Today we’d like to introduce you to Tori Saylor.
Hi Tori, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
In 2013, my family and I moved to Utah with a shared vision to create a kennel-free dog care facility where dogs could truly be dogs. Fetch is a family-run business, owned and operated by my parents, brother and me. We have 50 acres of natural terrain, including 5 acres of fenced yards where dogs can run, play, dig, and explore. Approved dogs also enjoy supervised off-leash hikes across the rest of the property. Our facility is staffed 24/7, and the front half of our building is designed like a home—complete with dog beds, couches, and even king-size beds where dogs can sleep next to our staff—so they can relax in a true home environment.
Our family has been made up of animal lovers for as long as we can remember. I began working professionally with animals at a Virginia shelter at 18. After 2.5 years there, I spent over 7 years as a veterinary assistant. While that work was meaningful, the emotional toll of the shelter and veterinary industries—and seeing the negative effects of long-term kenneling—led our family to create something different. Fetch started simply as a dog-walking service with just a few dogs a day and has grown over the past 11 years into what it is today. We are incredibly grateful to provide dogs with space, freedom, and constant human care.
Although I wasn’t diagnosed on the autism spectrum until I was 19, I spent much of my life feeling different, not fitting in, and facing discrimination because of my disability. Animals became my connection to the world I had to live in—they were where I felt understood and accepted. That experience helped shape Fetch Cares, our nonprofit dog rescue and hospice, while also influencing the compassionate, inclusive foundation that connects both Fetch and Fetch Cares.
That commitment expanded in 2017 when my mom, PJ, founded Fetch Cares. It began with Elwood, a 10-week-old mini schnauzer who arrived completely paralyzed. Through dedication and care, Elwood fully recovered and is now a happy, thriving 8-year-old. Since then, Fetch Cares has rescued hundreds of dogs, specializing in seniors and dogs with medical needs or disabilities.
Some dogs live out their lives with us as hospice residents, while most are rehabilitated and adopted into loving homes once they’re healed or stable. Together, Fetch—the family-run business—and Fetch Cares—the nonprofit rescue and hospice—are built on family, compassion, and the belief that every dog, no matter their challenges, deserves love, dignity, and a full life.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think starting a business from scratch is ever a smooth road. Plus working in the animal industry is extremely hard work. It is not sitting around cuddling puppies all day. We are basically professional pooper scoopers and life guards monitoring a yard full of toddlers with teeth. For me, the most challenging part is probably dealing with the clients. I understand dogs way better than people. Thankfully the other members of my family are great with dealing with people. As a whole for the business I think the most challenging part is probably safely managing dogs with different personalities and needs in an open play environment. It truly is like having a bunch of toddlers with teeth. All of our staff is taught about dog behavior and body language but so much of it can’t be taught simply with books and videos. We have to keep a close eye on body language while also keeping up with responsibilities to provide a clean & safe environment not for just the dogs but also the staff.
We also provide transport services for our clients. So every morning we send out multiple vans to pick up the dogs, bring them back to Fetch (we provide daycare, sleepovers, hiking, grooming, etc) so they can play all day and then we take them all back home at the end of the day. Our routes are just like how school busses go from stop to stop except our routes change constantly because we have different dogs coming and going each route. This part of the business is very challenging and takes a lot of organization, dog management, environment (snow, traffic, etc can all throw things off course), and vehicle maintenance, etc.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Fetch: We provide 24/7 kennel-free open play daycare, sleepovers, off leash hiking, grooming. As well as transporting dogs to/from Fetch. We don’t currently have a trainer on staff but when we do then we offer training. We sometimes offer concierge type services. For example weddings. When someone wants their dogs to be in their wedding but they don’t want to have to worry about looking after the dogs, transporting them, etc then the dogs come stay with us, we take them to the wedding to walk down the isle, take photos, etc and then we take the dogs back to Fetch for the night. What sets us apart and what we are best known for is probably our transporting service, large area (50 acres) and kennel-free environment. I’m most proud of our connection with our dogs. They aren’t just client dogs to us. They become a part of our family. I know all animal care facilities say that but it’s true. We have had dogs that have been coming to us for their whole lives, some we see more than their parents see them and when they pass away it hurts just like if they were ours. Unavoidably, having your heart broken over and over again through the years is one of the hardest part of working with animals.
Fetch Cares: We are a dog rescue & hospice. What sets us apart and what we specialize in is caring for dogs with disabilities, medical needs and seniors. I’m proud of every dog’s life we’ve changed. Every second chance we have given. Every transformation we have been a part of. Every peaceful moment holding and loving a dog as they pass away. Dogs are so much more resilient than humans and even after more than 20 years of working with them professionally they still amaze me.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
We mostly created all of this on our own. Although there are more now, there aren’t many business or rescues/hospices like us out there for us to model ourselves after. We have had a lot of trial and error. There are a lot of resources, conferences, other businesses, friends in the industry, etc that we can network with but we often have to take the advice and alter it to work for us. More & more dog care businesses and rescue/hospice are developing every day. It’s kind of wild how the industry has exploded but we take pride in the things that set us apart.
Contact Info:
- Website: FetchParkCity.com and FetchCares.org
- Instagram: @fetch_parkcity @fetch_cares
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fetchparkcity and https://www.facebook.com/FetchCares
Image Credits
Lexie Larson – Take A Hike Photography
