5.0

I have over 13 years experience doing vet assistant and vet technician tasks and skills as a volunteer at The Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge, IL. I have been employed as part of the membership and philanthropic department at Lincoln Park Zoo from which I learned a great deal, stemming from my biology classes on taxonomy to zoology, to specific animal facts and conservation of threatened animals. I therefore know a great deal of educational background on animal behavior. I studied psychology and comparitive human psychology/animal behavior with a bachelors in science from IIT. I have grown up with dogs, cats, and ferrets. At Southwest Animal Care Center, I bathed, fed, walked, medicated, and cared for boarding and patient animals. I graduated with my veterinary assistant certificate in 2018. After graduating from IIT, I became a kennel attendant and learned a great deal about how to care for animals. Pet care is a daily task for me as I take care for two little fuzzbutt ferrets, Icarus and Agatha. Icarus often wakes me up with his bushy tailed excitement. I'm lucky to have such wonderful critters in my life. Right now, I am only offering dog walking and off-site at client's home services. From what I've read from the anthropologist book "Inside of a Dog" by Alexandra Horowitz, animals, especially dogs, crave human attention so being attentive to an animal's needs is to me, what's most important. This includes communicating with animals to know when they need a bathroom break, when they want play, when they want affection and cuddles, when they want nappy time, being fed according to what their schedule is, and of course, offering healthy treats (if allowed) and new novel smells, toys, etc.