More Than Human has been around since August 2023. Gemma started dog walking and pet sitting on the side because she was visiting from Vietnam and missed her own dog. Things started taking off so she decided to stay in England and relocate Nelly from Vietnam.
Gemma has lifelong equine experience as well as 2 years working at the Hanoi Pony Club. She’s always been a lover of animals and the outdoors, but wasn’t allowed a pet in the house as a child due to severe asthma. Gemma rescued her dog Nelly in January 2020 while living in Vietnam, a country where dog meat is still consumed and animal welfare standards are incredibly low. Gemma is doing an MSc in Human-Animal Interaction and Wellbeing and a Level 5 Equine Behavioural Science.
Nelly is Gemma’s assistant, and you will often find him accompanying her on walks and dog sits. Although you (human) may not meet Nelly, because he’s not the most trusting of humans due to his traumatic start in life, Nelly absolutely loves other dogs and having so many friends to play with each week. Nelly has firm but fair boundaries and loves chasing and roughhousing with his good pals.
Clarice joined the team in April 2023 and is extremely passionate about animal welfare. She has quickly become a massive hit with the whole pack. Clarice is doing her Level 3 Canine Behaviour and Level 3 pet first aid. She has also received thorough training and guidance from Gemma.
This is simply due to supply and demand. Demand is much higher during these times and our prices reflect that. Additionally, many people don’t need regular walks or drop in visits at these times so it helps keep our finances balanced.
For regular services you must give 48h notice if you wish to reschedule a walk or drop in, otherwise you will still be charged in full. If you need to change your days and give more than 48h notice, I will endeavour to reschedule (depending on availability).
For overnight stays, the deposit is non-refundable and the balance will be taken 7 days before your holiday which is also non-refundable.
At the beginning, I tried a pay as you go system but it wasn’t possible to ensure I could pay my own bills. This way, my regular customers are paying me once a month which suits both them and us better. For overnight stays, I decided to take a deposit to ensure people don’t cancel on me, meaning someone else has missed out because those dates were reserved. A 50% non-refundable deposit is taken at the time of booking to secure your dates, with the balance due 7 days before your holiday.
Honestly, we are more than happy to. We both have experience with animals of all shapes and sizes but we are happy to consider any, as long as we have instructions of what to do/not do. So far we have covered dogs, cats, horses, alpacas, guinea pigs, chickens, pigs and goats.
Yes, of course! We will send photos and videos on a daily basis while you’re away for your peace of mind.
Nope, we will feed your animal(s) whatever they are used to.
Unless otherwise agreed, we will leave the house for a maximum of 4 hours at a time. If your pets cannot be left at all, a different price will be agreed, taking this into consideration as we may need to cancel regular bookings to accommodate you.
Yes we do! This will be quoted individually so feel free to enquire and we will see what we can do.
Dogs see the world through their noses. That means, they need to sniff novel smells every day to ensure they have good psychological wellbeing. If they aren’t given this opportunity it could lead to depression, anxiety or destructive behaviours. Dogs also need exercise, just like humans!
More than human is a name chosen based on our philosophy that all animals are more than human. We also like animals more than humans (you see what we did there).
That is Nelly! This logo actually started its life as a tattoo on Gemma’s left arm (if that’s not commitment I don’t know what is). After seeing the design and chatting with her tattoo artist, she decided it would make the perfect logo.