Susie's Pet Care
dog walking, training, and pet sitting
dog walking, training, and pet sitting
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About Us
Susie DeFord started her dog walking business when she moved to Brooklyn in 2000. In the beginning, she used dog walking to supplement her income; she also taught after school at Brooklyn Friends and Berkeley Carroll Schools. In 2005 she earned her MFA in creative writing at New School University and began dog walking full time. During this time she also fronted the bands Terset and Wu Wei. Soon, seeing some of her clients needed help with behavior issues, she began drawing from her many years of experience and study of animal behavior to offer behavior modification.
Many satisfied longtime customers later, Susie's Pet Care is still going strong offering personalized, loving care to pets in Brooklyn!
Susie is currently working on a book of poems and photographs about the dogs she's been lucky enough to work with called The Dogs of Brooklyn (c. 2007-2009). She writes the blog Dog Poet Laureate as well as blogging for Bomb magazine.
Excerpt from The Dogs of Brooklyn:
photo of Fred by Dennis Riley
Prospect Heights Pop
Walking home from the Q train, dogs and coffee
shops split street strut, brownstone buildings
and big trees bud, shooting up from the sidewalk,
dreadlocked drug dealers stalk, hanging on changing
corners---the neighborhood watch while Maclaren
Mafia mommies’ doublewide strollers scream on by.
Sidewalk block, I weave and wave through the window
at big, soft Audrey working in the new chi-chi bakery.
Better than the lemon cookies, she always says hello
and remembers my coffee. Soul tracks for sale outside
the Key Food serenade as macho men swallow me
with their scary smiles. The tough Brooklyn guys
at Acme Pet Shop on Vanderbilt Avenue with their old
orange cat Knuckles chuckle at their Akita pup Lefty
as he jumps up to box me. Head down Prospect past
Harry and three-legged Fred lounging, hogging up
the sidewalk looking for strokes and extra treats
to make up for his hop-walk like a bouncing spring.
Hit Underhill and follow the Jah Love guy with his
giant boombox blasting reggae, doing his slow strange
walking meditation, Jesus Loves You sign strapped
to his back, and I think he must have, to have given
me this neighborhood so suited to the swing dance
bopping in my big band mind. Click the vestibule keys,
check the mail, doors squeal and slam like a drumbeat.
I dance up the dirty, dark stairs to the tiny shoebox
apartment where Itty Pity, hearing me wrestle the locks,
starts howling her blues. My mama been gone, left me
all alone. Said my mama been gone, left me all alone.
She run around with them dogs, to keep the lights on.
Walking home from the Q train, dogs and coffee
shops split street strut, brownstone buildings
and big trees bud, shooting up from the sidewalk,
dreadlocked drug dealers stalk, hanging on changing
corners---the neighborhood watch while Maclaren
Mafia mommies’ doublewide strollers scream on by.
Sidewalk block, I weave and wave through the window
at big, soft Audrey working in the new chi-chi bakery.
Better than the lemon cookies, she always says hello
and remembers my coffee. Soul tracks for sale outside
the Key Food serenade as macho men swallow me
with their scary smiles. The tough Brooklyn guys
at Acme Pet Shop on Vanderbilt Avenue with their old
orange cat Knuckles chuckle at their Akita pup Lefty
as he jumps up to box me. Head down Prospect past
Harry and three-legged Fred lounging, hogging up
the sidewalk looking for strokes and extra treats
to make up for his hop-walk like a bouncing spring.
Hit Underhill and follow the Jah Love guy with his
giant boombox blasting reggae, doing his slow strange
walking meditation, Jesus Loves You sign strapped
to his back, and I think he must have, to have given
me this neighborhood so suited to the swing dance
bopping in my big band mind. Click the vestibule keys,
check the mail, doors squeal and slam like a drumbeat.
I dance up the dirty, dark stairs to the tiny shoebox
apartment where Itty Pity, hearing me wrestle the locks,
starts howling her blues. My mama been gone, left me
all alone. Said my mama been gone, left me all alone.
She run around with them dogs, to keep the lights on.
Nathan Strobel (pictured above with his dog Sparrow) is a freelance writer who hails from Virginia where he volunteered for the SPCA and worked as a pet care provider with Peace of Mind Pet Care. He works full time M-F with Susie.
Affiliates & Sometimes Helpers:
M. Tracey Ober is a journalist, editor, and pet lover. She helps out when Susie is sick or out of town.
Dennis Riley is our official photographer. He has collaborated with Susie on The Dogs of Brooklyn adding several wonderful dog pictures to her words. His photography can be found on our pictures section. For photography inquiries please contact him or Susie.
Brian Thompson (pictured with his dogs Fred and Harry) is a music MFA at Brooklyn College. He helps out from time to time when he isn't playing his Viola.