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| Meet Miss Ellie, the new addition! |
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I want to be your first choice when you consider a pet sitter.
What sets me apart? Your pets will know!
Just saying "I love animals" doesn't bring on the credentials. With 18 years as a flight attendant, more years in journalism and service jobs, and a stint behind a soda fountain one summer at Yellowstone National Park, my work in the pet care industry might be considered, lacking!
True, I do love animals. Domestic pets provide the spiritual connection between wild animals and us. No science here, just my beliefs.
What does this mean? As wonderful as the natural world and its creatures are, they will continue to behave instinctively for hundreds of years. They will pass on survival skills to the next generation. But, where is the love?
Around humans, animals take a giant leap from doin' what comes naturally, to falling in love with mankind. Cats, dogs, birds, and farm animals rescue folks with broken bodies or broken hearts. They accept us, warts and all. They protect us. They forgive us. They provide comfort. They teach us how to be more human.
I didn't grow up with pets but one of my favorite animal memories is going to my uncle's farm. He tended cows, goats, pigs, chickens and two yapping, nipping, unfriendly chihuahuas. The dogs stayed close to the house on the hill. At the bottom, in front of the barn, chained to a pipe in the ground, sat Brownie. The amber and white hound mutt looked up at our Italian family gathering around picnic tables set up outside.
People carrying piles of food through a revolving door must have made Brownie envious. He probably wished he could join those chihuahuas scurrying in and out around feet, retrieving dropped pieces of Italian sausage.
Brownie was never to run the property or protect the house from prowlers or chase the chickens. It wasn't meanness. It was simply, "farm thinking." Dogs run off. Chains keep them put.
When we visited the farm, I greeted Brownie first. His tail banged against the dirt when I approached and I allowed him to rest his feet on my shoulders. He looked into my eyes, as if to say, "Will you be the one? Will you unchain me?"
In my adult years, I travelled and moved many times. Brownie's image, alone and trapped, coupled with my travelling, prohibited me from adopting a dog. Cats suited my lifestyle. I have served as guardian to a few. Along the way, I joined organizations that help animals. I volunteered at an animal shelter. I worked for another pet sitting company. I was becoming more committed to helping animals, so I "hit the books" and graduated from the Pet Sitting University. I launched my pet sitting business in 2007. Here I can combine all my loves: learning more about animals through hands-on experience, painting pictures of the pets and meeting other folks who share my love of all things animal. See roseannhaslettart.com for some of my animal portraits. Contact (858) 663-2374.
P.S. I finally adopted a shelter dog: Ellie! She's a rocket!
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