West End tails?

I’m wrapping up my contract with Book of Mormon in the West End and heading off to a holiday show in the North. While I’m away, my dog, Isla, will stay with my partner until he brings her to join me closer to Christmas.

Lately, I’ve been reflecting a lot on dogcare. Getting a dog was a dream of ours, and when we found Isla, we dove headfirst into pet companionship. Those first months weren’t easy. Puppies are intense! Isla chewed everything, housetraining was a challenge, and sleep became a distant memory. But despite the chaos, she brought so much sunshine to our lives. Our little family finally felt complete.

Then reality hit. Both of us work long days away from home, and while Isla’s grandpawrents loved babysitting, and friends were generous with their time, it wasn’t sustainable. Isla spent too much time alone, and I often raced home between shows just to be with her. We needed a better solution—for her and for us.

I explored several options. There were daycare vans that picked up dogs at 8:00 and dropped them back home around 16:30, but that left Isla returning to an empty house. Local doggy daycares required rigid drop-off and pick-up schedules that didn’t align with our non-traditional work hours. Hiring a dog walker for sporadic visits helped but didn’t offer the consistency or engagement we wanted for Isla. None of these options worked for our unique schedule.

That’s when I realized London was missing something: dogcare designed for people like us—those with demanding, irregular, and non-traditional schedules. What if there were a service with extended hours, a convenient drop-off location, and flexible scheduling to accommodate both daytime and evening care?

And that’s how West End Tails was born—a dogcare solution tailored to the rhythm of London’s creatives, performers, and professionals.