Man’s best friend is my source of income

As far as the Kenyan society’s unwritten rules are concerned, handling of dogs is a man’s territory. However Ms Margaret Mutua is rewriting the rule book and has literally made dogs her business.

She keeps dogs which she sells for an income.

What attracted her to such an improbable trade for a woman? Ms Mutua says she recognized the huge potential the business holds given that not many people have ventured into it. She says the business is good as there is no much competition.

She rears two breeds of dogs — the German Shepherd and Rottweiler at her home in Nyeri Town. Currently, she has 10 mature dogs — six German shepherds and four Rottweiler.

She ventured into the business in 1998 with an initial capital of Sh100,000 which she used to buy three puppies at a cost of Sh30,000 each.
She used the rest of the cash to construct structures and to sustain the business before the dogs started multiplying.

After a year, the puppies matured and started reproducing. Her business then started looking up.

The motivation to start the business started after she went to visit a relative who had been doing the business for years. She did her own research to determine the viability of the idea. She discovered that there was a high demand for dogs by homes, government and private security agencies. She made up her mind to try her luck here.

“Being a woman, many of my friends discouraged me from the business with some warning me of dangers that could come as a result of rearing dogs. Some warned me of diseases such as rabies,” Ms Mutua says.

After consulting widely from medical experts and veterinary doctors, Ms Mutua came to learn that she could steer clear of the dangers by regularly vaccinating the animals.

Ms Mutua now refers to herself as a friend to her dogs and dedicates most of her time to the animals, feeding them and playing with them. “Whenever I go to their coops, they all run to me. They know that I am there to either feed them, give them drinking water or know how they spend their day,” says Ms Mutua who also works at a law firm.

Cooked meat

She feeds the dogs with cooked meat once in a day especially during the evening. She buys the meat from certified slaughterhouses to prevent food contamination and has developed a unique method of cooking it.

“The method I use to prepare the dog food is so unique such that even if someone comes in my absence and attempts to throw anything at them, they will ignore it. This has helped me over the years to prevent poisoning,” she explains.

For the newborn puppies, Ms Mutua sometimes feed them with milk to keep them healthy.

The puppies are vaccinated every two months when they start developing teeth. The puppies are also given anti-rabies vaccine when they are three-month old and when they are two years.

All the dogs are also de-wormed after every two months.
Ms Mutua sells her puppies after they attain the age of three months at between Sh20, 000 and Sh30,000 each depending on their sizes.

A dog produces puppies three times a year if it is in good health. This enables Ms Mutua to have between six and 20 puppies each time.
The females are kept separately according to the breed while the male is kept in its own cage.

Ms Mutua has a diverse number of customers who mostly are referred to her by her close friends and other customers.

In a good month, she is able to get an income of between Sh90,000 and Sh120,000 depending on the number of dogs she has sold.