London’s No 1 Dog-Walking Agency: ‘Charming, funny, heartwarming’ - Adam Kay

Kate Macdougall always knew her heart wasn’t really in her job at Sotheby’s. All around her, her friends were finding their dream jobs and whooshing up career ladders, fulfilled and glowing with success, flush with easy credit. After yet another breakage, this time of two precious porcelain pigeons, she had enough, and walked out of her comfortable, snoozy, back-office existence into the unknown world of the then-nascent gig economy.

London’s No 1 Dog-Walking Agency is the story of her next 5 years and the dogs (and people) she meets along the way. There’s Winston, the Labrador who isn’t allowed to get muddy, even after owners split up and then enlist Kate in their custody battle. There’s the chic trio of Islington couples whose immaculately arranged dog walking schedule is thrown off when one of them gets off with the dog walker Kate has employed. There’s Kate’s long-suffering, dog-agnostic boyfriend Finn, and her mother, who is always on the alert for wedding bells and grandchildren. Amongst all this, there’s Kate herself: trying to work out what she wants from life and when, and how to get there.