About Walks Four Paws
Walks Four Paws offer trusted dog walking, pet sitting and pet taxi services in Todmorden (Calderdale), West Yorkshire.
Foremost at Walks Four Paws the safety and well-being of our four legged friends is a concern we take seriously.
Professionally Fitted Cages – Our van has professionally fitted custom made steel cages, bolted to the interior for maximum safety and protection of your pets whilst in transit. Sturdy, spacious and secure these cages open from both the front and rear, giving easy access into and out of the van in the unlikely event of an emergency.
Comfort – As you can see from the happy dog in the pictures below, as standard our cages come with an easy clean comfortable padded bed and then for the colder days we also add a warm blanket.
Insurance – You can rest assured we are fully insured with a specialist company for dog walking, pet sitting and pet taxi services. Please click here to find out more.
Small groups – Guaranteed no more than 4 dogs at any one time. However smaller groups of two or three dogs are the norm.
About Me – Rachael Alderton
I live in Todmorden, with my rescued dog Copito, who I found wandering the streets outside my house in Spain, in much need of some human help, attention and love. He was covered head to toe in thick, dirty, matted dreadlocks and was very emaciated. When I moved back to the UK in 2015 we applied for a pet passport and he travelled back to the UK with me. He’s certainly a character. Being of southern Spanish descent he really doesn’t like the rain and was and still is quite particular about where he walks, preferring concrete to grass any day and needs to be encouraged (carried) onto the grass. Going out of my way for animals is second nature to me, plus he is a joy to have in my life.
For as long as I can remember I have always passionately cared for animals especially those in need. Therefore, when I was accepted as part of the team at Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre just outside Liverpool I was over the moon. There I worked mainly with the dogs, cats and rabbits, spending the days cleaning, feeding and my favourite part – walking the many rescue dogs. One particular dog, who had been homed a number of times but then returned due to his penchant for biting people, took my eye. It was likely he wouldn’t get another home due to his anti-social behaviour, so I homed him myself and he became my first dog, Sherpa. We also shared our home with my partner and another 3 dogs, Suzy, Chewy and Max. And from that home we ran a feral cat neutering service where we would trap and neuter female cats, whilst socialising and homing any kittens that we found.
Many years later I went travelling around the world and whilst on my travels I worked at 3 rescue centres: Jaguar Rescue Centre in Costa Rica, The Sanctuary in New Zealand and Animal Aid Unlimited in India. I spent 3 weeks in Costa Rica working mainly with rescued howler monkeys and two and three toed sloths. I have many happy memories of regular outings with the monkeys into the jungle, to provide them some freedom from the sanctuary and to allow the possibility that one or two might get accepted back into a wild group. They mainly stayed close to us and at the exact time every day would lie down with us and sleep for an hour or so.
I worked for 6 weeks at The Sanctuary in New Zealand, working long hours helping to care for and feed a range of farm animals from donkeys, horses, a cow, goats, ducks, chickens, peacocks, parrots and hedgehogs, and the odd possum or two. We would also feed specially prepared nectar to the local Tuis, the beautiful unique singing bird found only in New Zealand.
In a rescue just outside Mumbai, India I spent a short time with the rescued dogs there. Sadly, many street dogs get hit by cars, bikes and tuk-tuks which causes irreparable damage to their spines, rendering their back legs useless, so I spent my time there just being present with them, giving them much needed human company and love.
Find out more about dog walking or make a booking.