Diane

Hi, I'm Diane! I'm a third year student at the University of Glasgow studying Veterinary Biosciences. As you can tell by my choice of course, I have always had a passion for animals. I absolutely love the animal care side of my course and want to pursue this as a career after finishing my degree so I thought pet sitting would be a great choice of part time work whilst studying. I also no longer live with my parents and pets for most of the year as I had to move to Glasgow for University so I greatly miss spending time with pets and would happily devote my attention to your pet!

I have always had animals growing up, including a cat, a dog, rabbits and fish. My cat is a little terror who likes to playfight when you want to cuddle and my dog is a hyper ball of chaos (a border collie)! It took 16 years to convince my parents to get a dog but I am now so grateful we waited until I was older as it allowed me to spend so much time and effort training and looking after him. I absolutely love training him agility and obedience and improvising when the weather is bad, as you can see from the pictures!

I've been working as a pet sitter on Pawhshake for about a year now, looking after rabbits, cats and dogs. I have a range of experience with dogs, including looking after puppies, blind and deaf dogs. I have done a variety of dog walking, house visits and house sitting this year. These experiences have allowed me to understand the need for communication of the pets needs between owners and myself and helped me gain confidence in my ability to look after another's animal as pets are such an important part of our lives.

I have a lot of experience of handling and care of both cats and dogs due to my course, volunteering at an animal shelter and pet sitting. I volunteered at an animal shelter for 3 years, but had to stop due to coronavirus. I really loved my role there, even if it involved a lot of poo! My time at the shelter allowed me to become comfortable working in different environments and with different breeds and temperaments. I spent a lot of time around many different species, mainly dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, degus and birds. I walked the dogs, cleaned out cages and spent time with the animals so I was exposed to a lot of different types of dogs and cats with different temperments and needs. It allowed me to experience looking after dogs and cats with behavioural issues, including dogs that were reactive to other dogs and cars, and cats that were fearful of humans and required socialisation.

My course means I have a lot of confidence around animals and we are taught correct handling techniques and an understanding of behaviour of many different animals. We are taught handling techniques for dogs, cas and small animals including guinea pigs, rabbits, rats and birds, as well as farm animals such as cows, sheep and horses. We also learn dietary requirements, grooming and treatment of different health issues so if your pet has specific requirements regarding any of these I would be happy to accomodate them.

The thing I love most about pet sitting and dog walking is getting to know different pets and their personalities. Every pet is different and I would love to get to know yours. I know that choosing pet-sitter you can trust can be scary, so please message me if you want to know more about me or my experience!