My Mom's family dog, a white Spitz, watched over me when I was born. Since this christening, I have grown up with dogs for a major part of my life and been comfortable around them, and these experiences have taught me and moulded me into a pet-appreciative person and a creature-friendly human. It was quite a task for my parents to keep my sisters and me away from stray pups, but I guess we were motivated enough to find a way to sneak them in.

Animals do teach us a lot in their own ways, and with a bit of my parents' wisdom, I have grown to be more understanding, observant, respectful and appreciative of the little, and big, creatures.

I have trained two dogs myself - a Doberman Pinscher and a Dalmatian, and owned and cared for a baby Olive Ridley Turtle I found on a pavement once. They have always felt at ease being around me. I had trained our family Dalmatian well enough that he had excellent recall and obedience training. The results have motivated me to continue working with pets. It is a challenging job training and caring for pets, but with patience and determination for fuel, one can rack up an impressive mileage with happy paws and tails in the backseat.