Hi there! I'm Jade, a pet care professional with nine years of professional pet care experience and far more than that in personal pet care experience. I've loved animals as long for as long as I've been on this earth, starting with my mom's angel of a dog when I was just a toddler. Cats followed shortly after, one coaxed out from under a neighbor's house and the other picked up from different neighbors. From then, I've had almost every pet imaginable! Mice, rats, multiple species of snake, pigeons, cats, rabbits, and my heart dog, Gremlin, who taught me so much more about animal --especially canine-- behavior than I ever could have imagined. Over the years, my interest in animals evolved into a professional passion, which has manifested in a few different ways but is centered in compassionate, caring, low-stress handling and behavior for the pets under my care. My own dog was reactive due to poor socialization, and over the years that I worked and learned how best to support and help him, I crawled my way to a place where I was able to help others. I took my first dog training/pet sitting client when I was eighteen, who continued to use my services for the next two years before I moved away. We are still in loose contact to this day, and I love getting updates on their pets! In recent years, I have pivoted more toward dog training, but I am slowly moving back to general pet care as well. I have no pets of my own for the first time in two decades, and pet-sitting is both easier to do and fulfills that gap in my own life until I'm ready to welcome new creatures under my home. I'm very familiar with administering oral meds, have experience with senior dogs, and I have a special love for fearful and reactive dogs. My method of interacting with dogs relies on fun, low-stress, kind solutions for behavior difficulties as well as general interaction. I primarily use a clicker, good treats, toys, and lots of praise to tweak little behavior issues. I put an emphasis on mental enrichment and stimulation when watching others' dogs, and have a blast teaching dogs to use new puzzles, play new games, and learn new tricks (with their human's permission, of course!) On walks, I generally do a blend of walks, decompression (sniffing and exploring the world to relieve stress) and basic training. Heavy pullers aren't a problem as I'm very skilled in teaching leash skills, and learning often tires dogs out just as much as long walks. Most recently, I've worked at a puppy training facility in San Francisco, where my duties revolved around giving puppies a good start in life by teaching manners, potty training, crate training, and a fun trick or two. Puppies under my care have an emphasis put on age-appropriate and safe socialization, which is worth its weight in gold later on and helps dogs to grow up feeling confident and secure. Reactive dogs do very well in my care, as I'm well versed in how to stay away from their triggers and make walks as enjoyable as possible for us both. For dogs who are flight risks/escape artists, please provide a martingale/limited slip collar. I strongly prefer a well-fitting harness, martingale/limited slip collar, or flat-buckle collar to choke or pinch collars. I'm happy to abide any and all safety precautions already in place, such as provided barriers to the kitchen for counter surfing, baby gates to prevent eating foreign objects when alone, and crating when home alone. I do not let client dogs off-leash in un-fenced areas, so I have both a 33ft and a 50ft long line which we use for open areas to get out more energy. It's best for any dog making use of long lines with me also have a well-fitted walking harness as well as a collar with current tags. The leash will be attached to both their harness and the collar as a backup, just in case. If you do not own a harness for your pup, I am happy to bring along my own to test for fit. I have most sizes available.