#InternationalDogDay. While the day is to honor the unique bond between humans and dogs and bring attention to the needs and well-being of dogs across the globe, it reminded me of the story of my former colleague and friend Salomi Gupte, whom I met recently in Ahmedabad.

After spending almost a decade as a #PR professional Salomi shifted gears and changed her #communication target to the four legged community. In 2016, she entered the fascinating world of being a dog trainer and behaviorist under the expertise of Shirin Merchant, a pioneer in the dog training industry. This opened to her the wonderful world of dogs and their psychology.

After the completion of this course, Salomi began training dogs of her friends and relatives, which helped in understanding dog communication in real time. This also meant her to be spending more time outside instead of behind a desk and realised her calling. Slowly and surely this became a full time career for her as she worked with pet parents to strengthen their bond with their dogs, decode subtle dog body language signals and gain insight into all of the fascinating dog breeds.

Over the next few years, Salomi delved deeper into this area and the following years made her take up more courses- Canines Can Care under the mentorship of Shirin Merchant. Internationally renowned John Rogerson of Northern Centre for Canine Behaviour UK and Kumar Rich from Canaan Pet Resort. Each course made her feel, there was so much more to know about canine/human interaction and communication.
In 2019 she met Rahul Sehgal and joined his organization Qi to Happiness foundation which introduced the first ever Animal Assisted Therapy program in Gujarat.

Salomi, now runs PawsomeAmigos, boarding for the dogs in Ahmedabad.