We had the good fortune of connecting with Maddie Love and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maddie, what is the most important factor behind your success?
I believe my success comes from my great passion towards caring for animals, specifically dogs. I have been obsessed with dogs ever since I can remember! I would ask my mom for different dog stuffed animals whenever we went to the toy store and remember my dad testing my dog breed knowledge asking “what kind of dog is that?” whenever we would drive to school in the mornings. I always knew I would be working with dogs in the future because my passion was so fierce.

During college, I got the opportunity to start working with an animal rescue after I found a stray dog. I fell in love with the work and now almost 5 years later, I founded my own non-profit dog rescue: Love & Paws Rescue. We work to help the most at-risk dogs in our community by pulling from shelters, helping with animal hoarding cases, and more. We are a small organization, but we do amazing work with the animals we take in because of our intense passion to help these dogs that need it most.

Besides my rescue work, I was given the wonderful opportunity in 2020 to open a doggie daycare and boarding facility in Fort Worth called Ruff Resort & Spa. We cater to ALL dogs. We have no age, weight, or breed restrictions for daycare or boarding. We do allow dog aggressive, human selective, and generally anxious dogs to board at our facility as well with comfortable accommodations at no extra cost. We believe that every dog should have an enjoyable stay-cation even if they do not enjoy the daycare groups.

Both Love & Paws Rescue and Ruff Resort & Spa have given me an outlet for my passions and I truly believe they would not be as successful as they are without my intense passion driving them.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
When I started Ruff Resort & Spa with the generous help of my partners in 2020, I had no idea how it would go. It is unreal to see how far we have come looking back! We have seen almost 1,000 dogs come through our doors since February 2020 which is a huge accomplishment especially since COVID came just months after our grand opening. What sets my doggie daycare and boarding business apart from others and what I truly believe helped get us though the pandemic restrictions, is my connection to my clients and their dogs. I truly care about every dog that enters my establishment. I know their name, their temperament, their allergies, their play style, if they have any triggers, and their overall personality as if they were my own dog. I also know my customers and do my best to treat them like family. I work hard to maintain a safe environment for both daycare and boarding dogs. My facility revolves around the dogs and their happiness/safety and nothing else. Because of this dedication to the dogs in our care, we have glowing reviews and a constant stream of happy customers.

Love & Paws Rescue runs similarly. Every single dog we take in is a Love & Paws dog for life. I know these dogs at their core and work tirelessly to find them the home that suits them best. I keep up with them throughout their lifetime as well and make sure their adopters always feel supported. Each animal that comes through our doors are treated like kings and queens. They are given any medical treatments, behavioral training, or any accommodations that they need to be successful. I see these dogs as my family and they are treated as such, even after they are adopted.

Being a business owner is not easy. It is what consumes me from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to sleep. I even dream about my businesses often! I would not be able to do what I do everyday if I did not surround myself with like-minded individuals that support me every step of the way. All of my employees at Ruff Resort & Spa not only love each client’s dog like their own, but they enjoy coming to work. We enjoy each other’s company which makes stressful days better. Every volunteer with Love & Paws Rescue, especially our Fundraising Coordinator Magellan Taylor-Brickey, is a straight-shooter. We get along not only because of passions align, but because our goals for the organization are the same. Neither business allows for drama in the work place and our focus stays on what matters: the dogs. My advice to business owners or anyone out there struggling with success in life is to surround yourself with positive individuals that will be honest with you and that truly want to help you succeed. Having a village support you makes the hard days bearable.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m assuming my friend from out of town is just as ingrained into the dog world as I am, so this is the type of stuff we would do for fun!

We would probably enjoy sushi for dinner every night at my favorite restaurant, Edohana. I am a creature of habit and it is just that good! After a calm night in watching movies and snuggling our dogs, we would be ready to take on the next day starting with going to family protection dog training with our friends Stan and Delores at Iron Sharp K9. After working with our protection dogs in-training, we would perfect our frisbee skills and agility course runs (as we are also training our personal dogs in frisbee and agility sports). We would then head over to Dallas and hang out with my friend Nina and DogFitDallas to do a structured doggie social. This is basically a big off leash, controlled environment where dogs can socialize safely. Think dog park but safe and run by dog behaviorists. After dropping our dogs off at home from a long day of training, we would go to a rescue event to support Love & Paws Rescue with whatever is going on that day! The last day we would enjoy a relaxed day at home and take our dogs on a long structured walk before my friend heads out.

This may not sound fun to most people, but this is a blast for dog people that value training and dog sports!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have so many people to thank for where I am today. My friends and family have helped push my businesses this far by constantly recommending me, advocating me, and helping me along the way.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maddie.love2

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