Hi everyone!
My name is Nancy Canfield, nice to meet you!

I have been a devoted dog lover my whole life. My first dog, Sam, only lived with us until I was 5. When he was gone, I wrote every essay in school about dogs until I was about 10 when my parents decided to bring me home my new best friend, Kelly, a 1 year old Black Miniature Poodle. Kelly used to ride in a box on the back of my bike, he played dress up, and did almost everything with me until I left home at 18. I missed Kelly a lot when I left, but I would always make friends with every dog I saw...no matter where I was......they are all so special to me, and they all loved to see me as well.

Then I met my next soul mate, Bo, a Yellow Lab/Dingo cross in myearly twenties. It was then that I began to realize that I needed to pursue this special gift I have to bring dogs as much happiness as they give me. Bo came everywhere with me, to every job I worked at, even if it was on top of a cold snowy mountain curled up next to me while I ran a ski lift. When Bo and I lived in North Vancouver, I decided to walk the local dogs on The Baden Powell Trail on my days off, and I was on to something... Dog Hiking. Bo and I got to spend every day hiking together and got to know some amazing dogs.

Then I met my next soul mate, Bo, a Yellow Lab/Dingo cross in myearly twenties. It was then that I began to realize that I needed to pursue this special gift I have to bring dogs as much happiness as they give me. Bo came everywhere with me, to every job I worked at, even if it was on top of a cold snowy mountain curled up next to me while I ran a ski lift. When Bo and I lived in North Vancouver, I decided to walk the local dogs on The Baden Powell Trail on my days off, and I was on to something... Dog Hiking. Bo and I got to spend every day hiking together and got to know some amazing dogs.

Bo passed away on Dec 5th, 1999 after 6 beautiful years together and I moved to Vancouver Island with my other dog, Banjo, who I had rescued 6 months before, and my new baby Willow, a smooth brown and white Jack Russell. I worked as a custodian, and then along came Timber, my new soul mate, a rough coat black and white Jack Russell. I was laid off from my job where my dogs came with me to work and I needed a job where I could have them with me because I just couldn't bear the thought of being apart from them. So I started up The Grateful Dog. I had to get another job to help make ends meet, so I decided to get a graveyard custodial job, so it would be easiest to leave the dogs at home when it was their sleep time. I slowly started to build my doggie client list and hiked every day after getting home in the morning from work. Eventually, I became quite allergic to the cleaning products at my night job, so I had to leave that job and now am devoting all of my time to these beautiful dogs of Victoria, my lifelong dream is now coming true!!

Today, I am hiking every day, 7 days a week and running The Grateful Dog Hiking Adventures and also the new Grateful Dog House, where your dogs can have the luxury to live in my house on 1+ acres fully fenced with myself and my now 4 dogs, Banjo the lab, Willow, Timber and baby Ocean (another smooth Brown and White Jack Russell) where we all snuggle next to the fire, wrestle with each other, hike in the day, and just form one big happy family while you are away.