Finding a Way to Fill a Need

This post is a little different than our usual interviews, but I think that K9friendsunited.com is a good example of how, when something is close to your heart, you can make a difference. Diarmuid, founder of K9friendsunited.com, didn't even have a dog when he started this endeavor, but he noticed a need and wanted to fill it. As you read this post, think about the following questions: What do you really care about? What creative way can you make a difference?

Where do I start, I suppose you have heard the old saying, that sometimes the most creative ideas can come from the most unexpected sources. I’m sure when you finish reading this you will agree; that they don’t come any more unexpected than me.


Finding a Way to Fill a Need
By Diarmuid Scullin

My name is Diarmuid Scullin I live in Cookstown, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland and I am a long distance lorry driver.



It all started a couple of years ago on my long haul journeys throughout England and Ireland, I began to notice time after time as I drove through towns and villages, that dog owners the length and breath of the country who were out walking their dogs always tend to be on their own, very seldom did I ever see any of them walking together or stopping to talk to each other. I used to think why they don’t organize a meeting place where they could meet up and go for their walk together.



One night I was parked up in a truck stop, I was listening to a programme on the radio about the internet and web sites, which I found really interesting, they were discussing social networking sites like facebook, bebo and you tube, at the same time listening to the radio, I was watching a few people walking past the lorry with their dogs, some on one side of the road and some on the other side. I wondered then if there was one of these social networking web sites for dog owners.



When the programme ended it got me thinking, if there was one of those web sites for dog owners they could use it to meet up and chat to each other the way people use these other sites. I just took the idea into my head that I should look more into this, instead of lying in the lorry at night doing the usual boring nothing, I could start learning about computers and web sites and maybe through time I could try and make one of these sites for dog owners.



The only thing was I hadn’t a clue how to start, where to start, who to talk to or how to go about it, not a notion, I don’t even have a dog, although I am passionate about them. I have no formal training in computers or web design and I spent the first 3 months sorting the site out on a note books and bits of paper (I still do). I bought a second hand lap top that took me ten minutes to work out how to open it (that’s no joke) and my office is the cab of the lorry where everything is run from.



I tried to talk to web developers and explain what I intended to do but they wouldn’t listen, they didn’t want to know. Some laughed at the idea and said it was stupid that it would never work, some asked for thousands of pounds, some said it couldn’t be done and some just thought I was simply crazy. I thought how people like this can be so dismissive when they won’t listen to what I was saying. I put my heart, my soul and every bone in my body into finding out all there was to know about the workings of computers, the internet and web sites.



I trawled through libraries, read books, magazines and studied everything I could get my hands on till my eyes nearly fell out. I remember going into a book store once and coming across a book called, Web Sites for Dummies, I lifted it up looked at it and said quietly to myself, they must have knew I was coming. I knew in my heart it would work, everything I read and studied pointed to the fact that it could be done, it might not be straight forward, it might take a while to work it all out but it can be achieved, if nobody else can see the picture, I can and that’s all that mattered and by God it wasn’t going to beat me.



K9 Friends United fully supports and recognizes the very important and significant role of Dog Rescue Centres. They set the highest standards for dog welfare, from taking in unwanted and lost dogs, providing shelter and care, finding secure and loving homes, giving support and guidance to pet owners, they always strive to tackle the welfare crisis from every possible angle. We extend an open invitation to all Dog Rescue Centres to promote and advertise absolutely free. The vision of Dogs Rescue Centres is a world where all dogs are wanted, loved and cared for, k9 friends’ united share that vision with you. If there is any possible way that we can help or be of any assistance, please do get in touch, it would be a privilege and a pleasure to of service.