Hello and welcome.
My name is Wendy and I am – And While You’re Away.
I’m a Certified Professional Pet Sitter (CPPS).
PSI’s CPPS-Certified Professional Pet Sitter® Exam provides candidates with the only knowledge-based assessment designed specifically for professional pet sitters. PSI’s exam requires that candidates demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed and prosper as professional pet sitters.
I have been providing professional at-your-home pet, plant, and home care services for many years. My commitment is to provide a safe, healthy, fun, and loving experience for my pet clients in the comfort of their own familiar surroundings.
I am licensed, bonded, insured, and Pet CPR/First Aid Certified to offer professional, trustworthy and relaxed “treat-them-like-they’re-mine” care for your pet, plant, and home needs when you have to be away.
While I could be called an “over the top” animal lover I like to think that I have struck a good balance over my lifetime:
For as long as I can remember I have surrounded myself with animals.
As kid growing up in a family with multiple dogs, cats, rats, guinea pigs and hamsters, I took long hikes, and often returned home with rescues. My dad helped me clean them up and adopt them out. Later, as a teen, I worked in a veterinary office after school and on weekends. As an adult, I found many abandoned and injured animals and helped get them fixed up; I found their owners and/or re-homed them with loving families.
Today, I volunteer for local animal/rescue groups and hold a certificate from A Pet’s World Pet Sitters’ Academy. In 2001, I joined PET SITTERS INTERNATIONAL and started my own professional pet sitting/dog walking business.
I would love to hear from you; I have several excellent references and a packet of additional information I can send to you upon request.
Feel free to contact me with any questions by calling or texting 530-613-PETS (7387). Thank you.
Services
I welcome all questions.
So far, I am comfortable and have experience with a wide variety of animals including but not limited to:
dogs, cats, horses, goats, rodents, aquarium dwellers, vegetarian birds and reptiles, and arachnids
I like to think all things are possible as I continue to learn and grow. If there is a related service not listed here, please ask me. What I don’t know I am usually willing to learn. If something is not do-able by me, having lived here most of my life, I have many connections and I may be able to steer you in the right direction.
Daily visits include
• Exercise/play/hang-out-n-love-‘em-time with pets/pet walks
• Feed and water pets
• Let out/bring in pets as needed
• Clean-up after pets – house, yard, litter box, stall, cage, “accidents”
• Pet assessment and administration of any necessary medications
• Feed and water house, porch, and deck plants
• Mail/newspaper collection
• Security checks of premises/lights on/off for “we’re at home” look
• Text, phone call, email updates daily or intermittently as requested
Additional Services available
• Overnights and extended overnight pet care
• Shuttle to/from veterinarian, pet groomer, etc
• Field trips: State Park, forest hikes, river hikes
• Pet supply pick-up/delivery
• Pet sits outside immediate service area
RATES AND FEES*
Due to the wide variety and combinations of clients’ service needs, fees are calculated on a very individual basis. However I have provided the following list as a good rule of thumb. Some things I consider are: number and types of pets, number of visits scheduled, travel time/distance and services requested. I always schedule a complimentary home visit prior to finalizing arrangements. This gives you and your pets the opportunity to meet me and to fully define their and your needs. We will also review and fill out necessary paperwork, confirm fees and I can answer any remaining questions.
*A minimal $1.00 per minute charge may be added to the basic rates below for each minute over 10 min drive time, one-way, from my home base in Grass Valley.
PET SITTING
$25 – 30 min
$28 – 45 min
$33 – 60 min
$28/hr after 2 consecutive hrs
$75 – overnights (12-14 hrs)
PET WALKING
$25 – 30 min
$28 – 45 min
$33 – 60 min
ADDITIONAL SERVICES
The additional service category is calculated much the same including a $.50 per mile service charge.
HOLIDAYS
Some holidays are charged at time-and-a-half.
New Years Eve and Day
Memorial Day weekend (Sat-Mon)
4th of July (7/3 – 7/5)
Labor Day weekend (Sat – Mon)
Thanksgiving (Wed – Sat)
Christmas (12/23 – 12/26)
Photo Gallery
Big-Dog
Bunny
Burro
Cat
Cat-in-sink
Dog
Dog-training
Dog-with-pet-turtle
funny-dog
Goat
happy-dog
Iguana
Kitty-play
Parrot
Pony
VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE
One thing I love about being a Professional Pet Sitter: You gotta love Northern California.
On any given day you walk through sunny warmth, cloudy windy briskness, rain, sleet, hail, snow and then sunny and warm again . . . all in one day! The recent indecision in the weather patterns got me thinking how much I love it: the change, the variety, the “what will come next?” of it all.
Suddenly I’m remembering that this is also one of the things I love most about being a Professional Pet Sitter. Every day is different, even when I’m obviously visiting, caring for, playing with, walking the same pets for days at a time, every day brings new adventures, never knowing what’s in store.
The weather is one thing for sure, but what about that deer that leaps across the road right in front of us on our walk, or the foxtail that gets into the paw? Can’t find the favorite catnip toy or ball, and so begins the intensive search high and low through all the rooms and under all the furniture that becomes a game in itself. Sometimes it’s the pet that just doesn’t feel “in the mood” so we just sit/lie, snuggle and chat. Then suddenly all is well with the world; we’re off and running again. The shy kitty who has found a new place to hide and is not sharing the information. How about one of my all-time favorites: being way down that rocky, winding dirt road and coming out to find a flat tire and I have no cell phone signal.
Occasionally there’s been the home that is suddenly snowed in. After hiking down through the woods, snow up to my hip (don’t want to get stuck in that driveway), and because we’re expecting more snow tonight and I know I may not get back in here after that, I load up Ms. Kitty in the pet carrier, hike back to the car, and drive her back to my house for the duration. I’m on an extended overnight and the poor pup is feeling sad about his family, howling and pacing all night . . . and I howl and pace right alongside . . . next day we are best buddies and we know it’ll be alright.
In my car I carry all manner of potentially necessary animal supplies, first aid paraphernalia, changes of clothes and shoes, my food for the day and plenty of water, always thinking ahead of the next possibility based partly on what’s on the schedule, partly on weather reports and partly on the rest of my life.
But when I’m there and I’m snuggling, playing, chatting, walking/exercising, and caring for all these wonderful animals, I am absolutely present. You cannot do what a good pet sitter does and be distracted by phones, other problems, or what is on the agenda next. We have to be present and focused; the pets we care for “demand” it just by the very interactions we share. As a Professional Pet Sitter I am going to get there and I am going to make it happen.
Having said all this I want to thank all my clients, my future clients, and their families for letting me share their lives. It is unbelievably rewarding and fun…..lots of work…..but definitely worth it all the way around. And I know at the end of my day, when I tumble into bed, tired and satisfied, heart full, that this is what I was meant to do.
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