🐶 About Me:

I am an experienced pet-sitter who absolutely loves meeting and caring for all types of animals. I have the most experience with dogs of all sizes and breeds, cats, turtles, and bearded dragons. I have experience with senior dogs over 14 years of age to puppies under 6 months. I owned a lot of pets growing up from dogs to cats to chickens and turtles. I have experience with dogs of all sizes - I've lived with dogs from a Jack Russel Terrier to a German Shepherd and Great Pyrenees. Most of my fosters were Huskies. I've petsat Mastiffs, Dobermans, and Poodle mixes for over a week while their parents went on vacation or trips. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels have my entire heart. My doggie daycare job specialized on small dogs like yorkies, dachshunds, mini-aussies, chihuahuas, frenchies, and poms.

✅Doggie Daycare Experience
I worked at a cage-free doggie daycare, training, boarding, and grooming facility in the United States for a couple of years. This involved everything from cleaning up after the dogs, reporting any symptoms like diarrhea and throw-up, to:
- preparing the food and feeding the dogs (including dogs who are allergic to poultry, beef, or chicken, and with complicated and varied meal prep requirements),
- administering medications like pilling dogs (one of our seniors needed 5 pills every morning and 6 pills every evening and other dogs needed pills 3x a day) or administering intramuscular injections to diabetics,
- and monitoring a playgroup of anywhere from 30 to 50 dogs which involved reading body language, preventing escalating fights, redirection, and managing different playstyles.
This has exposed me to a variety of different breeds, play styles, personalities, and behaviors. We would take notes on behavior-related issues like anxiety, reactivity, and play styles. I worked morning shifts, afternoon shifts, front desk shifts, and every now and then would throw an overnight shift or 3 in there. (This usually involved sleeping in a room with 25-40 dogs with everyone clamoring for prime sleeping spots next to me on the bed. Think being drowned in 10-20 dogs sleeping on your arm, chest, leg, back, neck, and being afraid to move because then everyone would get up and follow you but you have to get up because you need to use the restroom and everyone just stares pointedly at you to hurry up until you get back.) I learned a lot from this job and am grateful for my journey there. Everyone I worked with there have become family to me: humans and animals alike, even some clients. I worked there up until the last week before my flight to Australia and would work there again if I were to come back.

✅Petsitting Experience
I also did house/pet sitting, drop-ins, and walks outside of my regular work and school hours. This normally looked like going to a client's home after my work shifts or classes. I would:
- feed and medicate their pets,
- walk their dogs,
- hang out and chill with all the pets,
- give lots of cuddles,
- take lots of pictures,
- reinforce the training they already received,
- cleaning after myself and the dog so the parents return to their home in the same state they left it,
- and providing daily updates.
I would get this done after work shifts and would repeat the routine in the morning before I left for work or school. Most of my clients were people who have to go on vacations or work trips and need someone to watch their furbabies while they're gone. Sometimes, it would be for clients who work long hours and just need someone to drop in and take their dogs out for a walk or to do their business since they are unable to. Some of my clients were also daycare clients who may have extra needs or couldn't thrive in such an overstimulating environment as to be boarded there, some found me through petsitting apps, others were referrals from word of mouth and past clients/acquaintances who loved my services, and some were my own coworkers whenever they needed to go on trips. The highest amount of pets I've looked after outside of work were a home with 7 dogs + 3 cats, and another home with 4 dogs + 7 cats. Both families had to take week-long trips and I would return frequently whenever they needed to take a trip. Everyone has different routines and expectations for their home and pets and I am accustomed to learning those specific needs, complying with it, and being resourceful with working with what is given to me. I believe in open communication and will keep pet parents updated if I run into any issues or if they want to check in and know how their pets are doing.

✅Rescue and Shelter Volunteer
I also spent my free time volunteering for various shelters and rescues. This involved:
- walking their dogs,
- picking up and dropping off dogs or cats at the vet for appointments, surgery, or treatment,
- volunteering at local spay/neuter clinics,
- helping load dogs into the rescue van for interstate transport,
- posting pictures and bios for adoptable dogs onto Petfinder, Facebook, or Wagtopia,
- and temporarily housing a rescue during back-to-back days of heartworm treatment.
This would usually happen during those rare off-weeks where I didn't have housesits or petsits booked and I could jump in with my favorite rescues and work to get the dogs in their care the help they need.

✅ Foster Experience
I've fostered multiple dogs. Most of them are adopted now but my fosters stayed from a couple of days to a few months. A lot of them were fresh out of the shelter and would have to undergo treatment for URIs (upper respiratory infections), deworming, spay/neuter surgery, basic vaccinations appointments, or even emaciation from their life on the streets. Most of my fosters were Husky mixes (not on purpose) but there were also Pitt mixes, Shepherd mixes, Lab mixes, and Corgi mixes. Some were not even potty-trained and most of them were not crate-trained or leash-trained, or had some degree of separation anxiety or loss of confidence. Most of my petsitting and foster commitments were scheduled around each other. (Usually, if we have a foster at home, my husband would have to be unavailable for petsitting or housesitting so he can care for our foster. If he already has a housesit booked ahead of time, I have to refuse requests for housesits and bookings on those dates so I can care for the fosters.) We also ran a turtle rescue at one point - rehoming red-eared sliders or yellow-bellied sliders that were no longer wanted and that we take responsibility for. I have a soft spot for reptiles.

🐶 Location and Services:
✅ Darwin Area
I have recently moved to Australia and brought my love for animals and their care with me. When I was in the US, I used to work fulltime, study parttime, and did petsitting and homesitting in the remaining free time I had (or fostered + volunteered for months that weren't as busy). Now I have transitioned to fulltime study and parttime jobs + pet/house sitting to help pay for my studies. I am based in the Northern Suburbs, but am willing to travel as far as Palmerston or Humpty Doo for a sitting job, if necessary. I am also willing to do house/petsits in other states with the proper compensation.

✅ Services Offered:
I currently don't own my home so cannot offer boarding or daycare services, otherwise I would have already started fostering again. I mostly do house/petsits now, but I can offer:
- house/petsitting
- 30min/1hour drop-ins
- 30min/1hour walks
- pick-ups and drop-offs.

🐶 Availability

My rates for house-sitting are only for overnight stays (I can still leave for school, work, or grocery errands) and not 24-hour stays. I can offer 24-hour-stay services, but rates will have to be discussed prior to properly compensate for work shifts I will have to miss. It would be the highest honor just getting to know a new dog and witnessing how loved they are while contributing to their care. If there's anything I haven't covered or if there's anything you would like to know, please feel free to reach out. I love meeting new pets and would love to get to know you and your baby!

P.S. I will likely take a lot of pretty photos of your doggie and send you our adventures together. <3