Aneka Johnson is the founder of ‘The Cuddle Club’, which has grown into one of the leading dog therapy companies in the UK since being founded In 2018. Inspired to help people with dog therapy after her French bulldog Chubbs supported her through her own personal struggles, she turned a passion into a business, becoming the first black female founder in the pets space.
When Aneka was working as an entertainment consultant in the United States, she began to feel ill. “I was walking through the streets and the streets were moving with me. I just knew something wasn’t quite right,” she says. Within two months of being back, she faced a series of health issues, finding herself at her lowest.
She had arranged to pick up Chubbs, then only eight weeks old, on the day she returned to the UK. Though she had wanted a dog her whole life, it simply didn’t work out with her incredibly hectic lifestyle. “At that point, I just really needed it,” she confesses. “There was just this feeling of, ‘I need a dog’. He ended up being the dog that I didn’t realise I needed so much, and the dog that would end up saving me.”
Aneka and Chubbs fell in love immediately: having him by her side during her health challenges not only gave her confidence, but also responsibilities and a new love to keep her going. “By virtue of him being a dog, and everything that entails, he got me out of bed and active, which in turn helped me get better a lot quicker,” she says. “At the same time, I could feel that he always uplifted me.”
Aneka spent two years in and out of hospital, unable to work, needing eight tablets a day just to get by, but Chubbs was there by her side to heal and support her. “He was my best friend, everything to me – and he still is everything to me now,” she reveals.
Finding purpose in her passion
One day, the came to her in the shower: ‘The Cuddle Club’. “I was always cuddling Chubbs all day, like I’d created this ‘cuddle club’ with him,” she explains. She began ringing friends in corporate workplaces up, asking whether she could come into their workplaces with Chubbs, and people seemed to enjoy spending time with the pair. Not long afterwards, someone reached out asking to do some dog-related wellness sessions in offices, and after one chat, ‘The Cuddle Club’ was born.
© Courtesy of The Cuddle ClubNow, ‘The Cuddle Club’ is one of the UK’s biggest dog therapy companies, with more than 40 ‘heroes’, the dogs that visit work and care spaces to share their affection with those who need it most. Having always wanted to start a mission-based initiative, Aneka grew the business from dog therapy events to now offer holistic grooming treatments and a dedicated dog-care studio.
At the beginning, she didn’t separate finding her own joy from helping others to find joy: “I was still healing at the same time,” she admits. “I was focused on wanting to help other people because I’d just gone through a really bad time in my life.”
How ‘The Cuddle Club’ helped everyone involved
As well as helping people outside of ‘The Cuddle Club’, Aneka has also created a warm internal community of dog parents who have been through their own struggles. “I’m so proud that I’ve created this ecosystem of love,” she beams. “The dogs go out and give love, and the owners are there with their dogs sharing their love, just like I did with Chubbs. People are receiving love and also getting their own healing, dog therapy and community by being part of ‘The Cuddle Club’.” Some of the dogs and dog parents have been a part of the club for six years now!
Aneka shared the anecdote of one woman who joined the business after losing her fiancé. “She joined and it transformed her whole life. By coming to the club, she found a sense of community: her dogs are a part of something, she’s feeling happier and she’s since got engaged to someone else.” Seeing other people heal and evolve through the club has been incredibly rewarding for Aneka, and she jokes that there are another 20 or so stories she could share of people whose lives were similarly changed.
© Courtesy of The Cuddle ClubBut what about Aneka herself? Well, it seems like her journey with Chubbs and ‘The Cuddle Club’ has allowed her to heal and grow beyond what she could have ever imagined. “I’ve never been cold, but I was quite guarded,” she acknowledges. “I think what Chubbs has done is allowed me to have faith in love in every single way, and be open to love in every single way, whether that be romantically or in friendships.
“He’s restored my faith in humanity, because I can see that actually even bad people are good with dogs,” she says. “Even the most stoic, hard people melt when you have a dog. I’ve been able to see people’s armours drop completely.”
The science of dog therapy
As cute as it is to cuddle the dogs, Aneka is adamant that people should be aware of the scientific backing behind dog therapy. “It takes just 10 minutes for people’s hormones to start releasing through dog therapy.
“Cuddling a dog: the touch, the feeling, the eye contact. It all releases serotonin, the feel-good hormone,” she continues. “Then, you’ve got oxytocin, the love hormone.” The process also works both ways, in that the dogs’ hormones release at the same time – “you’re both falling in love with each other,” Aneka says, smiling – and both heart rate and blood pressure decrease. “Everything starts relaxing. You’re not thinking about your bills or the work you need to do, or what you’ve got to eat later,” she adds.
Plus, there’s an extra element of connectivity and boundary-breaking that comes with the group dog therapy events. Aneka asserts: “The dogs are magical, they’re connectors. They break down boundaries and barriers. I’ve seen it many times, with a CEO talking to a PA from a different department. The dogs are like levellers that bring people together.”
Yet, at its core, the reason that ‘The Cuddle Club’ has been as successful and lasting as it has is much simpler, according to Aneka. “It just takes us back to what we really want as human beings: love. It’s that simple, and animals give that unconditionally.”
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