I have always been a dog person. As a kid, I helped raise our family's yorkie for 15 years. 7 years ago I rescued my first dog who was surrendered by her owner. She was a 3 year old Pomeranian who I named Roxy. She was my best friend and most loyal companion. My soon to be husband knew how much she meant to me, so she helped with the proposal. Shortly after we married, we knew we had a lot more love to give, so we decided to adopt a senior Yorkshire terrier who came from a puppy mill rescue. We named her Lola and she is our little angel baby. Sadly, during the Covid 19 pandemic, Roxy, our 10 year old Pomeranian became very ill and suddenly passed away. My heart was heavy. I started looking for another Pom. I must have looked at 600 dogs. I finally found a male puppy who was located about 3 hours from us. I fell in love immediately. I knew he would never replace my Roxy, but his spunk and energy brought warmth to my heart and he instantly reminded me of what my girl was like when she was younger. I knew a piece of Roxy lived in him. He needed a big personality name, so "Marcel" was quite fitting, and he has been with us now for about 4 months. We have friends with yorkies who we have sat for in our home. When we know we will have furry friends over, we make no plans, but to stay home and make them feel comfortable. I actually have an entire section of the basement that we made into a "doggy apartment area" where I keep my babies whenever I do need to leave. It also serves as a great play area for them. Over the last 6 months I have been studying holistic/homeopathic care for my pets, so I use a lot of natural remedies when it comes to anxiety in dogs, all natural supplements, and feed mine a raw diet. My husband and I have no children right now. We have struggled with infertility, so my dogs and anyone else's who enter our home are not treated as dogs, but as members of our family :-) I have been an elementary school teacher for the past 12 years. Currently I am taking a leave of absence from my job, so my availability right now is very flexible. I feel the most comfortable with smaller breed dogs as I have 2 of my own. I have the room in my home for overnight boarding, and daycare. I am also able to come to your house to take care of your animals, walk them, feed them, play with them, give them lots of love and care when you are away :-) Our subdivision is surrounded by wooded areas. We have a beautiful backyard but it is not fenced in. When I walk my dogs, I take them out on their harnesses and leashes. We are very fortunate to have many beautiful parks located within a few miles of our home. We are very close to Castlewood and Bluebird. If I am providing a service at your home I have no problem taking your dog wherever he/she needs to go. I watch my dogs very closely when we are out. My dogs are very friendly. Lola is a little more mellow and laid back since she is a senior dog, and Marcel is very playful since he is a puppy, so I let them interact with one another but also give them time to themselves when needed.