Jessica & Dominic with our kids, Kaden & Jeanette Callie (Terrier Mix) River (St. Bernard)
We bought Paws and Claws in 2025. It has been so amazing fulfilling my dream of owning a kennel and never having to work another day of my life because I absolutely love my job and going to “work”
We grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My husband and I actually grew up in the same neighborhood! I walked my St. Bernard every day as a teenager and his mom said, “you should really go talk to that cute girl with the huge dog”. Welp, he never did! So it’s a good thing we ended up working at the same place for years or our lives would have been written differently.
My husband, Dom, is a software engineer. He works remotely so he and I are almost always here, as well as my mom who lives in our downstairs rental who we are so thankful to have her on this journey with us!
I went to SRU and got my business management degree, but the majority of my knowledge has been acquired through working at a kennel for years and gaining experience.
We went down a different path for a few years and were Foster Parents, which was such an amazing experience and we encourage others to open up their home to children in need. We did end up taking on too much, having 6-7 kids at once in our home for over a year, and we got burnt out. ~next time, we’ll set better boundaries~
I decided I wanted to follow my original dream of opening a kennel, and so we bought a camper and were set to sell our house and travel till we either found land to build or an established kennel to buy. About a month before we were set to set sail, Deb and Phil (the original owners of Paws and Claws) reached out to me through Facebook. It seemed like fate as we already had a trip planned to Lynchburg the following week, and we just absolutely fell in love with the kennel, the property and the area. We signed a contract that same week and were so excited with where life was taking us
Both our kids love animals. My son comes to the kennel and throws the ball and runs around and my daughter wants to kiss every pet she sees! I’m sure we’ll be posting lots of videos of them with the pets on Facebook, so Friend us if you haven’t already!
We are so happy to create roots here. Our son will be starting Kindergarten next year and our daughter is still in diapers. I’m sure we will be an active member in their school and Amherst has so many events, we hope to meet tons of people to connect with!
Please feel free to reach out, even if it’s just to get to know me and my family 🙂