Having pets in the home is a lot of work. The time commitment that goes into walks and feeding, not to mention the cleanup, can be daunting.
These are among the reasons people think twice about owning a pet, but Brian Flack says if you want the joy of having a dog or cat or even an aquarium in the home, then you should, and have his business, Allow Us, do the rest.
“We want to do right by people and their pets,” Flack says.
The San Jose resident and his girlfriend, Rachel Ruggiero, launched the business in January to provide services for cats, dogs, aquariums and wildlife.
“I always thought I could have an aquarium business, but I didn’t want to do just aquariums,” Flack says. “I wanted to have the whole package and it came to be what Allow Us is.”
Flack, who grew up in Los Gatos and attended Los Gatos High School, always loved the ocean and all that was found within it. He enjoyed swimming and boogie boarding before he left for college.
He ended up going to the University of Colorado and received his degree in environmental, populational and organismic biology.
“I ended up where there were no oceans but got to take a few marine biology classes while I was there,” he says.
While studying, he took care of the university’s aquariums, which it used for specimens in the classroom. He also started maintaining aquariums for hotels in the area.
When he came back to California, he dove into the high-tech industry, but before long he missed working with animals.
This led him to create Allow Us Pet Services.
Allow Us provides pet sitting for cats and dogs, as well as walking, playing and waste removal.
“We try to provide customized service for each individual animal,” Flack says.
One of the popular services, pet sitting, also comes with text alerts and check-ins, if requested by clients.
The business also provides taxi service to and from groomers and veterinary visits as well as pet supply deliveries. Allow Us also provides complete setup and maintenance of aquariums as well as cleanup, but what sets it apart is its wildlife services.
“We live in one of the best parts of the country for birds,” Flack says. “A lot of the time, biologists say that you can tell how fertile the land is by how many birds are found there. Well, if you put out a bird feeder and keep it regularly filled and cleaned, you’ll get to see how fertile our home really is.”
Before actually jumping into the business, Flack and Ruggiero researched the types of birds that are common in the areas they serve: Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell and San Jose.
They offer the bird feeders and seed at no cost and charge a service fee to come by and clean and refill them. All the hummingbird feeders, the business’ most popular items, are premium handmade feeders from local suppliers. The bird and squirrel feeders are all wooden and handmade by Flack. These are set up, filled and cleaned regularly for a fee as well.
“It really is a pleasure to relax and view the wildlife outside your window once the birds start coming,” Ruggiero says.
For more information, visit www.allowuspetservices.com.
