Company History

Monika Stefaniak was born and raised in Hungary, where she always collected street cats and dogs as a little girl. Everyone in her home town of Abony knew of her love of animals! However, although later in life Monika lived and traveled around the word for years, she never heard about the concept of getting paid for walking and playing with dogs.

In 2003 Monika was working in a beach front hotel as a front desk manager in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, where she had moved to live with her new husband, Jeff. One day an elderly couple moved in, along with their dog Wolfy, a beautiful shepherd mix. Although Monika still loved animals, they couldn't keep a dog at that time as her and her husband lived in a small studio that did not allow pets.

Once the old couple had settled into the hotel, Monika asked Wolfy's parents if she could walk their dog for them. Monika was so happy that she could finally spend some time with a dog that it never even occurred to her that the old couple was going to pay her for walking Wolfy. That was Monika's "light bulb" moment.

Right around that time, in early 2004, the hotel where Monika was working had been sold to a developer to be torn down a rebuilt as a high-rise condo. Monika was asked to work for the new owner, but she already had something else in mind!

Jeff and Monika moved to East Hollywood where she started her DogsGoWalking pet sitting company, with only a handful of flyers and a bicycle. After a year she could afford to buy her first car, as her level of devotion to her client's pets was immediately evident, and her clients constantly recommended her service to their friends and neighbors.

By the end of her second year in business, Monika couldn't take care of all the client anymore just by herself, and had to think about expanding her business. She hired her first pet sitter and since then DogsGoWalking grown to servicing many pet owners in the South East Florida region.

Recently, Monika and Jeff moved to the country with their miniature dachshund Peanut, and she spends most of her time managing her business from home. Monika offers a private dog boarding service in her home under the name www.friendsofpeanut.com, although her DogsGoWalking pet sitters continue to provide exceptional service, with Monika helping out with visits as needed! Monika strives to continue to learn more about business, people, and pets in order to constantly offer the best pet sitting service with reliable pet sitters!