Thanks for the support!

Knee replacement surgery went well. I probably had higher expectations, that I would be running with the bulls, but let's get serious.

The hardest part was the 3 nights in the hospital. I missed my dogs so much (oh yeah, and my husband too):))). Right away I had good days and bad days. Days that I waked without crutches and days when I couldn't bend the leg.

Today was a great day. Walked with just the aid of a cane. Maybe it was the beautiful weather but felt really good today.

Kudo's to my wonderful husband. By my bedside the whole time and when not with me or my dogs, he was taking care of my clients pets. Such a trooper!!

Welcome Shannon Rivera - Main pet sitter for E-Town/Mt. Joy, Marietta Area.

What a great addition Shannon is to the Animal Nanny Family. Kim is gone. Please do not contact Kim for pet sitting. Shannon, her husband Fred (a Regional Police Officer) and their 14 dogs live in Maytown. Shannon owns her own grooming business based in Marietta. Shannon and her husband run their own K9 Search & Rescue. Shannon is also a Maytown volunteer fire fighter. To contact Shannon for pet sits, 278-2587 or breesardog79@comcast.net

Thanks everyone.

Happy Holidays from the Animal Nanny Family.
Our family had a wonderful holiday. My precious nieces spent the afternoon with "Animal Nanny.". They actually think that is my name. When they were younger, they loved to watch the video on my website and would ask my brother to play it over and over so they could dance to it. So they think my name is Animal Nanny. I think it's adorable. Mike & I spent a quiet New Years together. We actually managed to stay up till midnight, drink a glass a champagne and then call it a night. I still had plenty of animals awaiting my arrival on New Years Day.


We cut back drastically on spending this year, as I am sure we all have. I did not even send out Christmas cards. I thank all my client's who did remember us over the holidays and we enjoyed all the cards we received.


The farm is still for sale. We know God has a plan so we have put the entire process into his hands. We have not found a house we have fell in love with yet, so everything works out for a reason.

The Never Ending Leg Situation

I am still dealing with the leg break from last February. The latest visit to the orthopedic surgeon showed that the break did not heal correctly and the knee has also developed arthritis. I am way too young for this!!! I am in constant pain and the only remedy is a partial knee replacement. My surgeon told me the downtime is only about 4 to 5 days and I will be back on the road, walking and in little to no pain. As much as I don't want to go through another surgery, I really have no choice. I am a dog walker so being able to take long walks without pain is a high priority. I plan on having the surgery in February. In the meantime.... January 4th, I slipped on something wet on my kitchen ceramic tile floor. The next morning the pain was intense and I was concerned about the previous break. I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a leg sprain. Good Charlotte!! Will this ever end???? I have been blessed with a husband who jumps in whenever I need help. I trained him well. Wish me luck with the surgery and don't loose faith that I will be your forever pet sitter.

The Kitty God Sent Me

The afternoon of January 2nd, I returned home from my afternoon of pet sitting. My husband came out to help me unload the car. We both heard the loud cries of a cat in pain. There, sitting in my front yard was a beautiful marble gray cat, obviously in pain. I ran to his side and jumped into pet lover mode. He was a sweet loving cat with obvious back end injury. I could not see any obvious injuries. My husband grabbed the cat carrier and a towel and we ran the cat up to my vet. I have a wonderful vet, Dr. Lane with White Oaks Vet in Manheim. She took us immediately to a room. After assessment of the cat, she found blood in the urine. There were no breaks but some type of spinal injury. One back leg had feeling but one leg had none. The outlook wasn't good. We knew he was someones pet. He was so sweet and kept giving me kisses. He was also neutered. We did a microchip search but none was found. The only choice we had for this precious cat was to let him enter the Rainbow Bridge and no longer be in pain. It was devastating and I cried the entire time. I felt that God sent this injured cat to my front yard because he knew I would take care of him.

I was contacted by a neighbor a day or two later asking if I had seen a gray cat. I explained what happened and went to their home to look at pictures. I was sure that this was their pet. They went to my vet with pictures and luckily the vet still had their kitty. They were able to say their goodbye's and have their pet cremated and brought back home.

Please consider having your pet micro chipped.

The Reality of Economics

I haven't uploaded any new pictures lately so I thought I'd throw in another picture of our property. This is our picnic grove we named "Camp Mi-Al-Pe." Mi stands for my husband Mike, Al stands for his best friend Alex and Pe stands for Mike's very best friend who died a couple years ago. They all are a big part of the campground. Pete and Mike built the pavilion together. The boys and their families spend every Friday night in "the woods." The kids love running around the woods, the families enjoy sitting around the campfire and my husband, an avid cook, whips up some great campfire meals. We always welcome our clients to enjoy our campground area. We have about 2 acres of fenced in pasture where your dog can run like the wind. There is a stream and a beautiful walking path. Call me if you would like to spend sometime with your pet in the picnic grove. There is also a 23' camper so if you would like to have a family camping weekend, give me a call.

That is all the updates I have for now. I will try to update the blog on a more timely basis. Time.... hard to come by.

Blessings to all our clients, their family and especially to their pets.

Joy

Winter Updates

The Farm for Sale:
We are still in the process of trying to sell our farm. We have a large amount of lookers but either they have a home they need to sell, or it just isn't the right property for them. We've lowered the price by $90,000. Wow! I never thought we would do that. With Mike's hand arthritis and my bum leg, we really need to downsize our property. 10 acres is just too much for us to keep up with. My surgeon told me I need a partial knee replacement because my broken bone did not heal correctly. I've also developed arthritis in the knee area. I am trying to put off the surgery as long as possible. I would like to settle on a new place before the surgery, but we've put it in God's hands and know everything will happen for a reason.

Winter Weather and Pet Sitting:
With winter coming closer every day, I encourage my client's to prepare for your pet sitting visits. We ask that you put a bucket of salt near the area where we will park and walk. Also, if you are going on vacation, please have a snow removal service on call for inclement weather. I broke my leg walking down icy steps at a client's and I don't want any of my sitters to experience the same thing. If you are going to be away for vacation, please leave us the name and number of the neighbor with a key. We will get there! We might not get there at the time we would like to, but we will get there. The only time we cannot venture out is if it is very icy. We will wait until it is safe to drive. This is why it is so important for us to have the name and number of a neighbor, just in case we need them to give your pet a quick potty break until we can get there. Also, tell your pet sitter where you keep a snow shovel. We may need to shovel a small area in the snow for your pet to go potty.

Wintry Mess
With the ugly winter weather comes the ugly sludge on our boots. We carry shoe covers to keep your floors clean but it would be a big help if you keep a supply of old towels available near the door your sitter will be using. This way we can wipe off your pet's paws along with our own.

The Hidden Key, always a good choice.
We encourage our clients to hide an extra key somewhere on the property. If you need suggestions for where to hide a key, please contact me at ananny@ptd.net The weather can throw everything off course. We may need to contact one of our sitters who live closer to your home, if the weather is bad. With a hidden key, we can ensure that we can get into the home to care for the pet. The weather can also effect the locks. Having a spare key is always a backup lifesaver. Also, if you have a garage code that will open your garage, we have a code that we can supply you with. It is called a "babysitter" code. It is a second code you can program into your garage key pad. If you would like to enter our code, please let me know and I will call you with our code.

Thinking Of Moving?
If you are thinking of selling your home in the future, I am very confident in referring our Realtor, Jeff Enck with Town & County Realty. Although our home has not sold yet, it is definitely not due to the lack of effort from our Realtor. We are extremely impressed with the service Jeff has provided us. To contact Jeff, call 468-4663. Tell him Joy sent you!

Much love to all our clients and their pets.
Joy and Staff

melatolin

Sorry for the long delay in posting. Lot's of personal event's going on at the Dull household (nothing bad). And I wanted to post anything other than the price of gas. With the 4th of July over with, it reminded me of the effects that fireworks have on our pets.
Fireworks, thunderstorms and seperation anxiety are all issues our pets deal with. What I've found that works for my babies is Melatolin. Melatolin is used for various reasons. It was originally used for jetlag. It is also great to use before bedtime to "take the edge off". But I find it extremely beneficial as a calming aid for pets during stressful times. What I like about it is that it doesn't "knock your pets out." It "takes the edge off" and creates a calming mood for our pets.
Melatolin can be bought at any health food store, drug store (CVS) or even the Dollar Store. I buy the cheapest brand available. It comes in 3 and 5 mg.
My Yorkies weigh about 8 lbs. I give them each 1/2 of a 3 mg. The most important instructions is to give it to your pet BEFORE a thunderstorm, etc. I love the fact that it doesn't knock your pet out, it just keeps them calm under stressful situations.
If you have questions about it, check with your vet. Hopefully this information will be helpful to the continuous love and care of our pets.

Holiday Craziness

Well we all made it safely through the Memorial Day Holiday. The holidays are always very busy for the pet sitters. Our schedules booked up a couple weeks prior to the actual holiday, and then it happened, as it always does.... "Hello, we are leaving tomorrow, can you care for our pets?" Yikes. We want to make sure that our clients who booked early receive the time and care that they scheduled for. When the last minute requests start pouring in, we try to accommodate when possible. Last minute requests (LMR) usually require schedule adjustments for the pet sitters. This is one of the reasons we add a LMR fee to those visits.
Especially with the price of gas, it is important for us to map out our visits on a driving route that eliminates unnecessary trips. We ask that you help by allowing us to be as flexible with your scheduled visits as possible. This keeps our driving costs down and therefore, keeping our clients rates from continually raising.
We've adjusted prices where needed and we thank you for your understanding.
I hope to be working on a June E-Newsletter within the next week or so.
Now is the time to book your July 4th reservations and never to early to book your Labor Day.
Thanks everyone,
Joy and staff

General Updates

hello everyone. Website seems to be up and working fine so you should be able to contact us through the website if necessary.
Though I am still off crutches, this past Saturday I slipped on a slippery deck and fell directly on the knee of the broken leg. I'm not sure if I've done any additional damage to the leg, but it really hurts. I made an appointment to see my surgeon but cannot get in until the first Monday in June. Still pet sitting and walking dogs (not far, but walking).
We hope to be introducing a new pet sitter to you soon. Just need to find the time to do the paperwork and pet first aid training.
Yes, we are trying our best to deal with the gas prices. As of now, I am letting it up to each individual pet sitter to decide if they feel their client's rate needs to be changed. I know that I am putting $35.00 a day into my tank. The tips from our clients are a huge help. Stick with us. We are doing the best we can to deal with something that effects our business in such a drastic way.
As always, feel free to contact us any time with suggestions, comments or just to say hi.
Joy

Goodbye Crutches

Yesterday, (Monday April 21st), I went to my surgeons appointment regarding my leg. I was given the "okay" to go ahead and start walking. Yeah. Best news I've heard since February 14th. First thing I did was go to a store and pushed around a shopping cart. I haven't been able to browse stores or "shop" since the accident. I probably over did it, because the leg swelled up by the time I was home. The doctor said that this will continue to happen for quite a while. Today I did my pet sits and actually left my crutches at home. I still must wear the bandage and the leg brace and I walk with a heavy limp, but I am able to finally walk and that's wonderful.
Thank you so much to everyone for your patience during this ordeal. Knock on wood that this will be my one and only broken bone forever.