I’m an American living in the Netherlands and I absolutely LOVE dogs and usually they love me back. I do speak some Nederlands, but obviously English is my first language. Sadly my own dog passed away this past Christmas, so it took a while to let me heart heal from the grief. My husband and I are not quite ready yet to adopt our next dog, so I thought I would fill my life with “OPD,” that’s “Other People’s Dogs.” I grew up with dogs. We had puppies when I was a child and I fostered one when I lived in Chicago. I also had a dog of my own whom I adopted when she was 5 years old. I had her for 16 years after that. She was a 50lb terrier mix and was ancient be the time she passed, but it gave me good experience with older dogs. My last dog had a degenerative spinal condition such that we bought him a wheel chair, so I am also experienced with dogs who have special needs. That same dog initially had some leash anxiety in the presence of other dogs, requiring some training on my part. I am not a trainer, but I am happy to comply with your directions if you are working on behavior concerns. I did also occasionally look after the dogs of my friends and just recently finished up three months of drop in care/feeding for my neighbors cats. I believe our animals are beloved family members and respect and love them as you do.