Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Moray dog business makes last-ditch appeal for new home

Post Thumbnail

The owners of a dog daycare business in Elgin have issued a last-ditch plea for public support so that it can live on in a new home.

Sisters Meg Grant and Esther Riddell ploughed their savings into creating the Doolittle Doggy Daycare centre on Lossie Wynd less than a year ago.

But plans to convert parts of the building into accommodation have led to them being asked to leave it by the end of next month.

The sisters are now on the hunt for a new base from which to continue the business.

But it is likely that any future venue would need extensive work to be fit for purpose, which could cost up to £10,000.

The sisters will have to install rubber flooring for the dogs’ safety, and fence off an outside area for them.

The cash-strapped siblings say that after funnelling thousands into improving the Lossie Wynd building, they are unable to fund further renovations themselves.

Mrs Riddell said: “We are looking around for a unit, but to make it usable could cost a lot of money.

“If we were to take on a completely blank space, that could cost us as much as £10,000 as we’d need to create a kitchen and toilet facilities as well as adapting it for the dogs’ safety.

“We spent £3,500 doing up Lossie Wynd but have been told we won’t get any refund.

“We are having to start afresh, and are desperate to keep going.”

The sisters have managed to amass £1,000 through a variety of different drives, and clients have been keen to help ensure the future of the business.

Mrs Riddell added: “The support we have had has been amazing, some of our users have been in tears about this and they are doing their own fundraisers too.”

She highlighted the social impact the venture has had, as it offers local people with learning disabilities and depression volunteer placements.

“It gives them a purpose and we let them know how valued they are”, Mrs Riddell said.

Moray Council said that a daycare centre for dogs would “prove incompatible” with proposals to create a flat in the same venue and that a retrospective planning application for the business would be refused.

Donations can be made online at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/esther-riddell-5