Danielle Haase stumbled on Orange by chance six years ago. She is now the owner of its most "outstanding" business.
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Diesel and Blue Doggie Daycare & Grooming won top gong at the 2023 Business Orange Awards on Saturday night.
"There are highs, but ... there's plenty of hard work and plenty of lows when things don't go the way they should," she told the Central Western Daily.
"So yeah, it's just a nice little recognition from some independent judges ... that we're doing something right."
The pet paradise on Edward Street wrangles about 50 pooches a day, offering overnight care and grooming services. It employs about a dozen staff.
Raised in the far northwest of Western Australia, the determined single mother spent the first 16 years of her working life in marketing, sales, and executive roles at major Sydney-based businesses.
"I was really living the city life but I realised I didn't love it," she said.
"I had my son and I was going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark and paying the mortgage and that was just about it.
"I just thought: 'No, this is not what I signed up for.'
"After wanting to move to the country for a decade, we jumped in a campervan and drove around NSW to decide where ... By chance, we came through Orange on our way to Mudgee."
Starting her own business was a life-long ambition.
"Initially I wanted to do something in food and wine. I'm a bit of a foodie and I was always looking for an opportunity to start some sort of food business," she said.
"I got Diesel the rescue to add to our family ... I needed a daycare ... and there was nothing like it out here. I just thought there was a huge gap in the market with everyone moving from cities since COVID.
"I just decided that I would give it a shot an threw everything I had into it to see if I could make a go of it."
Ms Haase says finding and keeping staff is the hardest part of running a business in Orange. A second award for innovation recognised her work to create new training streams for dog groomers.
"I say - and I believe it - that you could go anywhere in the world right now and work as a dog groomer because there's not enough of them," Ms Haase said.
"It really sets [staff] up for success whether they want to start a business or they want to travel and have a gap year."
It's physical work, and Ms Haase does much of the legwork herself. When speaking to the CWD she had just finished sawing PCV piping for plumbing repairs.
Plans for a host of new dog services are in the pipeline and could be announced in coming months. A "Pop-Up Doggie Creche" is also planned for the first time at next week's Orange Wine Festival Night Market.
"Now we have ... great potential and a great future I think," she said.
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