Devoted owners who send their pampered pooches to a canine crèche and beauty salon can rest assured their precious pets are in safe hands.
Staff at the Doggy Days grooming parlour and nursery in Cramlington, Northumberland are taking no chances when it comes to handling the cherished family pets left in their care.
They have just been given special training in how to safely lift and move dogs of all sizes - to protect the pets from the possibility of being hurt and safeguard themselves against potential back and other injuries.
The training is normally given to staff working in care homes, but has been specially adapted for the canine carers at Doggy Days.
Doggy Days provides a crèche for between 15 and 20 dogs a day - for owners who don't like their pets to be left home alone - and a grooming and beauty service for up to six dogs a day.
The business, on the Bassington Industrial Estate in Cramlington, employs nine people and celebrated its first anniversary in December.
Yesterday, owner Paula McArthur, 40, who launched the venture after being made redundant from her previous job as a finance manager, said: "I thought it was important for my staff to receive the correct manual handling training, especially for the grooming side of the business.
"Some of the dogs we have coming here can be fairly heavy, like German Shepherds and Newfoundlands, they often have to be lifted and we don't want staff suffering things like bad backs.
"Dogs are not predictable and are wriggly little creatures who don't often want to be put in a bath, so we need to be able to lift and handle them safely, both for their good and our own.
"Four of us had a one-day training course and we will be passing the training on to our other five junior staff. "
The training was provided by the High Gain Business Consultancy, the business training arm of Northumberland College.
Trainer Tom Brown said: "We were both surprised and amused when we received the request from Doggy Days. It was certainly different to anything we've done before and a good challenge."
Doggy Days is believed to be the only canine crèche and grooming parlour in the North-East and the first of its kind in the country.
It is an American concept which was imported to the North-East by Paula.
The crèche gives dogs the chance to socialise and play with each others just like toddlers in a day nursery. Paula added: "Dog owners love their pets like children and dogs benefit from coming to a day nursery just like kids do."
