I adore animals and, as my grandmother and mother did, frequently rescue and foster animals in need. Often, they just turn up on my doorstep and are waiting there in the morning! After growing up in Nashville with labs, mutts, cats, gerbils, canaries, goldfish, and spending weekends on the family farm with the mules, cows, chickens, and a revolving cast of other animals, I started housesitting and petsitting in the 80’s in grad school before starting my own human and rescued four-footer family. In 2015 and 2016 after the last of my four-footers passed away, I fostered and rehabbed a dog at a time for the SPCA when the schedule allowed. My last dog foster in Cincinnati, 70 pounds of muscle-bound American Staffordshire, went to his new home after five months of intensive rehab and reward-based training. It was because of him that I discovered Rover, since he had spent two years in a cage at the pound and I was not going to put him in a cage again, ever, so boarding was out when I traveled. Some dogs like their crates as their dens. Oliver, though, chewed his heavy-duty metal crate into slivers the first time in his very gradual training that I left him for a whole 15 minutes, and he took a long time to place. So, when I had to travel, he had a Rover sitter. My last feline foster in Cincinnati in 2020-21, Pepito, has a blissfully happy life now with a half-dozen loyal servants to do his bidding. In Cincinnati, I walked dogs midday and did some pet sitting in my apartment building before joining Rover. Those darlings included a young, very strong jumping bean/pit bull cross, a gentle giant with occasional dog reactivity, an ancient and very ladylike Sheltie, a Senegal parrot, and a motley crew of cats. When there's spare time, I'm often reading or watching footage about dogs and dog-human interactions, since I hope to start training service dogs over the next few years. I trained my wonderful service dog to full certification after a spinal injury in the Middle East nearly 25 years ago, and since getting back on my feet, have wanted to help others form solid partnerships of the kind we had. I’ve had a lovely time meeting new Rover clients in the Research Triangle area since summer 2021. Once omicron hit and winter weather meant clients couldn’t open windows to air out their homes, I was thrilled to be accepted to foster dogs for Second Chance in Raleigh, the best fostering organization I’ve ever worked with. My first foster, a Corgi mix and mighty fetcher named Betty White, now has a truly lovely home, and my second foster, Gustavo the gentlemanly chihuahua with a habit of snapping when displeased, also found a great home after a couple of tries. I will only take on short vacation and transport fosters now that I am able to regularly pet sit again. I’m a five-star pet sitter and house sitter on another site as a traveling house sitter in France and the UK in 2014, 2015, and 2017, where I cared for Norfolk terriers, a pair of young Samoyeds, a Newfie mix and his giant ginger tomcat, a strapping golden retriever fond of long slogs through the winter marshes (and his rescued battery hens and cat), an eventing horse and his Shetland pony buddy, and a few households ruled by cats. I love them all to this day, including a lurcher dog who is best buddies with three black pigs who came running to meet him at their fence in the churchyard when he came out of the woods. I've been mostly in the U.S. since then, with a slowdown of everything late 2017 through 2018 for central nervous system lymphoma treatment and stem cell transplant recovery, then happily pet sitting in Cincinnati again until COVID shut that down because of my ridiculously high risk factors. I'm now vaccinated and boosted, living in a tiny house in the Triangle, and eager to meet four-footers and other animals. Because my kind of lymphoma has such high risk of mortality from COVID-19, I’ll have to stay masked during our getting acquainted visit, and I'll want to let your HVAC system run for an hour or two after your departure to filter the air before I arrive. I work at home for some or most of the day during the week, so your animals would have lots of company. I absolutely respect my clients' privacy, and am meticulous in caring for their possessions, having grown up tiptoeing around antiques and fragile things. Your house will be as you left it when you return. Most people can't tell I've been there, other than by how happy and relaxed their animals are when they come back. After spending the last 39 years traveling to and living in the Middle East and elsewhere, it's safe to say that I am calm in a crisis. Having raised and rescued and cared for animals in my 25 years in Cincinnati, and having saved a kitten after she was thrown from a truck onto I-75 on Easter Sunday not long ago, I'm also familiar with getting animals to emergency care and always learn those locations wherever I travel. I will map the route to your vet from your home at least once before starting the sit. You can trust me to keep your dogs and other animals safe, and to give them lots of affection. Dogs in my care get the walks they are used to and plenty of play time and cuddles. In my experience, dogs and cats need mental and physical workouts during the day (insofar as they are able) to be happy, and I like learning what works best for each individual animal. If you are comfortable with your dog traveling in my little hatchback, I am happy to make excursions for walks, though your dog will always be on leash when away from home. While I don't yet know how to inject medications, I have lots of experience with administering oral and eye and skin medications and working with anxious dogs and some with behavior problems through my rescue and foster work, to help them feel comfortable and heal from bad things that happened in their lives. My response to Rover’s question, "Why are you house sitting and pet sitting?" is this: I'm traveling farther and for longer spells for work these days, so it's not a good time to have my own pets. I really, really miss having animals in my life 24/7, though. As well, it helps to speed up my writing and thinking to move to a new setting every now and again. Somehow, other than one fierce tabby whose mission in life is to repel any and all invaders from her apartment when her dad's away, animals know in a millisecond that they can trust me, and they're right. I'd love to meet your pets and become their new beloved auntie! Please do let me know if you have any questions. COVID-19 contingencies: I used to leave a 3-day buffer between bookings to allow for travel delays, and then if clients were traveling overseas and at risk of being refused return flights if they test positive on required COVID tests, I left a 10-day buffer after their booking was supposed to end so I could stay with the animals those 10 days. I had shortened this but for fall/winter 2023/2024, am leaving a 3-day buffer for now. NOTE RE. 25 MARCH 2024 CANCELLATION ON SHORT NOTICE: I was diagnosed with RSV and learned 7 days in that it is highly contagious for a while even after symptoms are gone, and my doctor is seeing many cases where it lasts two weeks or more. As soon as I learned that I'm still a walking germ vector, I let my clients know and they chose to cancel the booking. I did the cancellation from my end since they are fairly new to Rover. I feel awful about not understanding early on that it isn't just a cold that would be gone in a few days. I'd feel worse if I made these lovely people sick though, because this germ is a beast! Y'all be careful out there!