Hi, I’m Elissa
I’ve been living with dogs for most of my life and caring for other people’s for more than thirty years. Niftee Pet Services is just me. No rotating staff, no app assigning you a stranger. When you book, I’m the one who shows up, every time.
I started Niftee because I believe pets are happiest at home, surrounded by the people, smells, and routines they already know. When you hand me your keys, you’re handing me your home and your best friend. I treat both like my own.
Elissa Boyet
Founder & Lead Sitter, Niftee Pet Services
It started with a Sheltie named Romeo
I was three and a half when my mother drove up to Norwalk, Connecticut to look at a litter of Shetland Sheepdogs. My father had been threatening to bring home a German Shepherd for protection we didn’t need, so she got there first. I still remember going down into the basement of that woman’s house. She’d gone in wanting a sable, but a little tricolor came straight over to her. “Oh,” she said, “he’s like a little Romeo.” That settled his name.
My mother kept a poster of every dog breed on the wall and took me to the local dog shows, so I grew up able to tell a Sheltie from a Collie across a field. She and I put Romeo through obedience school together, and I was the one who walked him in the ring. He hated the car and he hated it when we got in the swimming pool. He’d run the whole length of it, back and forth, until we got out. He was with us until I was sixteen.
When I graduated college and moved to Florida, getting my own dog was the very first thing I did.
After meeting someone with a Bichon Frise, that decision made itself. Frankie was six months old when I took him to Key West on his first road trip, and he stayed with me for almost sixteen years. He flew to New York more than once. He went to New Mexico. Between the two of us we covered DC, Massachusetts, Vermont, and most of the highway in between.
Which is a long way of saying I have never really had a life without a dog in it, and I’ve spent decades learning what they need, not from a manual but from living alongside them and caring for other people’s. That’s what you’re hiring when you book Niftee.
There was always a dog in the picture
I did not really choose this work. I grew into it. There are photographs of me with an animal before I was old enough to hold one properly, and it never stopped after that. Dog shows on weekends, a breed poster on the wall, somebody’s paws on the kitchen floor for as far back as I can remember.
That is the part you cannot train for. By the time I was old enough to look after other people’s pets, I had already spent a lifetime reading them.
Samson and Penny
My two come along on visits sometimes, but only with your permission and only when it’s genuinely a good fit for your pet. We’ll talk it through at your meet-and-greet, and approval doesn’t mean they’ll be there every time.
Samson
Bichon Frise
Cheerful, unbothered, and endlessly social. He’s the one who makes nervous dogs decide the whole thing might be fine after all.
Penny
Sheltie
Watchful and gentle, the way herding dogs tend to be. She reads a room before she walks into it, which makes her good company for quieter pets.
Always your call. There’s a line on the intake packet for exactly this: Samson, Penny, both, or neither. Whatever you choose is what happens on every visit.
Dogs belong out in the world, not just in the yard
One of my favorite things about having dogs is including them in ordinary days: lunch on a patio, a walk along the Four Mile Creek Greenway, an afternoon browsing antique shops in Landrum, a day trip up to Saluda or over to Falls Park in Greenville. It’s also why I know this area the way I do. When I say I serve South Charlotte, Ballantyne, Matthews, Weddington, Marvin, Waxhaw, Fort Mill, and Rock Hill, it’s because I’ve walked most of it with a dog on the end of a leash.
Four treats I actually make
These get baked in my own kitchen and handed out on visits. They’re simple, they use ingredients you probably already have, and dogs go quietly insane for the liver cake. Help yourself.
Peanut Butter Doggie Biscuits
Oven · 350°F
Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup wheat germ
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
- ½ tsp salt
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Combine the flour, wheat germ, and salt in a large bowl.
- Mix in the peanut butter, oil, egg, and water.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about ½ inch thick, then cut with a cookie cutter. One inch works best, but any size or shape will do.
- Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 5–15 minutes for 1″ biscuits, or 30–35 minutes for 3″.
- Transfer to a rack to cool.
Gluten-Free Dog Biscuits
Oven · 350°F · about 30 min
Add pumpkin a spoonful at a time if the dough won’t come together.
Ingredients
- 3 cups oats, ground into flour
- 2 Tbsp flax meal, or flax seeds you grind yourself
- ¼–½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp honey
- ½ cup peanut butter
- Dried blueberries
- 1 cup pumpkin, plus more if needed
Method
- Grind the oats in a food processor to make the flour.
- Add everything else to the processor and combine.
- Roll the mixture out into a rectangle on a Silpat or parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes, until done.
Liver Cake
Oven · 350°F · the training favorite
Keeps three days in the fridge. Cut small, bag in portions and freeze, and it holds for three months.
Ingredients
- 1 lb beef or chicken liver
- 2 large eggs
- 8 oz almond flour, or another dog-friendly flour such as wheat or coconut
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line an 8-inch tin with parchment. Square or round is fine.
- Blitz the liver and eggs in a blender until smooth.
- Pour into a large bowl and stir in the flour until smooth again.
- Spoon into the tin and bake for 35 minutes, until firm.
- Cool completely before cutting into bite-sized pieces.
Frozen Fruit Yogurt Bones
Freezer · no baking
A great summer treat, and about as easy as it gets.
Ingredients
- 1 cup plain non-fat yogurt
- 1 cup frozen berries, slightly thawed (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, or a bag of mixed fruit)
- A drizzle of honey
Method
- Combine everything in a bowl, or better yet, a blender.
- Pour into ice cube trays or silicone molds.
- Freeze overnight.
- Pop out and store in freezer bags.
Check your peanut butter first. Some brands are sweetened with xylitol, which is toxic to dogs even in small amounts. Read the label before it goes anywhere near the mixing bowl.
Treats should stay treats, roughly a tenth of your dog’s daily calories. If yours has allergies, a sensitive stomach, or a medical condition, run any new ingredient past your vet first. Skip the honey for puppies under a year.
Credentials worth checking
Anyone can say they love animals. These are the parts you can verify.
Come meet me before you decide
Every first booking starts with a free meet-and-greet in your home. No obligation, no charge. Just a chance for your pets to size me up and for you to ask everything you want to ask.