"I started Luke’s Pets because I wanted to earn a decent living by living decently. After working with animals I couldn’t imagine doing anything else and nothing compared. I’m so lucky to have the privelege to do this, made possible by the amazing and unique animals in my care, the best customers I could wish for and the support of my loved ones"

I was born in Guildford and have lived here all my life. To encompass the most important things about me; I love my wife, cats and family, animals and nature, the Philadelphia Flyers, Luleå HF, Guildford Flames, a wide range of music, travel, vegetarianism and cooking, gardening, the various disciplines of naturalist science, social anthropology and philosophy. I'm a left lib/anarchist and anti-fascist, supporting community self-management and mutual aid.

Our house is home due to my amazing wife, as well as the most affectionate black cat, Mocha (or about fifteen other names he responds too) In 2017 we lost his sister Mischa after a long period of diabetes and then liver failure. She was the absolute, unequivocal, best ever: the feline love of my life, and one of the main factors in me starting the business. She will never be forgotten and is always with us. Since her passing we have welcomed Remi into our lives and Mocha's new little sister is a furball of pure, unbridled chaotic energy! We love her to bits and she has made us complete again. Unfortunately Mocha has followed Mischa by developing diabetes, clearly some bad genes!

Several rescue animals have shared our home over the years most, noticeably three rabbits that couldn’t have hated humans more and a hamster called George, who was exceptionally noisy and cheeky. We also have a garden full of wildlife, we’ve encouraged more types of bird than I can list and our amazing family of bats that put on flying displays in early summer.

My career started in sales, marketing and management related roles where I moved through a few industries, always succeeding but finding a lack of challenge and enjoyment. At my peak I managed an area covering much of the South East that I grew from £3.5m to £4.2m in only 2 and a bit years. Otherwise this time is a distant memory!

Having been a touring vocalist and sax player with my own bands for close to a decade, in 2015 I got the opportunity to take it a little further and join a band I knew from the scene, playing across Europe. An unforgettable experience, half due to the places, people and amazing gigs, half due to the overnight drives in a stinky, leaky 2003 LDV Convoy after weeks of no sleep. I’ll call it character building/deconstructing and after this experience I couldn’t imagine going back to suits and sales meetings.

During this time I spent a brief period volunteering with rescue greyhounds and knew immediately that working with animals was something that I wanted to do when the music stopped. I started studying the science of learning theory, over a hundred years of development in the process of how mammals learn. The incredible advances in understanding we’ve made in this discipline blew my mind and lead me to wanting to be a trainer.

When no longer gigging and able to fully commit, I became the site manager for one of the two locations of the self-proclaimed leading doggy day care in the country. With the benefit of learning the good processes of the business, I also had an idea of improvements I would make. It was at this time I realised that offering a more individually focused service, where a depth of knowledge could improve the lives of animals, engaging them and providing them a great deal more stimulation, was achievable and something I was going to create.

Finally the opportunity (...finances) to start Luke’s Pets materialised and in 2018 I started planning and building for the future.

This is a project of passion, born of a defiance against complacency. Life is too short and fragile to do anything other than something individually purposeful, meaningful and that you truly love doing every day. It comes from an overwhelming calling to work with animals, both in a caring and developmental role, because the rewards it provides are incomparable. I’ve never accepted anything other than the best I can possibly achieve, through the good times and through the challenges that make us reflect, improve and usually get us covered in mud and fur!

I love doing this; I hope you and your pets will love joining the happiest group of dogs in the world (an absolutely official guarantee!)

- Luke Daniels