high season timesDECEMBER 18th - JANUARY 10th

arrival & departure times | 8am-10am & 4pm-5pm

Daycare Closed from Dec 21st - Jan 14th

Hanging cats tail
Fiona with two dogs

Fiona Bailey

Owner & Head of Training

Fiona is the business owner and face of Pets At Whitford Spa and Stay.

Fiona offers one-on-one in-house training sessions and puppy group classes to suit your dog’s needs and has over 20 years of experience training dogs.

She is committed to giving you and your dog the skills for you both to have a wonderful relationship which offers practical advice and hands-on training for you and your dog. Foina is contactable by email training@pawss.co.nz

Fiona Bailey is an NZ Qualified dog trainer and the owner of Pets at Whitford Spa and Stay (PAWss). She has been working with dogs professionally for over fifteen years, and before that she has always lived with a menagerie of animals. Her current fur family includes three dogs, a cat and a pig.


Fiona completed her professional qualification in Animal Management and Canine Behaviour and Training at UniTech Auckland 2009. She continues her education in training and behaviour by attending online, in-person seminars, conferences, behaviour courses and workshops in New Zealand and Australia. Fiona has studied with the greats, such as Susan Friedman, Bob Bailey, Ken Remirez, Nando Brown, Steve White, Kay Lawrence, Roger Abrantes, Jane Killion, Grisha Stewart, Peta Clarke and Karmel Fernandez.
Fiona also volunteered with Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) to complement her dog training business and participated in working dog sports such as sheep herding, trekking and agility.


In 2014, Fiona was engaged as a trainer to work on the West End stage production of Annie while it toured NZ, where she assisted with training and wrangling of the dog during the show in Wellington – for which she was responsible for opening – and Auckland.


PAWss opened its doors in 2016 and remained Fiona’s base. PAWss offers daycare and boarding for dogs, boarding for cats, dog grooming and Fiona’s passion – training.
Fiona loves the reward of working with dogs and their owners and seeing all their lives improve. She is passionate about making sure puppies get the right start in life and is committed to making the environment at PAWss as positive and reinforcing as it can be for all the animals who visit.


Fiona sits on the committee and is a full member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers NZ (APDTNZ).


“Dogs are wonderful animals with so many abilities, but often due to time and budgetary constraints, or even a lack of understanding, we rarely channel our dogs to their full potential. Whether we’re working on the basics or more advanced multi-discipline training such as Tracking, agility or fly ball or addressing specific areas of concern, it’s all about having fun with your dog and building a positive relationship.”

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Truly Awesome

Our Testimonials

Cat looking up

“Taco came to stay today, he hung out with his doggy friends, went for a walk, got muddy and then had a bath and his nails clipped - one happy dog - now asleep on the sofa. Thanks Fiona...”

Taco's Owners

Dog Tuma panting

This team have worked with my dog since he was a puppy at their puppy class. They are his absolute favourite, every time we turn up he runs straight to the reception desk to greet everyone. I love seeing all the photos at the end of the day! They are also the only pet stay near me that will accommodate males intact up to 1 year old which is important for me.

Amy Gardner

Cat looking up

As soon as I got off the car, I can see my dog gets so happy to be there. Never seen my dog this happy before, she was jumping around, tail wagging hard, so excited to want to play. Excellent team at Pets at Whitford, very caring and you can tell that they all love animals. Many thanks, you are awesome.

Bayu Putra

Cat looking up

We placed our dog in boarding at PAWSS over six days and felt reassured that he was well taken care of. We appreciated that the dogs who are boarding can socialize during the days and not simply be kept in their kennels. We also had a groom done and it is one of the best he’s had. We have a very happy and well-exercised doggy! We’re very happy to know that we can rely on PAWSS to look after our fur baby when we can’t take him with us. Thank you so much!

Jessica Labreche

Cat looking up

Left my pup with Pets at Whitford for 2 weeks while on holiday. He was very well taken care of and had a blast. Daily photo updates are an awesome way for us to be reassured that he is okay as well. The staff are absolutely lovely to deal with and very accommodating.

Arti Chand

Dog Rouge panting

In Feb I sent my male pup Rougie to boarding. Rouge had a challenging personality, very anxious around other dogs or strangers. He stayed there for 3 weeks and came back as a happy sociable dog. I paid for training however as they were busy and could not give him full training, Fiona was very kind to let me know and refunded most of the training cost. In March, I fell sick needing hospital treatment. I called Pets at Whitford and they went out of their way to pick up both my dogs, Prada and Rouge, got Prada’s vaccination details directly from the vet as this was Prada’s first time with them and took care of them while I was admitted in hospital and during the first week of recovery at home. They again went out of their way to drop my furbabies home. Honestly, I have not had such a great experience from any other organization that took so much pride in what they do with so much love for the furbabies … Plus point is that they upload the pet's pictures daily on Facebook. Thank you, Fiona and the entire team. You guys are fantastic.

Prem Z

Cat looking up

I have dealt with them for puppy school and grooming services. Suffice to say, I’ll be going there for boarding and all other services in the near and distant future. Fiona and the rest of the staff are really warm and pleasant!

Adhiraj Yadav

Dog Reina sitting in grass field

The girls at PAWSS take wonderful care of our furbaby. Her confidence with other dogs and other humans has improved immensely.

Kennedy Hayes

Cat looking up

Lovely people that take good care of your furry creatures.10/10.

Burt Purvis

Family dogs

Our Dogs love to stay and visit everyone at Whitford so much love for the animals and so much fun for my fur babies

Julie Dickson

Dog walking in grass

Hunter absolutely loves it here!! Loves his friends, the amazing team, the walks and overnight stays too

Kelly Pritchard

Dog lying in pool

I use Pets at Whitford regularly for my much-loved puppy. I was very nervous about leaving him the first time, but could not be happier with their service and care for my dog. They go over and above to look after them, and he (& I!) are always welcomed with a friendly smile. I actually wish that I could stay and hang out with them most of the time, as it looks like they have so much fun - you can see this on their regular Facebook updates. Cannot speak highly enough of them

Jacinda Yeoman

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