ANIMAL TALE: Pet sitter moves from NY, California to The Shoals

There may be a lot of regional differences when it comes to the United States, but a love of pets is a near universal language.

How Tara Groth and her family ended up living in Muscle Shoals after years in California and New York is a story to give paws. Four paws in most cases.

Groth runs Bama Wags Pet Care LLC, where she offers services like pet sitting, pet walks, pet boarding (but not overnight), drop-ins, pet taxi and more.

She services The Shoals area and works most days 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

But how did a combat veteran New York native that lived in San Diego for 18 years end up in Muscle Shoals?

That tale, much like her move, is quite the trip.

“I grew up in upstate New York about an hour outside (New York City),” she said. “I grew up with a house full of pets. We had five Dobermans, cats, a ferret, parrots and lizards. The whole range.”

After high school Groth attended college, but she said it didn’t really work out at the time.

So, when she was 21, she decided to join the military.

“The Army didn’t take me, and I didn’t want to go in the Navy,” she said. “I was trying to get in the Air Force, but then 9/11 happened, I had some issues with tattoos, and they just kind of flaked. So, I decided to join the Marine Corps.”

It took laser removal of a neck tattoo, but Groth joined the Marine Corps. She was stationed at Camp Pendleton in California before deploying to Iraq in 2004.

“I came back in 2005, and when I got out in 2006, and I decided I wanted to stay in California. I met my husband in 2008, and we lived all over San Diego.”

Groth and her husband lived in San Diego for 18 years before the family, now with two kids, decided to make a move. Of around 1,900 miles.

“It was too expensive in California, and COVID-19 hit,” she said. “I started pet sitting during COVID. It was a way to pass the time, earn some income and allowed a flexible schedule because my kids were home. It was easy for me to transition here. I didn’t have anything tying me to California.

“It was crazy how we ended up here. A lot of stars had to align. We knew we wanted to go somewhere warmer. We also found colder, but not too cold, because New York has more snow.”

Groth said she and her husband looked at Huntsville initially, but the search moved west until they decided on Muscle Shoals due in large part large to the city’s school system and affordability.

So, the four packed themselves, two cats, a dog and a vehicle into the largest U-Haul truck available as well as a pickup truck over a spring break and made a three-day trek to a house they purchased sight unseen in Muscle Shoals.

“The kids were rotating between vehicles,” Groth said. “One night we slept in the vehicles in a parking lot in New Mexico. It was a wild three days. Then we pulled up and our house was a dump. As first-time homebuyers we didn’t know anything. We didn’t know anyone out here. For the first six months it was problem after problem with this house, but we got it all fixed up. That was four years ago.”

Groth’s husband works for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Sheffield, and she rebranded her pet sitting business as Bama Wags. She said life is slower here in The Shoals, but the people are friendlier, and they like it.

“I knew I was going to keep the pet sitting up,” she said “Once we got settled, I started posting, and it has gradually grown. I have four regulars I see weekly. I have boarders right now. I have people that book me when they go on vacation. I may do eight or nine visits a day.

“I don’t have a limit. Last year I cared for goats, ducks, chickens are common, horses, most common are dogs and cats, bunnies and Guinea pigs. Someone literally had a room of different fish tanks including axolotls.

“It’s probably my most favorite thing I could ever do. I always wanted to work for myself. I like people, but I like pets better. My day is going to see pets, and they are always happy to see me. I have a degree from San Diego State University in applied design, but I do nothing with that. I love pet sitting.”

For more information on Bama Wags Pet Care, check out the business’ Facebook page, call 619-322-3349 or email [email protected].