A BUSINESS which lets dog owners check on their pets through Facebook while they’re away is celebrating its first decade this month.

Dogtopia, which boards dogs, and takes them for walks, enables owners to keep an eye on their animals while they are on holiday or away on business.

As well as seeing their dogs online, owners can drop off a pet with behavioural problems for Dogtopia to train.

The firm’s owner, Cath Lumley, 44, of Lodge Lane, Grays, left her job in sales to follow a lifelong dream.

She puts the secret of Dogtopia’s success down to the fact that dogs are treated just like humans.

Having just taken on her eighth member of staff, she said: “I think we’ve grown because people love what we do with their dogs.

“We have even turned a few dogs’ lives around. Some dogs have really bad recall, others are painfully shy and some are really aggressive.

“We take them out and teach them that it’s OK to just have fun and relax with other dogs – they don’t need to go into ‘fight or flight’ mode.

“After a couple of days on the leash, they see the other dogs are OK and they want to join in.”

According to Cath, it only takes a couple of weeks to turn a dog’s life around. Sometimes, she adds, it can be just a couple of days.

She said: “Usually, dogs put on a brave face. But when they see we are not scared, they are not scared, too. They really are just like humans.

“I have been doing it ten years and I love it.

“When you see a dog suddenly get quite confident, it’s just lovely.

“I always get people asking me to come and work for us.”