True professionalism
Four friends, experienced dog owners and breeders of champion show dogs, have had to face the challenges of combining our careers, busy family lives and our beloved dogs. We became partners in this exciting venture, with the aim of bringing true professionalism and care for dogs under the same roof, with all-weather indoor training and play areas as well as access to beautiful woodland areas for walks! All our staff are true professionals with long standing experience of working with dogs. Experience is the thing we value most highly and its what sets us apart.
Our Goals…
Happy dogs means happy owners!! Although we love our dogs, dog ownership can be stressful and time consuming, and it is tough to combine busy professional and family lives with the responsibilities of owning and caring for a dog. Our working lives can often mean that dogs have to stay at home for long hours. We understand that busy lives mean you can’t always give your dogs the attention they deserve. Our goal is to make Martha & Friends your dog’s second home, providing the love and care he/she needs as well as support of their education.


What We Do…
We aim to provide all the services your dog needs to ensure they are content and they have a fulfilling day, learning, playing and developing to their best potential. We care about their every need from training and fun activities, day care and wellbeing including grooming and physiotherapy and fitness training.
Your community
Our centre is a supportive environment designed with the dog owning community in mind. We want everyone, including parents and children to come and share their experiences, ideas and have fun! Our centre has elegant spaces where you can be comfortable and at ease to chat with others or get expert advice, or enjoy our many events and lectures.


Meet Martha!
“Martha” is our mascot and the namesake of Martha and Friends Dog Wellness. She is officially known as International, Luxembourg & Finnish Champion Scottish Terrier Tartan Dreams Magic Spell. Martha is owned and bred by Carina Hellemaa. She is one of Carina’s five Scotties, who are always present at the centre, welcoming our guests every morning and ready to play!
Meet the Team
Carina Hellemaa
Founder and Managing Director
Carina presented her project of creating a center of excellence providing multiple professional services for dogs to the Luxembourg government start-up program Fit4Entrepreneurship in 2019, and this became a reality when The Dog Wellness Company S.a.r.l. was founded in August 2020, and renovation works began in October on the building which she and her associates had identified a few days before the first lockdown began. Martha & Friends Dog Wellness, the first Center of its kind in Luxembourg, and owned by the The Dog Wellness Company, opened its doors in late November 2020.
A Finnish national, Carina has lived in Luxembourg with her daughter since 2014, and speaks English, French, Swedish and Finnish. Carina is responsible for the management and day to day running of the Center. In the afternoons, she is most often found in the Boutique, where she loves meeting clients and helping them choose the right food or accessories for their dogs.
Annukka Paloheimo-Segersven
Co-Founder
She is an elected member of The British Kennel Club. Annukka’s professional life has been as Founder and Managing partner of a leading financial services company in the Nordic region. She lives in Finland and has been an active adviser to the development of Martha & Friends Dog Wellness.
Lars Windfeldt
Co-Founder
Besides investing in Martha & Friends Dog Wellness, he has more recently been involved as landlord in the setting up of a new dog day care center in Oslo in 2020.
Helen Valentine
Co-Founder
Helen, a former Chief Operating Officer of a major financial services company in Luxembourg, as well as more recently, for a company providing training for the financial services industry in Luxembourg, has been actively involved during the first few months in setting up systems and processes for the daily management of the company. Helen stepped down from her active role to pursue other projects and remains an investor in the company.
Covey McAllister
Administrative Manager & Strategist
Covey has an 11-year-old Bull Terrier named Nikita and she is excited to be part of the effort to help individuals and families balance the care of their pets with their busy and demanding lives.
Covey speaks English and Arabic.
Anne Barrere
Head Trainer and Day Care
As an "animal au pair" in Australia in 2009, Anne helped train and care for over 150 different animals. Since then she has attended many training courses and seminars on a wide variety of topics in the field of dog training and education. Above all, it is the study of dogs themselves and working with large dog groups in boarding kennels and training centres in Germany and Luxembourg, which have given her a profound understanding of the language and communication with dogs. Anne’s greatest ambition is to help improve communication and coexistence between dog and their owners. At Martha & Friends, Anne works as our head trainer and also leads our daycare team.
Anne is fluent in German and English.
Antje Lehmann
Trainer and Daycare
Antje’s constant companions are her therapy dog, Golden Retriever Amali and Chihuahuas Lili and Piccolo.
She speaks German and is improving her English.
Anna-Lena Mertens
Trainer and Day Care
She speaks fluent English and German.
Ralph Vinko
Daycare Team Member
Ralph is a Luxembourgish national and speaks German, English, French and Luxembourgish.
Perrine Capello
Daycare Team Member
Perrine’s doggy companions are Border Collier mix Poushkine and Västgötaspitz Meïka.
She speaks French and English.
Artur Bonarski
Daycare Team Member
Lisa Fouquet
Day Care & Canine Physiotherapist
While Lisa has only been practicing physiotherapy at Martha & Friends for a few months, her competent hands and skills have already made an impact with our regular dog clients. We have seen dogs who have had chronic problems such as hip dysplasia and arthritis transformed through their therapy sessions with Lisa.
Lisa speaks German and English.
Viktorija Zilinskaite
Head Groomer
She speaks Lithuanian, French and English.
Verena Helfrich
Guest Trainer
She has a keen interest in personal development and communication between dogs and humans. In 2019, she published her first book „Outdoor-Abenteuer mit Hund“, and has recently launched Tuulove, a brand of vegan products and cosmetics for dog care. At Martha & Friends, Verena offers various adventures, body-language workshops, nose and scent workshops, and specialised workshops for muzzle and dog gear training. She lives with her husband and four dogs, two Greyhounds, a rescued Spanish Galgo mix and a geriatric Patterdale Terrier, as well as a batch of other farm animals. She is fluent in both German and English.
Jacqueline Koerfer
Guest Trainer
The advantage of dogs is that they can cover large areas and rough terrain in a relative short time, detect cryptic species and scents hidden in deep vegetation. Jacqueline’s work with detection dogs was awarded second place by RTL as “The Most Promising Start-Up in 2020. Jacqueline is a certified dog trainer under German regulations. She also works with her own four Lagotto Romagnolo dogs, all trained in odour detection.
At Martha & Friends, Jacqueline’s Spuernasenarbeit course will train dog-human teams to work together over six months, with dogs initially trained in the basics of odor detection, and gradually specializing in a chosen field such as tracking wolves or other endangered species, to detecting mold, animal carcasses or young animals hidden in the under-growth. The first Martha & Friends teams are expected to graduate from the first phase of their studies at the end of this year.
She speaks Luxembourgish, German, French and English.
Kim Sanctuary
Guest Trainer
She speaks German and English.
Join our growing team – WE ARE HIRING!
Dog Trainer
If you are an experienced, enthusiastic and passionate DOG TRAINER who would like to join our team of dog care professionals and trainers, please contact us and send us your resume and qualifications to info@marthaandfriends.lu.