Gillian became interested in environmental enrichment when she invited a Rottweiler into her life at a time when the breed where getting a very bad rap from the media in Australia. Determined to ensure her dog (Cole) did not become a nuisance to anyone, she developed ways of keeping Cole entertained. Including the help of her mother and some very good neighbours as well as instigating other techniques, she researched for interactive toys.

As a veterinary nurse, she also went to many behavioural conferences and seminars, thus developing a passion for animal behaviour, canine & feline body language and environmental enrichment. Introducing a clinic newsletter, she would write behavioural and environmental enrichment articles as fillers, not sure if anyone was really interested. To her surprise these articles became firm favourites, with clients asking for more and seeking her personal advice at the clinic. After one week filled with repeating the same advice many times over, she jokingly said “perhaps I should write a book”. Immediately a challenge was placed upon her and she wrote Pets Need A Life Too – a guide to enriching the life of your Pets: series one – Dogs”.

The website and Pets Need A Life Too! business started as a complement to the book – because everyone wanted to know where they could get all the wonderful items.

Gillian is dedicated to enriching the life of your pet.

We like value for money, but will not compromise on quality. If we don’t think a product is good quality and value for money we will not stock it. We will not stock something just because it is cheap – we are firm believers in the old adage of “you get what you pay for”

It is not just about toys – our aim is to find other products we feel will genuinely enrich the life of your pet. We are not into “Bling” just into what we believe is good for your pet. If that means a warm coat for an arthritic old dog, we are happy to have that in our listing but not if the sole purpose is “to make the dog look human and cute”.

Many of our items state they are “virtually indestructible” – please know nothing is totally indestructible and all items, especially our toys are best used under supervision if your are in the least bit worried.

If you come across anything you think we should have a look at please do not hesitate to contact us – we are always happy to find new items.

Here is Cole playing with one of his favorite toys, particularly when he was younger. It is the Aussie Dog Bungy Chook: this toy allows him to play one of his most favorite games of all time – tug!

The best thing is he can play tug on his own which really takes the strain off a person, playing tug with a 50kg Rottweiler can be quite exhausting!