About us

Carina has owned and bred champion show dogs since her teens, and later combined a busy career in financial services as investment banker in the U.K., Switzerland and Finland with her passion. She has bred Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and Labrador Retrievers, and since 2011, Scottish Terriers, when her young daughter came home with a Scottie puppy “to stay for the weekend”. This puppy, “Maisa” or International and Multi-Champion, Benelux Winner Perhaps Standing Ovation, is now the mother and grandmother of several champions. Maisa’s daughter “Martha” or International Champion Tartan Dreams Magic Spell, is the namesake for Martha & Friends Dog Wellness.

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 is a toy breed specialist and breeder of Cavalier King Charles and King Charles spaniels since 1971. She has bred/owned over 60 Champions, some of them winning also at Crufts. An FCI All-Breed International Judge, she has been active in dog world for over 40 years as a breeder and exhibitor, and for over 30 years as a championship show judge, having judged in over 30 countries, including Best in Show awards.

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 has been involved in the development of the Martha & Friends Dog Wellness project since its inception. He is a private equity investor with more than 30 years of experience in real estate development, technology investments and management of own investment funds. He is an investor in several technology and consumer goods companies, and more recently, has identified the pet services and most particularly the dog care sector as an opportunity.

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, along with her children, have been looking after their friends’ dogs for many years before deciding it was finally time to have their own dog. Eddie, a Scottie and son of Martha, joined the family in 2019 and is a regular visitor to our center.

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 with assisting Carina in the daily management of Martha & Friends Dog Wellness.

Besides English, Helen speaks fluent German, Luxembourgish. and French

Verena Helfrich has been working professionally with dogs and their owners since 2008. In her early years working with dogs, she gained experience working in various animal shelters in Greece and Spain, and training therapy dogs. She has a degree in educational sciences, and now also offers coaching and support for parents and children. Verena has a three-year professional certification as dog trainer and behaviorist, prior to which she completed formal training as a professional dogwalker in Germany.

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 is responsible for the training program, workshops and education of our personnel. 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.

Anne Barrere is a certified dog trainer and canine behavioral consultant. She has a professional license in animal care, and in addition has studied psychology with a focus on counseling. In addition, and because she herself was diagnosed with diabetes, she trained as an assistance dog trainer specializing in training diabetic warning dogs. Anne’s own Australian Shepherd Simba is a constant presence by her side, keeping a watchful eye on his mistress. Anne also has a young Border Collie and two Chihuahua’s.

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 centers 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 responsible for the day care unit and trainer.

Anne is fluent in German and English.

Lisa has been around dogs all her life, and has worked as a dog walker and carer for almost six years in dog training and day care centers in Germany. She was responsible for the daily care and hygiene of groups of dogs and also worked as assistant trainer.

She currently has two young Australian Shepherds, Evy and Yoshi, and says that training and helping these two Aussies to develop into “civilized” and sociable working dogs has taught her a lot! Lisa also has cats at home and helps place rescued cats into new and loving homes. Lisa has also worked as a veterinary assistant, and is currently studying to be a canine physiotherapist.

She graduates in June 2021. Lisa speaks German and English.

Sabine has been working as a professional dogwalker and dog carer for 9 years. She loves to be with large groups of dogs and to encouraging good communication amongst them to create a peaceful coexistence and harmony.

Sabine works with the dogs on a deep bonding level. She accepts each dog with all its facets, promotes its strengths and works together with you on addressing problems. She is also a yoga teacher, with a calm manner in everything she does! Sabine works in our day care center, and combines fun balanced with “zen” time.

Sabine speaks German and English.

Katja originally trained to be an insurance agent. But her dream was always to work with dogs. She grew up with several dogs and always had her own dogs, mostly rescue dogs from animal shelters. She also volunteered to work in dog shelters for a number of years and she became a foster home for anxious and traumatized dogs, and cared for them particularly during the pre- and post-placement assessments of the rescue dogs.

In 2016, she decided to turn her passion into a profession and started working in a large dog daycare and boarding center. Katja joined Martha & Friends after her maternity leave ended, and she has been a member of our team since early April.

Katja speaks German, Luxembourgish and English

Christine is a trained educator working with children. As a change in career, she recently completed a several months long training course at Martha & Friends and has now joined our Day Care team. During her gap year prior to this, Christine traveled across Europe with her husband and their dog Carlos in their mobile home. During this time, she learned a lot about and especially from her dog.

Through her many years of experience and work with people as educator, Christine has the same approach of calm thoughtfulness and respect when dealing with dogs. It is this attitude which led us to invite Christine to join our team in the Day Care Center.

She speaks Luxembourgish, German, French and English.