Heather was a college teacher before she began The Dog House NYC in 1996 following the death of her own dog, an Irish Water Spaniel named Rabbit. Rather than get a new dog, she decided to make herself fully available to care for the dogs of her friends and neighbors at that time.

Zooey, a photographer and filmmaker joined Heather in 1999.

Because of the at-home boarding they have offered for years, hosting hundreds of different dogs as if they were their own dogs, there is hardly anyone in Manhattan who has more live-in dog hours than these two, and thus it can truly be said, They know dogs!