EDGEWATER — Jason Purcell is on a mission to keep dogs and their owners together — and he specializes in pets or humans that are in bad health.
Purcell is the owner of Happy Hana's Dog Services, 1334 W. Elmdale Ave., a dog services business offering walking, sitting and transportation and other services. While it is open to all types of dogs, Purcell is putting an emphasis on helping dogs — or their owners — that have special needs.
That's because owners with pets that are more difficult to care for or who are elderly or disabled themselves are often forced to part with their pets because they are unable to shoulder the responsibility alone, he said.
"It isn't just the dog, it's also the client, because to me they're the same," he said. "Some of it is about the older, disabled dog, but it's also about the older, maybe disabled client."
Opened Last Year
Happy Hana's, which debuted in 2014, is run out of Purcell's home, but he is soon hoping to expand to a storefront on Clark Street that would also offer grooming. He said he wants to expand to help more special needs clients, particularly after an incident earlier this month.
In that incident, Purcell received a worried message from Debra Davy, a retired lawyer who lives in Edgewater. She said her service dog, a three-year-old German shepherd named Abbie, had slipped on the wood flooring and wasn't getting up. Davy, who suffers from a rare disorder that causes her bones to be fragile and relies on Abbie's strength, was concerned.
"She's there for me if I fall, I can pull myself back up with the harness she wears on her back," Davy said. "She can open any closed door and get out, has a chip that alerts police if I'm in trouble and can also bring me the telephone to call for help."
Davy said Purcell arrived at her home with a car within minutes and carried a frightened and injured Abbie down two flights of apartment stairs in his arms before whisking her away to the veterinarian. While doctors checked over Abbie, Davy said Purcell waited vigilantly, stayed up-to-date with the doctor's findings and eventually brought Abbie back home.
Davy said despite being frightened Abbie, who weighs 85 pounds, trusted Purcell enough to let him carry her after her injury, which turned out to be a twisted ankle.
"Abbie adores me, but look at her with Jason," Davy said, as Abbie snuggled her head in Purcell's lap during a recent visit. "Look at the adoration on Abbie's face."
Legacy Of Caretaking
Purcell, who also works as a personal trainer, said he didn't expect to be in the dog care business when he embarked on a modeling career years ago.
But after he got married, he and his wife settled into a residential flat on the second floor of his mother-in-law's Edgewater home.
As his mother-in-law battled a debilitating illness, he and his wife became her caretakers, and five years ago, brought her a small canine to be a companion, Hana.
Later when his mother-in-law moved into a nursing home, Purcell and his wife would continue to visit, with doting Hana coming along for each ride.
The other residents also took to Hana, and that led them to share memories of their own pets. Purcell said he realized issues of aging, poor health or disabilities shouldn't keep a pet owner from companionship.
"Every single person would say 'Oh I used to have [a dog]'," he said. "And I thought, they got to a point where their spouse died, they couldn't take care of their dog. So why not just have that be a part of your service where you could say maybe let's just allow that individual to keep their best friend for that extra year?"
Purcell, who has lived in the same Edgewater home for over 20 years, said he has no regrets in his new line of work.
"A lot of people would probably shy away from it, but to me it's no big deal," Purcell said. "There's nothing wrong with having a job that you can feel good about at the end of the day."
He said he'd like to open a grooming salon along Clark Street in Edgewater that would also include a dog taxi service, walking, training and more. He said he'd considered setting up shop in other neighborhoods, like Sauganash, but decided to stay in Edgewater, an area well-known as a dog-friendly.
"Just this last week I thought no, we need to do it here, we need to do it on Clark Street," he said. "It's gotta be Edgewater."
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