Who is Not Home Alone Pet, Livestock, & House Sitting?



Hi. I'm Christina Dunlap—and I am Not Home Alone Pet, Livestock, & House Sitting.    

     If you've looked at other pages on this site, you already know something about me.  Because I am a professional business owner, I am insured and bonded.  Because I am a professional pet sitter, I am also a member of Pet Sitters International and a PSI Certified Professional Pet Sitter.  (Click the underlined links or the logos on any of the pages for more information.)  In 2006, I completed training in pet first aid and CPR because I want to be able to respond effectively in an emergency involving the pets I'm caring for.  I also became a certified Pet Tech Instructor because I want to teach pets' owners and pet care professionals the skills both to respond in an emergency and to improve the quality and quantity of pets' lives day by day.

     I'm often asked how I got started in this business. In the fall of 2002, I came back to Southern California after several years on a journey of inner and outer exploration, including spending some time as a volunteer caring for and training llamas in North Dakota and later alpacas in Indiana.


     When I returned to California, I didn't want to go back to a 9-to-5 career. I was substitute teaching and volunteering with hospice and with the US Forest Service when a friend phoned and asked if I could come and stay at their house for a week while they went on vacation—they had a mare about to foal and needed someone there around-the-clock. Other friends with llamas—5 pregnant—learned what I was doing and asked if I would do the same for them. Another friend with a horse, a dog, and cats happened to call that week, too. Would I do the same for her? And then for her neighbors and their horses, dog, and cats?  Suddenly what I should be doing seemed clear, and I established Not Home Alone Pet, Livestock, & House Sitting in 2003.

    I’ve loved animals all my life. In high school, I began obedience training dogs, first with an energetic mutt named Perky, then with an Afghan hound (I like a challenge!). I’ve shared my life with variety of canine and feline companions, in addition to a Macaw and an African gray parrot, three horses, multiple rabbits, numerous fish, several canaries and finches, a handful of hens, a goat named Rosie, a rat named Basil—and a llama named Sonny (who was also a US Forest Service Volunteer).  My last dog, Tess, adopted from Boxer Rescue in LA, and my last cat, Daphne, adopted from the Humane Society in Upland, were both Delta Society certified animal-assisted therapy pet partners.

 

      Sonny (my llama) and Jack, a crown-tail male beta fish who accompanies me on my travels, are now my only pets.  These days I have the privilege and pleasure of making my living caring for others' pets of all shapes and sizes when their humans are away (the hardest part is leaving them when their people come home!), as well as teaching Pet First Aid, CPR, and Care—"improving the quality of pets' lives, one owner at a time."

     In my free time, I continue to volunteer - with Noah's Wish and at The Gentle Barn. If you have some free time and want some hands-on involvement with animals who need your help, check out their websites.