9780063059818
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London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency audiobook

  • By: Kate MacDougall
  • Narrator: Anna Popplewell
  • Category: Dogs, General, Pets
  • Length: 9 hours 22 minutes
  • Publisher: HarperAudio
  • Publish date: July 06, 2021
  • Language: English
  • (1546 ratings)
(1546 ratings)
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London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency Audiobook Summary

” Sparkles with humor, joy and wit. London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency bounds along with the energy of a rambunctious pup and exudes the wisdom of a beloved canine with an old soul (you know the type).”BookPage

The irresistibly charming memoir of a young woman who started her own business as a dog walker for London’s busy, well-heeled dog lovers. A true love letter to London, dogs, and growing up.

Aside from the odd biter or growler, the occasional bolter and the one dog who didn’t want to walk, the canines were the easy part. They were a muddy, messy joy in all shapes, sizes and breeds, from greedy Labradors to pampered pugs and everything in between. It was the owners who were the real challenge, a giddy mix of the over-protective, the clueless, the eccentrics and the perfectionists. There is no rule book on how to navigate the obsessions of the London dog owner. A degree in human psychology would have been far preferable to any sort of animal qualification. Not that I had either…

In 2006, Kate MacDougall was working a safe but dull job at the venerable auction house Sotheby’s in London. After a clumsy accident nearly destroyed a precious piece of art, she quit Sotheby’s and set up her own dog-walking company. Kate knew little about dogs and nothing about business, and no one thought being a professional dog walker was a good use of her university degree. Nevertheless, Kate embarked upon an entirely new and very much improvised career walking some of the city’s many pampered pooches, branding her company “London’s Number One Dog Walking Agency.”

With sharp wit, delightful observations, and plenty of canine affection, Kate reveals her unique and unconventional coming-of-age story, as told through the dogs, and the London homes and neighborhoods they inhabit. One walk at a time, she journeys from a haphazard twentysomething to a happily–and surprisingly–settled adult, with love, relationships, drama, and home ownership along the way. But, as Kate says, “It’s all down to the dogs” and what they taught her about London–and life.

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London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency Audiobook Narrator

Anna Popplewell is the narrator of London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency audiobook that was written by Kate MacDougall

Kate MacDougall is a writer and journalist who now lives in rural Oxfordshire with her family. She writes features for publications including Country Life, the TelegraphHorse & HoundHomes & Antiques whilst also wrangling three small children and two disobedient dogs.


About the Author(s) of London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency

Kate MacDougall is the author of London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency

More From the Same

London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency Full Details

Narrator Anna Popplewell
Length 9 hours 22 minutes
Author Kate MacDougall
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date July 06, 2021
ISBN 9780063059818

Subjects

The publisher of the London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Dogs, General, Pets

Additional info

The publisher of the London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780063059818.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Lisa

August 23, 2021

I didn’t want to put this book down. I also didn’t want it to end. A dilemma. Utterly delightful! Completely charming!Beautifully written and engagingly told. Funny and at times poignant. What fun! I was laughing out loud so much of the time. Much of it was hilarious. It’s been years since I laughed so much when reading a book and there haven’t been that many times I’ve read books I’ve found this amusing. Because it was also at times touching and serious and sweet it had more depth than most humorous books. I love dogs and I’ve wanted to visit (ideally live in) London/England since I was 8 years old and spending time in England (and I guess all of the UK) is my number one most important bucket list item. Thanks to the availability of online maps, I spent a fair amount of time looking at all the locations of and photos of the London neighborhoods and parks and the other UK locations mentioned in the book. I experienced fernweh and it was completely worth it. I appreciated the short Afterword giving info about what happened with some of the people and dogs. This is a great though unusual coming of age story, sort of. It mostly goes from new-ish adulthood to settled adulthood.5 stars all the way through. Highly entertaining!Some quibbles though because they’re particular pet peeves of mine. I don’t like it when people who have companion dogs as family members are called their owners and I don’t like it when animals are not rescue dogs/are purchased from breeders. I noticed it every time each came up which was almost every time. I still loved the book but I got a little upset about those things as I read. Also, I was slightly upset by what happened with some of the dogs/the way the dogs were cared for, and some readers will probably be significantly more upset than I was. I read the hardcover edition but I sometimes simultaneously read the audiobook edition and I loved the narration. I’m sure it was a contributing factor for me finding the book as amusing as I did. Highly recommended! Especially recommended for readers who love dogs, and readers who are interested in London and other parts of the UK too.Book hangover time might now be inevitable for me.

Darla

July 01, 2021

This is a memoir you can share with the dog-lovers in your life. Kate is suddenly without a job in 2006 and decides to start walking dogs. How hard could it be? Get some clients, put the dogs on the leash to the park and back home and Bob's your uncle, you are making a living. Chapter by chapter we see the business evolve. What I loved was the focus on one dog per chapter with amusing anecdotes and dry humor sprinkled throughout. Kate is not afraid to poke fun at her own naive assumptions or give us the straight scoop on an embarrassing situation or two. I especially enjoyed the bits of a "where they are now" as a part of the Afterword. This might make you appreciate the dog in your life more.Thank you to William Morrow and Custom House and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Carol

January 19, 2022

The book is filled with humor. We meet quirky clients with odd demands...dogs that are also a bit quirky and pampered...as it should be. Seems these four-legged friends only drink Evian and want a bedtime story. That made me laugh because we had a dog that loved to be read to and even learned to bring us the book. My daughter learned to read at the age of 3 just so she could read "The Saggy Baggy Elephant" to her "furry sister", Snoopy. The book was probably read at least a million plus times before the cover gave up the ghost and died. There was even some of Kate's customers who even had pet cams to monitor Kate's behavior.... certainly not their dogs'. The book does have moments of melancholy. It's never lost on MacDougall that many clients are more prosperous and settled than she is. Her mother means well, but she doesn't help when she advises her to get a "proper vocation". To make matters worse Kate's boyfriend and eventual husband, Finley, doesn't like dogs...not even a little bit. He eventually learns...if not to fully love them at least to keep his mouth firmly closed on the matter. Kate is a great character...and as you would expect, the dogs are the stars of the book. Exceptional...even at their worse. The book gets a bit repetitive, but the writing is always clever and funny. I loved when she describes a client's house with hand-painted window boxes and a bondage shop around the corner...but priceless was the husky "who looked uncannily like Rod Stewart". Smart and observant dog...I always shared that same view:)

Polly

April 10, 2021

Heart-warming, honest and utterly charming. I adored this one. I love how it captures the love that pets bring into your life and how they burrow into your heart. I found myself laughing, crying and I felt reassured that no-one seems to know how to truly be an adult! It reminds you that so long as you are happy, it does not matter what you choose to do with your life. The writing is wonderful and easy to read. There is a conversational tone which makes it feel as though you are hearing a story from a friend, which I loved. The story flows and I read it in one sitting! The dogs in the story are adorable and so full of joy! Animals are uncomplicated and full of love – something we often need more of in the world. They live in the moment and enjoy everything they are given. If you fancy a read that will make your heart feel full, this is one for you. I loved it!

Mona

January 30, 2022

This book was charming and delightful.There are so many books on Goodreads that are overhyped, overrated, and overread.This book has the opposite problem. It’s underrated, and nearly unknown. It’s not widely read.When I check out electronic books from my local public library, the wait for popular books is often months. This was available immediately.This book deserves to be better known and more read. It’s really sweet. It’s also quite funny.Here’s an example of the humor. Kate tries to start a dating event for single dog owners. It doesn’t go well.MEET AND BONE™will not only help you find love, but your dog might get lucky too.Woof Woof!I had been somewhat naive about the name. I thought the meet/meat pun was fun and witty and would make people want to come and have a fun and witty time but it turned out to be horribly, disastrously ambiguous and only attracted randy, dogless men who were expecting casual sex in the bushes. Memoirs are not usually my preferred genre. But this read like a novel.The book follows the author, Kate MacDougall, as she sets up and grows a dog walking business, after deciding she was utterly bored and frustrated by her office job at Sotheby’s (not to mention her clumsy habit of accidentally damaging the art objects).She includes chapters about many of the dogs she walks and their characteristics and endearing and annoying habits. For example, she follows one dog, the curmudgeonly and stubborn mutt Stanley, to the end of his life.In addition, we get a feel for the parks and neighborhoods of London.MacDougall also talks about some of her employees. For example, there’s Tom, an offbeat character who sometimes shows up in period costumes and has tried communal farm life. But Tom adores dogs and gets on famously with Stanley.More infuriating than her canines are their often neurotic, demanding, and finicky owners, with their lists of impossible (and sometimes inappropriate) demands and their refusal to see how they are contributing to their pet’s problems.Ms. MacDougall handles her clients (both canine and human) with grace, tolerance, patience, and humor.In the course of the book, her life changes, as she nurtures a growing business, marries, has children, gets her own pet dogs, matures, and moves out of London. She learns to set boundaries and say no. She also deals with her overbearing, snobbish mother with admirable patience.If you love pets, you’ll likely enjoy this book. I hope more people read it.P.S. I'm wondering if the audio narrator, actress Anna Popplewell, was reading from a different edition of the book tailored to British audiences or she just tended to improvise the text. I suspect it may have been some of both. For example, "upper class accent" became "R.P.", "sheets of paper" became "A4", "the dog is in heat" became "the dog is on heat", "the aughts" became "the naughties" and on and on. If she was reading from a different edition than I was, I understand. But this is a book, not a play in a theatre, and I really wish audio readers would read the text as it's written.

Liz

September 21, 2021

An absolute joy to read, this is an uplifting and engaging story about chasing your dreams and the pitfalls of doing so and how you can change your life without it being a disaster.Plus there are dogs. Lots and lots of dogs each one with their own personality causing many a smile to break out whilst you are reading about them. A fun read with lots of insight and a breath of fresh air in the midst of all the crime and murder I read about. Recommended.

Kate

August 18, 2021

MUST LOVE DOGS. This memoir is at once the story of the author’s early adulthood as well as a delightful account of the dog walking agency she started and managed for a number of years. As someone who makes dogs fully a part of our family, this book was absolutely made for me. Dogs and their owners are highlighted in each chapter, and I couldn’t help but love every single pup in these pages. This would be an amazing gift for anyone in your life who would rather spend their days with canines than humans. (that’s me to a T, FYI) I’m so happy I saw this one highlighted somewhere ~ BookPage perhaps?

Kerri - Book Off I’m Reading

April 19, 2021

Kate’s wonderful memoir charts the highs and lows of setting up her dog walking business in London, at the same time as trying to figure out how to be a proper ‘grown up’ whom she assumes is someone with a cheeseboard and a mortgage 😂This beautifully written book is laugh out loud funny, there are so many hilarious anecdotes about the dogs, their owners and their walkers and how the owners were usually more trouble than the dogs!But aside from the humour there is a sensitive side to this book as Kate writes with enormous emotional intelligence about family, anxiety, infertility and grief and there were many touching moments.I fell in love with so many characters; there was Tom the dog walker and his accidental protest against the wealthy. Naughty but loyal Jack Russell Mabel who was battling with her weight and my favourite, the hilarious dog trainer Dave - they were all fantastically written. I absolutely loved this charming book, it is brilliantly observed, funny, honest, heartwarming and all about dogs - what’s not to love?

Krista | theliterateporcupine

August 28, 2022

Before I even started listening to this audiobook, I knew it was going to be good. Through trial and error, the author presents a humorous look at her life, centered around her startup business of dog walking. She gives life to the clients she worked for and their dogs, their likes and dislikes, and their unique personalities. She forms personal connections with some of the dogs and their owners, so it's fun to read about that throughout the book."In 2006, Kate MacDougall was working a safe but dull job at the venerable auction house Sotheby’s in London. After a clumsy accident nearly destroyed a precious piece of art, she quit Sotheby’s and set up her own dog-walking company. Kate knew little about dogs and nothing about business, and no one thought being a professional dog walker was a good use of her university degree. Nevertheless, Kate embarked upon an entirely new and very much improvised career walking some of the city’s many pampered pooches, branding her company 'London's Number One Dog Walking Agency.'"Cheerful, Lighthearted, but Purposeful, this memoir will delight dog loving readers.

Megargee

October 24, 2021

An authentic adult "coming of age" memoir of a single young woman who leaves her totally boring sales job at Sotheby's in the early 2000s and strikes out on her own by founding London's first "dog walking" (and general canine care) agency instead of finding a proper husband, settling down, and producing grandchildren. (How can mother explain dog walking to her bridge playing friends.) Kate who knows very little about dogs gradually learns about running a business, recruiting dog walkers ("Must be OK to pick up poo and be out in all weather") and dealing with eccentric dog owners, all this during the 2008 bank crisis. The format of the book is dog-centric, with portraits of the various canine customers and their eccentric owners: Fabio, the Hindu cocker spaniel who must not be given any beef, Winston, the chocolate lab who, after being neutered, spends his his days in a vain search for his missing appendages until his owners, Joe and Carl, a divorced couple with a complex shared custody arrangement, buy him neuticles. As Kate's business progresses, so does her unlikely love affair with Finlay, a decent chap who, sadly, is not a dog lover. Nevertheless he loves Kate, and you will too after reading this charming and engaging memoir, especially if you love dogs.

Janice

July 14, 2021

Great memoir! Kate MacDougall had no idea what she was getting into when she started her dog walking business. She ended up learning a lot- and becoming a therapist for many of her clients!! Much fun.

Kate

May 03, 2021

This is the author’s own story of her journey into setting up a dog-walking agency and the dogs and people she met along the way. I enjoyed this so much; it’s such a joyful, fun and charming read. From the very beginning I knew I would love this and as I read on I warmed to Kate and Finlay more and more.Kate starts up her business from scratch, being interviewed by dog owners who want to know if she is up to the job, their dogs are after all part of the family. The rules and requirements the owners set out of how their dogs should be looked after were very amusing, some were always going to end in disaster and stretched the dog-walking job description to more of a PA! I liked that the dog owners were from all ‘walks’ of life, and were very different characters, I also enjoyed the encounters of Kate meeting with her dog-walking competition in the park, and the dog-trainer who was very passionate about his work. In such small spaces of time the author really captures the personality of each of the dog owners, and we can build a picture of them and their very different, and individual traits.This book has many funny moments which made me laugh out loud, and some more serious ones with Kate’s chats with her mother who really wants her to get on with things and become a ‘real grown-up’, with a proper job and provide her with something to talk to her friends about, in the form of grandchildren or an enviable career. Kate was always striving to achieve something, and I liked that when she did she had the good grace to accept that her patch was big enough for more than one dog-walking business.I don’t have any pets, but, so much enjoyed spending the bank holiday weekend with all of these dogs! I enjoyed the style of the book broken into chapters, dog by dog, with a little description of the dog and a tally of the number of dogs now on the books, the format is very engaging. This is a really delightful, humorous and entertaining book.

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