Janie Budnick

Speaker Bio

Janie founded 4-Legged Kids, Inc in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1997 after nearly a decade of animal education including pursuing her Bachelor’s in Animal Science at Mizzou and veterinary technician training.

4-Legged Kids provides dog walking and pet sitting services as St. Louis’ largest in-home pet care service. They exist to maintain and support the connection between pets and people because Life With Pets is Life Well Lived ™. Their mission combines love for the amazing pets and families of St Louis with the social responsibility necessary to provide for those homeless animals not as fortunate.

Janie designed her company around a One-for One business model that provides a meal to a local homeless pet for every service provided. Their current sponsored rescues are Second Chance Ranch and Tenth Life Cat Rescue.

She has spent the last two decades working directly with local rescue, from personally pulling dogs and puppies from death row and preparing them for fosters, to previously serving on the governing board of Open Door Animal Sanctuary, one of the largest no-kill shelters in the State of Missouri. 

Education is at the core of everything she does. She is the first in-home pet care provider to achieve the Certified Professional Animal Care Operator level with the Professional Animal Care Certification Council and has chosen to be on their governing board to improve standards of care in the pet industry. She was the first in-home pet care provider to be Fear Free certified in the state of Missouri. She is a Certified Professional Pet Sitter through Pet Sitters International (and was a top 5 finalist for the International Pet Sitter of the Year award) and is also a member of the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters.