About Us

Meet The Owner

Founder & OWner

Elizabeth Constentino

Elizabeth’s love for animals started with her first kitty, Bubbles, who she trained to open doors, “speak” and to stop attacking her feet under the covers! She attended an agricultural high school and groomed dogs for 6 years before joining corporate America. She spent 15 years working for a large company before landing her dream job at a non-profit animal rescue. She spent the next few years learning everything she could about animal behavior, training, enrichment techniques, vaccine protocols, and animal health and nutrition. Elizabeth enjoys using those learned skills in conjunction with her natural intuition with animals while providing company and exercise for your fur babies!

Meet Your Support Squad

Meet the Support Squad — our behind-the-scenes dream team! They keep everything running smoothly by supporting both our clients and field team with scheduling, communication, and day-to-day logistics. Thanks to their organization and care, every pet visit goes off without a hitch.

Meet Our Team

With the Barks and Rec crew of Pet Care Specialists at your fingertips, your fur babies are always in good hands. If one member can’t make it, another seamlessly steps in, ensuring your pet’s care never misses a wag. Detailed instructions in your account, plus our consultation recordings, guarantee a consistently paw-some experience for your pets with every team member! 🐾✨

Emma

Pet Care Specialist

Hometown:

Bozrah, CT

Pets:

Izzy the Great Pyrenees mix and Kitty the calico

Interesting Fact:

I have an identical twin

Biography:

Emma has been an animal lover her entire life. She grew up having cats, dogs, fish, and guinea pigs. She graduated from Delaware Valley University in 2016 with a degree in Zoo Science, and has worked and interned at zoos in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Kansas. Despite working with many different species, dogs and cats have still always been two of her favorites, and she also has experience working in kennels and doggy daycares. She loves providing a safe and happy environment for pets and their owners.

Barbara C

Pet Care Specialist & Team Lead

Hometown:

Niantic, CT

Pets:

Dogs: Wyatt & Mackenzie (Labrador Retrievers)

Interesting Fact:

Worked my way through College and Grad School as an EMT

Interesting fact two: Barbara, Mackenzie & Wyatt were clients before joining the B&R team!

Biography:

I have been an outdoors person my entire life; throw in an animal and I’m super happy. Growing up, we had dogs, including through my college years (I rescued one from a Frat House). I managed to get a coveted Internship working with Beluga Whales, Dolphins, and Sea Lions in college and that was my first real introduction to positive training (use of a bridge and reward). Unfortunately (as relates to pets), I did consulting work for many years, traveling the US and Internationally, and couldn’t have pets, but would gravitate to all my friends’ pets. Since leaving consulting, I’ve been able to have dogs again, and they are a major part of my life – both my companions and partners, as I have had both trained search dogs and Therapy dogs. A perfect day for me now is one spent enjoying a great walk with a dog or two. I also enjoy cooking, gardening (although I have to protect the veggies from the Labs), and just trying new things.

Halley

Pet Care Specialist

Hometown:

Groton CT

Pets:

Sammy (dog), Reese and Balboa (domestic shorthair cats), Poppy and Peppa (guinea pigs), and Domino (hamster)

Interesting Fact:

I’ve lived in 7 states and the territory of Guam.

Biography:

I was born in Maryland but moved around most of my life due to the military. Growing up we always had at least one pet in our house. This mostly included dogs of all shapes and sizes with the occasional small animal like hamsters or guinea pigs. My love and want to be around animals took me into horseback riding lessons for about a year as a kid. Unfortunately I had to stop due to moving to an area without any horses close by. As an adult, I decided to utilize my passion for helping animals by going to school to become a veterinary technician and by joining the Barks and Recreation team. I am so excited to meet all of your fur baby’s and get to know them!

Kathryn

Pet Care Specialist

Hometown:

Cincinnati

Pets:

3 year old dog Leo

Interesting Fact:

I taught English in Yokosuka, Japan for 3 years and learned to cook a lot of Japanese food from my local friends and students

Biography:

I have lived all over – San Francisco, Milwaukee, Boston, Providence (played soccer at Brown University), Bethesda, and now, Mystic. When I’m not taking care of pets, I love spending time with my teenage son and daughter, hiking almost every day, tutoring English to foreign exchange students, cooking, reading and binging fun TV shows like the Great British Baking Show!

Ashlee

Pet Care Specialist

Hometown:

Uncasville, CT

Pets:

2 dogs: Tess and Luna, 4 cats: Salem, Zelda, Link, and Ollie

Interesting Fact:

I studied abroad in Italy when I was in college.

Biography:

I grew up in CT and have been a pet lover my entire life. As a kid, I had multiple hamsters before my family got our first dog when I was 10. I’ve lived with a pet ever since! In my spare time, I like to read, write fiction, and spend time outside. I’ve always wanted to work with animals and am looking forward to getting to know your pets!

Abby

Pet Care Specialist

Hometown:

Mystic, CT

Pets:

I don’t currently have any pets but my past dogs Jackson and Gracie are big contributors to my love of animals!

Interesting Fact:

I’ve played the alto saxophone for 13 years and I marched in the 2019 New Year’s Day parade in London!

Biography:

I am so interested in animals and their individual personalities and qualities that make each of them unique and special. For the past few years I’ve volunteered at animal rescue sanctuaries where animals are given love and time to heal from whatever their pasts might have been. It has been incredibly rewarding to be a part of and I find there is so much we can learn from all animals. I recently graduated with my bachelor’s in anthropology and minors in animal behavior and religion. I’m hoping to continue research in some capacity in the animal field— we’ll see what the future holds!

Tom

Pet Care Specialist

Hometown:

Waterford, CT

Pets:

Xia (Basset Hound/Corgi), Charlie (Chihuahua/French Bulldog)

Interesting Fact:

I write songs and can play five instruments, one of those being my violin that was made in 1887!

Biography:

I was born in Harrisburg, PA and have had a soft spot for animals, especially dogs, for as long as I can remember. As a child I always had pets including fish, turtles, and hamsters before my family adopted our first puppy, a Shih Tzu named Lily, from an Amish farm. I moved up to Connecticut in high school and attended UConn, where I majored in psychology. These days I work as a business strategy consultant and found myself in networking groups with Elizabeth and Karen, where I was able to get a glimpse of the passion, enthusiasm, and care that Barks and Recreation has for animals. As a lover of the outdoors, it seemed like a no-brainer when it was mentioned that there was some part-time work available. Outside of work and spending time with pups, I write, produce, and record songs, enjoy reading philosophy, find peace in hiking and beach walks (I’m blessed to live a short walk away from Waterford and Ocean beaches), am a huge ancient history buff, love cooking, am currently writing a book, studying Arabic and Italian (being multilingual is a life goal), and also like to unwind by watching sports and playing video games. My main mission in life is to enjoy the time I have and make a positive impact on those around me, however big or small!

Melissa

Social Media Manager

Hometown:

Norwich, CT

Pets:

Oakly (lab), Sully (basset mix) and a tortoise named Killick

Interesting Fact:

As an avid Disney fan she has visited Disney World over 15 times!

Biography:

I am a new mom to a little boy, 2 dogs, 2 kittens, and a tortoise. Growing up we always had animals, usually a few cats and our family dog named Mary. When I was in high school we rescued a Basset Hound, Bosley, who had been surrendered from Manhattan. Bosley was the animal who truly sparked my love for the four legged! Since then we have adopted a black lab and a basset hound shar pei mix.