Jackets fan, 15, pours dog-service profits into hockey tickets, charity
Three years ago, when Whitaker Noble started begging for Blue Jackets season tickets, his parents relied on a time-tested way of saying no to a 12-year-old.
“They told me I could buy the tickets if I could pay for them myself,” said Noble, now a 15-yearold freshman at Bexley High School.
So Noble took matters into his own plastic-bag-covered hands.
Mixing his love for dogs with the easy walkability of the Bexley neighborhood, Noble created Whit’s Lovin Dog Services, using
a Facebook page and word of mouth to build his brand. He’ll scoop poop, feed and walk your dog, even give Fido his medicine.
What started humbly enough — “We had, like, three customers that first season,” he said — has since grown into a $4,000-a-month venture that serves more than 100 customers, making Noble one of Bexley’s youngest entrepreneurs and almost certainly the Blue Jackets’ youngest self-funded season-ticket holder.
“It’s grown really fast lately,” Noble said. “The first year, my mom had to help me (financially) a little bit, and I had bad seats in the (upper concourse), section 224.”
Now he’s 13 rows off the ice, row M, in section 112, one section away from Nationwide’s famous cannon.
In February, Noble vowed to give 25 percent of his revenue to the John and Christine Tortorella Family Foundation, which “helps protect children, animals and the environment from harm.”
When Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella heard about Noble’s work and his donation, he had marching orders for a Dispatch reporter.
“Your job is to get that kid down here to the rink,” Tortorella said. “I want to meet him.”
The meeting happened after Wednesday’s practice in Nationwide Arena. Noble handed his check, worth $1,100, to Tortorella, then met with players, toured the dressing room and exchanged addresses with Tortorella back in the coaches’ offices.
And Noble might have gained another customer.
“That money is going to go to work right away,” Tortorella said. “I’m so impressed. This is just the start for us, and I told him that. We’re going to stay in touch and see where this goes. Maybe our foundation can help him, too.”
Noble said he works about 5 hours a day on Saturdays and Sundays, and roughly three hours on weeknights. His friend, Marco Giambrone, helps him when the workload is too much.
“It can be a messy line of work,” he said. “But it’s all good. It’s what I do.”
For $99 per season, he’ll clean dog poop from a yard once a week. For $25 per day, he’ll watch your dog while you’re away, even snapping and sending cellphone pictures to reassure the dog’s “parents.” Sparky needs a walk? $3 per trot.
“Whitaker has always been comfortable putting himself out there,” said his mother, Michele, an attorney. “He’s always had a touch, too. He used to leave a dog biscuit tied around the front-door handle to let his customers know he was there.”
His father, David, is a beekeeper at the Stratford Ecological Center in Delaware.
When Whit Noble turns 16 this fall, he’ll have enough money to buy his first car. Otherwise, the money will keep flowing into a savings account for college and, of course, toward Blue Jackets tickets.
“It’s a lot of work, and I don’t usually take vacation,” said Noble, who also plays travel baseball. “But I love hockey, I love the Blue Jackets and I love dogs … so this is all of it together.”