Hidden Gems: Meet Michelle Burnham of Dogs N Digs LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Burnham.

Hi Michelle, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Dogs N Digs is a professional pet sitting and dog walking business founded by Michelle Burnham in October of 2020, but its roots run much deeper. Michelle was born and raised on an outskirt of Charlotte, NC. She relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2013 to continue her college education at IUPUI. While attending school, She worked at various boarding facilities around the city and ultimately found her passion. Michelle changed her major to Communications with a Business Minor to pursue a career in the dog industry. In addition to working at facilities, Michelle began pet sitting for her parent’s friends while in college. Word of mouth spread and helped her get her foundation for clientele when she was able to take her business full time. For the last two years since leaving the boarding industry, she has grown a trustworthy team to continue caring for pets in Indianapolis while she took on expanding the business down to Raleigh, North Carolina. In April of 2022, Michelle moved to Durham and began to network from scratch to replicate her business model from Indianapolis. Michelle’s passion is to be able to advocate for dogs by raising the bar for dog care in all environments – not just pet sitting. Some of Dogs N Digs Services include check-ins, overnight in-home care, dog walking, transportation, and more. Her ultimate goal is to build a community of dogs and dog lovers alike while providing a livelihood for herself and a solid, animal-loving team!

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Learning to interview and build a trustworthy team properly was a struggle I did not anticipate. Empowering, investing in your staff, and encouraging them is important. I am learning to say No when everyone on the team is booked up. We always want to be able to help, and it’s so hard to say no! Learning our radius for traveling, especially with gas prices – and they’re even higher in Indiana! Proper exposure and learning about which media avenues to use for advertising

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are known for personalized and dedicated pet care. We are bonded and insured and advertise that we can care for pets 24/7*. We can do this by making this our full-time livelihood and ultimately being able to focus solely on the pets. We only have to leave our pet sitting commitments to run short errands and complete walks/check-ins for other clients in surrounding areas.

Pricing:

• 30 Minute Walk / Check In – $35
• 1 Hour Walk / Check In – $55
• Overnight Pet Sitting (1 pet) $110/Night
• Overnight Pet Sitting (2 pets) $120/Night

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dogsndigs.com
• Instagram: dogsndigsindy
• Facebook: dogsndidgsindyraleigh

Image Credits
Brooklynn Brian Photography (Based out of Indianapolis, IN)