Brendan MacNeill had wanted to be a photographer since he was a child, and he spent more than 40 years studying and working in the field. But the economic uncertainties of freelancing meant it never really felt like a dream come true and, last year, he “woke up on the first working day of January, and decided something had to change”. Within a week, he had set himself up as a dog-walker. He was 67.
MacNeill lives in Edinburgh’s Southside, near the Braid Hills, so he already had a perfect workspace close to hand. He had an old estate car. And it was easy enough to set up a website for his business. Now he cares for eight dogs a week, among them an old English sheepdog, a cocker spaniel, a sproodle, a labradoodle, a pomeranian-husky mix, and his own chocolate labrador, Molly.
