My personal experience includes caring for a chinchilla (16 years), a large cat (3 years), and two small-medium family dogs (now 14 and 8 years old - we have had them since they were each 8 weeks old). Through caring for our 14-year-old pup, I have learned a lot about the everyday needs of older pets (she now needs significant attention in her day-to-day life and many medications). On the other hand, our 8-year old is just as rambunctious as she was when she was a puppy, and requires long, fast-paced walks, which I love just as much as I love sitting quietly with her older sister. My professional experience includes several years of occasional cat and dog sitting (including medium-large dogs, one of whom was barely a year old), two years of weekly volunteer work at a human society in high school (where I more frequently cared for cats), and one summer in college working full-time as a veterinary assistant at an animal hospital. During this summer, I learned how to calmly and gently handle unpredictable or frightened animals (mostly dogs and cats). I am a very attentive care-giver and a life-long lover of all animals (although I have a soft spot for dogs), and I treat every animal I meet with the same love and respect with which I treat my own pets.