How Heather Whitfield’s Passion Led Her To Establish Paws-itive Paws-abilities
How Heather Whitfield’s Passion Led Her To Establish Paws-itive Paws-abilities. Paws-itive Paws-abilities is a state-of-the-art companion animal Rehabilitation Facility for Veterinary Physical Therapy. This established business is situated on a beautiful and tranquil property in Clubview, Centurion and the business has been in operation since January 2008, registered as a Closed Corporation. Paws-itive Paws-abilities is a formal registered SMME supporting the Veterinary Industry through internships and animal care support. It is a critical supportive Rehabilitation and Ethology Agency and functions in close collaboration with 95% of Gauteng’s Specialist Veterinary Hospitals (situated in close proximity to the practice) and 5% private referrals who seek this niche service to improve the quality of their pets’ health and behaviour.
In 2005, the idea of Paws-itive Paws-abilities was born out of a yearning to live a passion and a clear decision to pursue her dream. Heather Whitfield – founder and Managing Member of the company always had a great inclination to work with Animals. The concept of creating a company that would give every client and companion animal a positive experience relating to care and rehabilitation was a high priority and in order to do that, various possibilities in terms of methods and modalities needed to be put into practise – hence Paws-itive Paws-abilities was the perfect and well-fitting name.
Heather has been involved in the Companion Animal industry since 2005 when she first started as a puppy handler and then progress to qualify as a dog trainer. She started to present puppy socialization classes and went on to present basic dog obedience training classes… and was hooked for life! In 2007 she qualified as a canine Behavourist and in 2008 as a Tellington Touch Practitioner. During the same period, she studied in the UK and qualified as a Canine Hydrotherapist. By 2009, Heather had completed her studies and apprenticeship and opened Paws-itive Paws-abilities.
The initial business strategy was to have Animal Hydrotherapy and Rehabilitation as a core business and develop secondary businesses which are all one way or another related thereto. Once most of the systems and processes were developed, the plan was to open a Centre of Excellence. This dream came full circle, when Heather could purchase the perfect property and open a facility which is by all standards world class.
Today Paws-itive Paws-abilities it is a well-known “Centre of Excellence”. The Centre caters for an array of Companion Animal related entities which include a fully-fledged Veterinary Physiotherapy Practice, Step-down Clinic, Pre- and Post-Operative Rehabilitation, a Hills dog training school and behaviour practice just to name a few.
