Hi! My name is Valerie. I have been working professionally with animals for about 19 years. I started off working at my local county animal shelter, where I learned how to clean kennels, showcase dogs for adoption, counsel potential adopters, train dogs, and learned how to administer medications and vaccines, draw blood, and other miscellaneous veterinary tasks. Then, I went on to work for a doggie day care center where I learned how to manage groups of 20+ dogs at a time. From there, I transitioned into a small, private-owned animal boarding facility, where I further enhanced my pet care skills. Next, I worked for a really cool traveling mobile veterinary clinic educating clients about preventative care and preventative products/medications and restrained dogs, cats, and ferrets for vaccines, blood draws, and microchipping. Soon enough, I was asked to work at a no-kill animal shelter, as their Medical Coordinator where I performed veterinary technician duties, made sure all of the animals remained as healthy as possible, kept the animals up-to-date on their vaccines and preventatives, and treated animals for illness and worked directly with the animals in our quarantine room. Then, I was asked to apply at a small primary care animal hospital because they were impressed with my blood draw technique on my own dog that was too rambunctious and wiggly for them. Currently, I work full-time (Sun-Tues) as a lead veterinary pharmacy technician for one of the country's largest, independently-owned veterinary hospitals specializing in primary care, emergency, and various specialty departments, such as oncology, internal medicine, ophthalmology, behavior, and specialty surgeries. Throughout my animal career, I also did a lot of volunteer work with a local animal shelter, a dog/cat rescue, my own rescue, and a horse rescue. I am a fully insured and registered pet sitter. I am in the process of renewing my Pet CPR certification and Fear Free certification. I completed a dog training course through Penn Foster. I currently feel comfortable training basic obedience and working through some minor behavior issues. I believe in using science-based methods along with the use of rewards to reinforce good behavior to train dogs.