Hi there, I'm Sandy! I have a lifetime of experience with my own animals, family pets, friends, and neighbors pets as well as multiple years of professional animal care experience. I grew up with dogs (between 1-3 dogs at any given point!) and indoor/outdoor cats on my parent's large property. In my childhood, we also owned hamsters, snakes, lizards, and fish. I always had a special connection with the animals in my life and, as a child, dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. I have been in the professional full time teaching and 9-5 world for the past 5 years, and I am so thrilled to be getting back into pet care! I am a clear communicator and I am great at setting expectations from the get go and meeting or exceeding my clients' needs. I hope you enjoy reading about my experience and the services I can offer. My goal is to offer the best pet and house sitting services I can, so please take a look at my profile, see if my services meet your needs, and then shoot me a message! I can't wait to meet you and your sweet little fur babies :). Relevant Pet and Home Care Experience: - 10+ years part time pet sitting (in my home and in owner's home) - 10+ years part time dog walking - 10+ years part time house sitting - 1 year part time dog daycare - 2 summers assistant veterinary technician in emergency animal hospital - Experience setting, meeting, and exceeding expectations with pet and home owners - Lifetime animal owner experience (dogs, cats, lizards, snakes, fish, turtles, etc.) - Current Portland, OR homeowner (I will treat your home with the same care as my own) Communications & Customer service: - 5+ years full time professional customer service and communications experience - MA English Degree - Excellent written and oral communication skills - Guaranteed response to all inquiries, with the goal of responding within 8 hours - Continued communications and updates (photo, text, etc.) throughout booking - Experience setting, meeting, and exceeding expectations in a full time professional capacity Why I'm Pet & House Sitting: I am going back to nursing school part time soon, and I need a more flexible schedule. I developed such a great informal business during my 10+ years in pet/home care while in high school, college, graduate school, etc. Because of that extensive experience and success, it was just a natural fit to return. I am incredibly passionate about working with animals and am so thrilled to be doing something I love again! My Home: My husband and I own a sweet little craftsman in the Richmond neighborhood. We love our home and our cute 12 lb schipperke mix, Cazadero ("Caz"). We have a fenced back yard where the dogs can play together. Our front porch is an enclosed sun porch with a door, and the front yard has a small gate around it - both are effective at preventing "bolting". Please let me know if your dog is prone this behavior. I have baby gates, a crate, and a pen, which I am happy to use to help your pup feel safe and secure at night or during the day if you would like to do that. Please let me know if your dog requires this during the day, at night, or both. Caz currently has free use of the house, but he is crate trained and very relaxed, so doesn't mind any arrangement we come up with. Just let me know what your pet needs and I will do my best to help! Feedback: Since I'm getting back into pet and home care after being in the full team teaching and office world for 5+ years, I would love to hear your feedback while I work out the kinks. I hope that I can give you a 5 star pet and home care experience, so please let me know if I fall short by sending me a message and letting me know what I can do to make it better! Sample Schedule & Expectations: I currently specialize in boarding (in my home) which is 24-hour or less care period (typically somewhere between 10-24 hours). Please let me know your preferred pickup/dropoff time and make sure to confirm the time with me. AM pickup/dropoff is usually 6am-8am and PM pickup/dropoff is usually 4pm-6pm. If you need a later 'last visit' window later than your dropoff time, I am happy to take care of that for you by adding another night to your package. Please just make sure to confirm the pickup / dropoff time with me before booking :) Sometimes custom situations require custom rates, so please feel free to let me know what you need and I will see what I can do.