Marissa Self has always been an animal lover.
She is now caring for her animals and more through her new business Prissy Paws, a doggie daycare and boarding business in Tallassee.
Throughout her life, Self has always had dogs. She currently has three whose silhouettes are represented in the Prissy Paws logo. While all three are represented, one of her dogs has made it to the namesake. Prissy Paws, is a derivation from her dog Butterbean’s nickname Miss Priss. Now three, Self got Butterbean when she was about two months old — and she has been spoiled ever since.
“She wears clothes and she wears booties,” Self said. “Well sometimes she is OK wearing them. If my husband and I are eating steak, she thinks she is supposed to have it. She just fits that nickname.”
Self even has a specially decorated collar for Butterbean that says “spoiled rotten.”
‘Ms. Priss’ is at the Kent Road facility with Self almost daily. She has some of her best friends who come to visit for doggie daycare as Self cares for other dog owners' animals.
“We already have some regulars,” Self said. “She has made friends with some of them. She will stay in the pen with them.”
The idea of a doggie daycare came from Self caring for other animals in the area. She was already cutting the hair of a “doggie nephew.”
“I was sometimes watching animals for friends too,” Self said. “I feel like I'm happier when I'm with dogs, and I'm just so blessed to have the opportunity to get to love on everybody's dogs. I want to love on them like they are my own.”
Self finds herself not only playing with Butterbean but also getting down on the floor and playing with the other dogs under her care.
At Prissy Paws, Self is currently doing some nail trims and baths, but she hopes the facility’s daycare and boarding services will take off.
“I want to get to where we are only taking one appointment per day for a bath or nails,” Self said. “We hope to get there soon and think we will. We already have a lot of appointments for the holidays and more people calling about daycare. I think we will succeed. We just need to get the word out.”
