphia-based pet-sitting business, The Monster Minders. Getting Started The Monster Minders began when Carrie Maria placed an ad as a dog walker online while looking at graduate schools five years ago. "It kind of blew up," Carrie tells us, "and two months later, I realized I could make a living walking dogs, and be really happy doing it. So, we [Carrie and her husband, Lindsay] just kind of ran with it, and we now have 18 staff, hundreds of happy clients in Philly, and ...

Photo courtesy of Abby McMillen Name: Abby McMillen Age: 34 Title: Folk dog painter and owner of Folk Dog Art in Bozeman, Mont. What services do you offer? I paint mostly dogs and some cats in traditional folk art fashion, which basically means they are simple, colorful and whimsical. How and when did you get started painting pet portraits? I have three dogs of my own, and I just adore each of them. I've always been an artist, and one day several years ago, I decided to try painting my dogs, just for fun. After several attempts, the folk dog art style emerged. I was fortunate enough to be able to hang my work in some local galleries, and ever since then I find myself painting dogs ...

Jan Folk with supporter Kevin Costner. Orange Dog / Freedom Flights. Name: Jan Folk Title: Founder, Orange Dog and Freedom Flights Jan Folk not only owns the Orange Dog, a Canadian online boutique specializing in high-end products for dogs and humans, but she uses those profits to run Freedom Flights, a charity that takes dogs at risk of being euthanized in California and delivers them to a no-kill shelter in Canada to find new homes. The charity, which works through an agreement with private airline Global Exec Aviation, has made headlines recently thanks to an endorsement from Kevin Costner, who recently flew with Folk on one of the flights. Why did you start Orange Dog? When my ...

Michele Zinser grooming Titan What animal lover hasn't daydreamed about ditching their desk job and applying for a job at the zoo? Or at a doggy daycare? Or tracking gorillas in Africa? We sure have, but since most of us may never actually get to work with the animals we love, we thought we'd introduce you to a few people who do. Name: Michele Zinser Age: 53 Job Title: Owner and operator of Sudz 'n Style Mobile Grooming What kind of training do you need to enter the pet grooming business? There are two ways to enter the profession. You can start out at the bottom as a bather and learn the trade over time. Or the second way, which is what I did, is to go to a grooming school. I was a ...

Meghan Hopkins Name: Meghan Hopkins Age: 33 Job: After-care coordinator for Canine Assistants First things first: What is Canine Assistants? We train service dogs, free of charge, for people with disabilities or who have seizures. They can open and close doors, turn lights on and off, pull wheelchairs and detect seizures. We rely on donations to train the dogs and provide them to the recipients, who come from all over the country. The recipients come for a two-week training camp. The first day, we introduce them to four or five dogs we've chosen for them, and then that day, they choose the one they'll be working with. At that point, the dogs are trained, so it's really about training the ...

Laura Totis What animal lover hasn't daydreamed about ditching their desk job and applying for a job at the zoo? Or at a doggy daycare? Or tracking gorillas in Africa? We sure have, but since most of us may never actually get to work with the animals we love, we thought we'd introduce you to a few people who do. Name: Laura Totis Age: 47 Title: Pet tracker and owner of LJT Pet Tracking and LJT Training How long have you been tracking pets? I started officially doing it back in 2002. Describe what a pet tracker does. For the most part we can help people find their pets just with a phone consultation or some Internet advice. Making posters, figuring out the logistics, what exactly ...