Dogs by Day, Cleanup by Night: ONE Couple Find Their Joy

You wouldn’t expect a busy doctor and a small-business owner to spend their precious evenings picking up trash and old fishing line. But nearly every night after dinner, Ashley and Lorenzo Hernandez do just that.

Their nightly walks along Coffee Pot Bayou in St. Petersburg have become a ritual. The couple walks the same path with trash pickers in hand, collecting cigarette butts, discarded bait containers, and bits of tangled line. It’s quiet, methodical work that they say started organically. 

“We were already walking every night,” Ashley said. “May as well help clean up while we’re out here.” 

Ashley says this while trying to keep one of her four dogs from yipping and jumping; the couple have three miniature Pomeranians and a one-eyed Yorkie with a big personality. These four are the permanent residents of the Hernandez home, and the heart of her home-based doggie daycare.

“We don’t bring the dogs on the cleanup walks,” Lorenzo said. “Too much sniffing. We’d never make it out of the driveway.”

A House Rebuilt for the Dogs

Their home, nestled off the bayou, didn’t always look like a small dog haven. When their day-care demand outgrew their walls, they made a choice: expand or move.

They expanded. By a thousand square feet. “We love it here too much to leave,” Ashley said. “So, we decided to renovate instead.”

The couple added a fenced-in backyard, turf play area, and an upstairs space dedicated entirely to the day care. They even temporarily moved into a neighbor’s house during construction, just to stay in the same neighborhood.

Now, the house runs like a well-oiled machine. Foldaway gates blend into the walls. Weekday mornings, a stream of cars arrives with dogs in tow. And somehow, the neighbors don’t complain.

“Everyone’s been really sweet,” Ashley said. “They could grumble about the traffic, but they don’t. I think they see how much we care.”

In true ONE fashion, the Hernandezes embody the spirit of community. When their neighbor, Susie Chisolm, was in need of a cat sitter, Ashley – who doesn’t normally take feline clients – made an exception. 

“Ashley and Lorenzo would sometimes come and hang out at our house and play with Sneakers as well,” Susie says. “That made us so happy as Sneakers loves people.”

From FSU to Coffee Pot Bayou

Ashley met Lorenzo while she was at the University of Florida, and he was at Florida State. She was pet sitting through Rover at the time to help pay the bills. While Ashley has a degree in healthcare, she never pretended it was her calling. When the two moved to St. Pete from Jacksonville in 2008, she brought her love for animals with her.

“The demand here was wild,” Ashley said of the day care. “It really took off.”

A stint in their original downtown condo didn’t last long. Between the crates, barking, and a parade of clients, it wasn’t sustainable. So, they bought a bigger home, and eventually expanded that, too. Now, on top of the daily rigors of dog care, Ashley also takes in bottle babies and kittens from local shelters like Friends of Strays when she can, to do her part for feline friends.

“I’ve always loved animals,” she said. “The healthcare thing felt practical, but this is what actually brings me joy.”

Doing What You Can

After moving to ONE, what began as casual evening walks eventually turned into something more. Ashley and Lorenzo started noticing the same trash on their route every night: plastic bags, used bait containers, and most of all, fishing line.

“I was reading about the seabird rescues, the ones where they untangle birds from fishing nets,” Ashley said. “And I kept seeing all this line on the sidewalk. I finally said, ‘We’re already out here. Why not do something about it?’”

Now, they walk from their home to the Snell Isle Bridge with trash pickers in hand. It’s part exercise, part cleanup, part habit. Neighbors call out thank-yous from porches. A few have even joined in. 

“We’ve had people say, ‘We should be doing that too,’” Lorenzo said. “It’s a good feeling.”

After the hurricanes brought in an overwhelming amount of debris, they had to take a short break. But once the sidewalks cleared, they got right back to it. “It doesn’t take much,” Ashley said. “We just do what we can.”

After a day full of controlled chaos at the day care (There are up to 15 dogs in the house on a given day. That’s Ashley’s limit. “I’ve got the routine down,” she says. “But it’s a lot, so I’ve had to pause on new pups.”), Ashley and Lorenzo somehow still have the energy to do more, walking their beloved neighborhood to help keep it clean. 

“It’s nonstop,” Ashley says of their life. “But we wouldn’t do it any other way.”