Dogs have always been very special to me, it’s like there is a big part of my heart that is devoted to loving dogs.

I was lucky enough to be raised on a farm by an animal loving family. My childhood memories are full of farmyard animals and dogs. My Dad would often come home with an injured magpie, or a joey whose mum had been hit by a car. Mum used to breed St Bernard Dogs and my dad Shetland Ponies. We had a mulberry tree and I had silkworms. So, growing up on the farm, animals were my after-school playmates, and so my passion for animals grew.

One of the ways to build our Shetland Pony stud name (White Swan Shetland Pony Stud) was to follow all the country shows to gain enough points to qualify for the Royal Melbourne Show (I grew up in Victoria). From the age of eleven, I’d have two weeks off school every year in September, living at the show looking after our Shetlands. I have such fond memories of being surrounded by horses and people who loved them as much as I did.

Throughout my life I have always had dogs and pets. In 2014 at the start of the commodities crash my career in the corporate world changed direction, and I decided to start my own business based around animals.

While I was considering my next move fate stepped in when a picture of a St Bernard sitting in the front seat of a Toyota Camry flashed up on my computer screen. It got me thinking how people without cars got about with their dogs, and that’s how my previous business, Perth Pet Taxi started.

I built Perth Pet Taxi from the ground up and started transporting people’s loved pets to vets, airports, boarding facilities and doggie day care. I have transported thousands of loved domestic pets around Perth and surrounding areas. During this chapter of my life, it got me thinking, why can’t groups of like-minded dog lovers go on day trips all together in a bus just like humans do? The reason why became very clear. No one offered this type of service and that was the day Pooch-n-Peeps Pawfect bus Tours was invented 🙂

So, the first thing to do was to purchase a bus. My lovely mother owned a male St Bernard whose name was Bernie. He was massive, weighed around 90kg and fully stretched out he measured just shy of 182cm long. I have such beautiful childhood memories of coming home on foot and Bernie pounding full-bore up our 200 metre driveway full of excitement, with St Bernard slobber streaming from his jowls full of affection to greet me. He bowled me over so many times I honestly lost count, but it was always such a beautiful welcome home. On the north and west boundaries of our farm was thousands upon thousands of acres of uncleared state forest. What a terrific place for a young boy and his massive dog to go exploring. I would always take the big fella (Bernie) with me just in case I bumped into the bogeyman or any of the other scary things a child’s mind might think of.
I always felt safe when Bernie was with me.
When it became time to name our beautiful Pooch-n-Peeps bus it was simple.
“Bernie the Pooch Pawfect Bus”
Now whenever Pooch-n-Peeps takes like-minded people and their loved pooches on adventures Bernie will keep us all safe.

Love ya Bernie

Terry Butts