A little more about me & my background: I grew up with a miniature dachshund, Abby, in my family. She passed in 2018 when she was 15 years old. In 2020, I got myself an 8-week old Labrador Retriever puppy and I named her Poet. Poet is now 2 years old. Poet's Instagram is @Poet_TheDog, check us out! Since I got Poet, I've learned tons about how to create an environment where dogs can thrive. I believe I can create this type of environment for your dog, too. Here are a few key things I believe: - Dogs need more exercise than most people think. I believe it's a dog-owner/caretaker's responsibility to provide as much opportunity for exercise as a dog needs. I believe that general walks on a leash don't fully satisfy a dog's need for high-intensity exercise. I believe in providing lots of opportunities for dogs to expend high-intensity energy. If after exercising a dog doesn't come back inside tired & ready for a nap, the dog should still be outside exercising/playing. I make sure my dog, Poet, always has as much exercise as she wants; I will make sure your dog has the same opportunity. - Dogs understand more than most people think they do. I grew up with a miniature dachshund who, honestly, didn’t do a whole lot. We didn’t train her and we also didn’t do much to socialize her. She was a fantastic indoor dog, except she barked at everything and seemed anxious all the time. Now that I have my Labrador Retriever, Poet, I realize how much more we could have offered our dachshund, Abby. A “dog without a job” is an anxious dog, and a dog that does not get adequate exercise is also an anxious dog. I did not understand this previously, but now that I have Poet I’ve learned that dog owners need to provide a “fair deal” to their dogs. Dogs need to see their relationship with their owner (& with people, in general) as mutually beneficial – to me, this means offering a dog as much play & exercise as they want so that they’ll be willing to chill and relax around the house when you need them to do that. If I’m leaving for vacation, I always set Poet up with a Rover (or my sister) who I think can offer Poet a “vacation” experience… even if those kinds of Rovers tend to be on the higher end of the price spectrum. I want it to be a “fair deal” for Poet, as if I’m telling her, “even though I’m going away for a bit and you’ll miss me, I’ve set you up with an awesome vacation so you’ll have a blast while I’m gone.” I believe dogs are smart enough to deserve owners who put effort into giving them a “fair deal.” - Dogs need boundaries, not punishment, I see people respond to a dog misbehaving with emotionally-charged reactions like anger and frustration. My dog, Poet, sometimes behaves in ways that make me want to get angry/frustrated with her but I never, never allow myself to react out of anger or frustration. I’ve learned that it’s my responsibility to be her leader, and in my experience nobody enjoys following directions from a leader who makes you feel bad about yourself. This goes for dogs too. I am someone who knows how to appropriately enforce boundaries (e.g. keeping a dog from excessive leash pulling, jumping on people) but I will always do so in a way that BUILDS my relationship with your dog and never in a way that ERODES my relationship with your dog. I take lots of my “methods” from the YouTube channels Upstate Canine Academy and Beckman’s Dog Training. BEST “PRO TIP” I’VE COME ACROSS SO FAR: I highly, highly recommend the pet insurance app called “Pawp.” It’s a $19/month (approx.) platform where members get 24/7, free accress to a veterinarian via their smartphone app. Their tagline is “Get instant access to vet care from home.” Personally, I’ve found it so helpful to be able to start a text message chat with a vet about something I’m concerned about with Poet and within literally minutes a vet replies with their thought, advice, treatment plan, etc. I’ve event sent them videos & pictures through the chat, just to get their thoughts. It’s free to chat with a vet anytime and if your pet does have a life threatening emergency and you follow Pawp’s instructions for bringing you pet to an in-person emergency vet, Pawp covers the first $3,000 of your emergency vet costs. I haven’t used the emergency part but I really, really love having a vet just a text message away around the clock; it’s come in handy more than once. (I don’t have any affiliation with Pawp and I don’t profit from telling you about them but I have a $19/month Pawp membership for Poet & it’s been super advantageous to me, so I wanted to tell you about them.) I worked for Princeton University (as their Emergency Preparedness Specialist) from 2017 to 2022, then I worked for Georgetown University (as their Emergency Management Specialist) for 6 months from March-September 2022. The position at Georgetown wasn’t a perfect fit for me during this season of my life so recently I decided to resign from my position at Georgetown. Now I’m taking some time to rest & recover, and to reconsider my next career steps. I’m enjoying the free time and pursuing “fun” opportunities, like Rover. I currently take Poet hiking, exploring, and to dog parks about 2-3 times per day for about 45-60 mins per visit. Sometimes I’ll walk her another couple times throughout the day/evening. Because of all the exercise she gets, she lounges around & relaxes in my apartment between play sessions. I will make sure your dog is adequately cared for, and I’ll happily follow any instructions you give me so I can keep your dog on as similar-to-home of a routine as possible… while adding in as much fun & play & exercise as your dog wants, of course! When I moved to Arlington in March (2022), I got a lease for a dog-friendly 1-bedroom apartment. Except, instead of using the bedroom, I decided to make the living room a studio apartment and I kept the bedroom essentially empty so it can be Poet’s room. Poet loves chewing furniture and I wanted to give her lots of room to hang out in a dog-safe area (and not in a crate, even though she’s crate trained) while I’m out or at work. So I made a dog-safe room! I can easily keep Poet in the “studio” part of my apartment and your dog can have the “dog-room” to chill in (or vise versa) if they need some alone time. The dog room is also a super great dog-play room, though realistically the whole apartment is fair game (and safe) for dog play! I also have two extra-large dog crates we can easily use if your dog is more comfortable being in/sleeping in a cozy crate.