Thank you all for the warm welcome. It feels great to have a real community working as support and network for all the sitters and HO.
@Angela_L indeed my expertise is in high demand. As you said, it is due to the “new normal” and separation anxiety, but also because many adoptions occurred during pandemics. Suddenly, people who felt alone and never had a dog/cat adopted one of them and needed advice to know and familiarize with the typical behavior of those species. Some pets have behavior issues already when they are adopted or bought (usually because shelters and breeders don´t have the tools for giving them adequate education during the first months of life, that are the most critically important behavior builders), for instance, proper socialization.
When these dogs/cats spend some years with this kind of problem, this affects their neuro-cognitive networks (because emotional, behavioral, and physical health are interconnected). And of course, the problem also makes uncomfortable humans that punish pets.
So I try to work at the prevention level. And it´s really difficult because people usually ask for advice when the problem is seriously affecting their relationship (dogs and cats that attack people and other animals, dogs that destroy furniture and doors, cats that scratch furniture, dogs that can´t be taken for a walk because they can´t behave as people expect). The later the problem is treated, the more difficult is to solve it.
Some other times it´s simpler. What seems like a behavior problem or pathology for some people is an incorrect communication and interpretation of what the fur friend needs. And also a lack of knowledge on how to educate dogs and cats.
If people contact me when they want to adopt or buy a dog/cat or when the animal is young (2-4 months) we can work at the prevention level. I can give them nice tips to engage in positive education, creating a lifetime bond with those other beings that communicate in different ways, and have emotional, behavioral and physical needs that we must satisfy.
So basically I work with bonds. I try to fix broken ones, or hopefully I help to build unbreakable inter-species relationships
@liz Hope to have answered what you would like to know about my work. As I can see that you have lived in Buenos Aires and Lima, te mando un abrazo y espero que estés muy bien
If you are interested in knowing more, I have writen a book chapter in spanish, that belongs to a virtual and free book writen by veterinarians. Here´s the link to download the book: El libro – Influvetes (I wrote the first chapter, on animal welfare, the ways of sensing the world by dogs and cats, and somethings about their typical behavior and about their relationship with us, humans).