YOUR MORNING STARTS with a stroll in Parker Park on the shores of Range Lake. It’s summer and hot, so you’ll cool off with a dip in a nearby creek. You’ll play at the ball diamond before getting a towel service (sometimes, there’s a mud bath) and being chauffeured back home. Later, you’ll receive candid photos—of yourself relaxing, smiling in the sun and meeting new friends.
This itinerary sounds like the agenda for a treat-yourself outdoor getaway, but this is just the average daily routine for a client of YK Sitter—a full-service pet care company based in the NWT. It’s one of many small businesses in the city dedicated to four-legged family members. Yellowknife’s population of 20,000 is more than enough to support (and even occasionally overwhelm) two dog-walking services, one boarding kennel, a handful of groomers and four pet supply stores. “Most people have a dog, it seems,” says Christy Lewylle, owner of Qimmiq Kennels. “I would say three to five dogs in a home is not unusual.” And they all need someplace to get their zoomies out. The function served by these entrepreneurs is more than just recreational, though. Sure, they give pets an outlet for their boundless energy, but they also help socialize and rehabilitate animals and fill veterinary gaps across the territory. A scope this broad wasn’t always part of the plan for these businesses. It’s just how things unfolded in a city with more demand than supply.
Photo by Hannah Eden; (left) Photos courtesy of Cameron Markin
“Honestly, it started as a hobby,” says Cameron Markin, owner of YK Sitter. “I just wanted more dogs in my life.” Dog walking was something she did in the hours off from her full-time job. By 2015, though, her client list had grown to the point where she quit her government gig to focus on YK Sitter. During the pandemic lockdowns, when many of her clients were stuck at home and handling their own dog walking, Markin trained as a groomer so she could keep the business going. Now, her second business, Cheeky Chops Pet Salon, has a staff of six. The team of stylists and assistants takes care of regular bookings, as well as free monthly grooming for pets at the NWT SPCA.
Managing two businesses means Markin doesn’t get to spend as much time with her charges as she used to. Instead, 13 staff help with walking, boarding, poop scooping and drop-in care of all kinds of pets, including birds. The service has evolved as clients have made requests (for example, the two birds on her roster? They like to dance to a specific playlist in the morning). “It really came from what else can we do to help [clients] so they just get to have their quality time with their pets and they’re not scrambling or guilty when Fido hasn’t gotten a long walk,” Markin says.
As a bonus to the exercise, the dogs, who often romp in packs of roughly (ruffly?) eight at a time, get the opportunity to become socialized to other canines. In fact, this is such a big part of the business, Markin even arranged for a local dog trainer to teach her staff about language and dog behaviour.
Socialization is part of the reason Cheyanna Fraser started Little Alpha Dog Walking, another off-leash service in the city. She began walking dogs casually in 2010, partly as a way to help her own dog, Brandy Anne, become more comfortable and confident around other animals. “She originally had ‘small dog syndrome’ where she would bark and sometimes bare her teeth at much bigger dogs out of fear,” says Fraser of the bichon frise/shih tzu/cocker spaniel mix she got when she was 13 years old. That approach backfired a couple of times and Brandy Anne needed stitches after a dust-up.
Photo by Page Burt
Exposure to other dogs on Fraser’s “pack walks” reduced that fear. Brandy Anne learned to greet pups politely rather than with anxiety and Fraser learned to spot negative interactions before they occurred, so she could manage conflict safely by training it out of her charges.
When Fraser registered Little Alpha in 2019, she did so in honour of Brandy Anne who was also one of the greatest testaments to what her business could do for dogs. “She lived a beautiful 17 years of adventures by my side and turned out to be the most respectful and wonderful little dog anyone could ask for,” Fraser says. “I had been told many times over ‘I don’t usually like small dogs but Brandy is the exception.’ I can say with certainty, that is due to the magic of pack walks.”
Willow is another example of how pack walks can help a dog overcome anxiety. A golden retriever, she goes on two adventures a week with YK Sitter. Her owner, Marion Lavigne, used to take her on short trots around the block. It wasn’t enough for Willow, who’s two and still has puppy energy, which was at odds with her fears about leaving the house (Lavigne founded Up Here Publishing and remains a minority owner). She would often get to the end of the driveway and sit down, as if to say, “That’s far enough, thanks.” Since starting with YK Sitter this spring, Willow sleeps harder and is less nervous. Now, she watches out of the window of Lavigne’s house for James, her dog walker, to show up and take her out on the trails.
Walks, boards and visits with their buds can be the highlight of the week for a lot of the dogs that use these services. Some of the clients at Qimmiq can’t even plan visits within earshot of their pets. “I had one client say ‘daycare’ to their dog the night before they were going to come and they were up all night,” says Lewylle, who bought Qimmiq when its previous owner retired in the summer of 2024. Before that, she’d been doing dog boarding at a different property that was too small for the demand she was experiencing. She was considering renovations when she heard Qimmiq was for sale.
Now Lewylle and her staff of 10 see as many as 500 dogs a week, between grooming services, overnight boarding and her drop-in daycare service (dogs are matched with other dogs of complementary size and temperament in one of 25 to 30 separate playpens). She also takes in fosters from the Tłıchǫ Animal Care Society when the non-profit is overloaded. It’s the perfect fit for her as an entrepreneur. As a kid, Lewylle wanted to be a veterinarian. “But grade 10 biology was not my thing,” she says. She’d always regretted not going into some form of work with dogs.
In addition to boarding and daycare, she’s a valuable link to vets, especially for pet owners in Behchokǫ̀ and Tłıchǫ. One of the services Qimmiq offers is vet transport. If a rural dog needs porcupine quills removed from their muzzle, for example, Lewylle collects the dog from the airport. She then boards them, takes them to Aurora Veterinary Hospital (a second doctor joined the hospital in August, doubling the number of vets in the NWT) and gets them back to the airport after treatment.
The job isn’t without challenges; most notably, capacity. All three services are as busy as they can handle. And, especially when it comes to foster dogs who need rehabilitating, Lewylle says the work can be harrowing. So, too, is having to say goodbye to dogs. Fraser, who’s been in the business for 16 years, often has her heart broken by older dogs who’ve died or moved south. On balance though, it’s worth it. The job is one that allows each of these entrepreneurs to dictate their own days, indulge their love of canines and help out with more than just walking. “Dogs are a natural happy drug,” says Lewylle. “They just make you happy.”
