It’s a — very good — dog’s life on West Neck Road: Amber Anglin will soon celebrate 20 years in business on Shelter Island

Pauline Goldberg was dropping off Coco, a beautiful standard poodle, at All Dogged Up for a regular grooming and a trim. As she often does, Ms. Goldberg stayed to chat with Amber Anglin, the proprietor, who has been taking care of the Island’s pets for almost 20 years.

There will be an official celebration of the 20th anniversary in April, Ms. Anglin said, giving Coco a rub of the shoulder, adding that she will soon announce a rebranding of the pet boarding part of her business — Bed and Biscuit.

“Perfect,” Ms. Goldberg said.

The walls of the front room of All Dogged Up on West Neck Road are lined with leashes, pet feeding bowls, toys and every imaginable dog chewable. Behind a counter is a raised platform where Ms. Anglin grooms the pets. Her two employees, Jay Cooke and Jess Shepherd, also wash and help groom the animals

When Ms. Goldberg dropped off Coco, the poodle was greeted by three other dogs, all scooting around, rear ends wagging in delight.“We don’t have cages or kennels here,” Ms. Anglin said, and you could tell there was no need.

“For new clients — and I mean the pets, as well as the owners — we have a 10-minute assessment on how the dog will do with other dogs and people,” she said. “There’s a fenced yard at the side and the rear of the building. It’s a place they can run around and get their sillies out when they need to.”

The boarding facility is at her home, which she shares with her fiancé Anthony Valdes, who helps with the business and is also a handyman, and their two sons, A.J., 2, and Austin, 9 months.

They have an acre of fenced-in property, so dogs that are boarding can run free — again, there are no cages or kennels. There’s also a bedroom set aside for dogs that are more comfortable alone, Ms. Anglin said.

The couple are upgrading their place with new floors, painting, and furniture, but doing it in stages so the four-legged guests are never inconvenienced, Ms. Anglin said. She and Mr. Valdes are also building a house.

It was mentioned that she’s busy. “Running a business, building a house, two toddlers. No. Me busy?” she said.

An Islander born and raised, Ms. Anglin’s parents are Mike and Camille who owned Jack’s Marine for decades. She’s a third-generation Islander, who grew up as a kid surrounded by animals and the people who loved them, owning at times a potbelly pig, a bulldog, a cat, hamsters and turtles.

“We won a bunny at a carnival,” she remembered. “It was tiny. But it didn’t stay tiny for long.”

At Shelter Island High School, Ms. Anglin was also enrolled in an off-Island BOCES program, studying cosmetology. After graduating in 2002, and obtaining her license, Ms. Anglin headed west to New York City and landed a job with Cosmopolitan magazine, doing hair and makeup for models on photo shoots, and did the same for Macy’s catalogs.

But something was missing, and after going out on her own and freelancing for a while, she came home and worked at the family’s store on Bridge Street. Her mother one day suggested she try her hand at dog grooming. It sounded so right, Ms. Anglin said, and soon she was taking a four-month course at a school in Michigan.

When she returned to the East End, she worked for several groomers. In 2005 she cut the ribbon on All Dogged Up and went into business for herself.

Ms. Anglin said she’s seen her business achieve steady growth since she started, but over the last 10 years, “it’s exploded.” She attributes it to the fact that many owners see their pets as part of the family and treat them accordingly.

Research proves her point. According to Human-Animal Bond Research Institute, 98% of owners stated their pets are an “important part of their family, 87% say they experience mental health improvements from pet ownership, and 76% say their personal health has improved because of their pet.”

This translates into thriving businesses. As Forbes magazine reported, a study by Michigan State University this year found that “the pet industry had an overall economic contribution in 2023 of $303 billion, an increase of 16% from 2022. According to The Bolen Group, weekly sales of petcare products through February 2024 are growing three times faster than any other category of fast-moving consumer goods, and the largest industry trade group expects industry revenue growth of almost 3% in 2024.”

As Ms. Anglin placed a dog, eagerly licking her hands, up on the grooming table it was easy to see another benefit to the business besides profitability — joy.

All Dogged Up, 25 West Neck Road, 631-749-0702 — [email protected]