What is your favorite part of the job?
It’s so rewarding to be there to care for a pet-walking through the door and seeing wagging tails, being greeted by purrs. Then with other pets that start out shy or with medical or behavioral concerns that you get to see grow and live their best life—it simply doesn’t get better than that!
When I’m not out enjoying time with the clients’ wonderful pets, I also like implementing ways to streamline the business to better serve clients and the team. Whether it be changing fields in our portal’s software or scheduling a team event, I love thinking of new ways to improve how we do things.
When you aren’t working, what are some of your favorite things to do?
I love spending time with those closest to me. The activity is less important to me than who I am spending time with. That being said, I am happiest if I’m outdoors and active (what kind of dog walker would I be otherwise?). In a pinch, I also like card games and museum-type events. On a solo day in, you might find me painting or snuggling up with my dog while watching a documentary.
If I could choose any way to spend my day, without concern for practicality I would elect for horseback riding, snorkeling in the ocean or rock climbing.
If you could be any type of domesticated animal, what would you be and why?
There is no doubt about it, I would be a horse! I love the outdoors, running, am always down for a good salad and am occasionally spooked by sudden movement.
What is a lesser known fact about you?
My first job was as a ranch hand. I enjoyed the time spent outdoors with the horses and a surprisingly friendly bull. I think that this job shaped me to be the morning person I am today.
What’s the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
“Do your best with what you have, where you are at, with what you have.”
What are you best known for by the team?
A very dry sense of humor, endless spreadsheets and flexibility.
The very dry sense of humor occasionally gets me in trouble as it isn’t always clear that I am actually joking. For instance, I am not planning on implementing a policy restricting coyote-hybrids not matter how straight of a face I may have had at that moment. Yes, that’s coyote hybrids not wolf hybrids.
With a background in case management, I am no stranger to organization. I have a number of things to keep an eye on to ensure that day to day operations run smoothly and have developed methods to track and prioritize tasks.
I believe that it is very important to support the team to the best of my abilities. I am more than willing to jump in and cover for someone on a sick day or support them in other ways. I also am sure to find out the pets that each staff member would love to be scheduled with should the opportunity present itself. Sorry that list (ehhmm..spreadsheet) is top secret! All of our pets are amazing and everyone clicks with different pets so it all works out!
I feel fortunate to have such an amazing group of people on my team. I absolutely love how our team comes together to provide excellent care for the pets we serve and also how our team cares for one another.