Our Family

Happy At Home Pet Sitters of Southeast Wisconsin was opened by the Young family of Dousman, WI in March of 2003.  Our love of animals has been a distinguishing characteristic of our family for many years, and it is a real joy to be able to work with all the unique personalities of our client pets.al

We are blessed to have a large pet family of our own.  Currently our personal family includes 1 dog, 3 cats, 2 horses, and various foster kittens.  Taz, our chocolate Lab-Springer spaniel mix, was adopted from the Waukesha Humane Society as a puppy.  The latest addition to our family, Popcorn, was born at our house as a Haws foster during the summer of 2007.  He has become a great playmate for our other cats, Willow and Peaches.  Peaches was also adopted from HAWS, and Willow from the Elm Brook Humane Society.  We highly recommend both organizations for finding great pets.  They do an excellent job of temperament testing and fitting pets to the perfect homes.  You can even find purebreds at these and other humane organizations.   And they have very affordable prices for spay and neuter services.   Please adopt!

We also have 2 saddlebred horses that enjoy living on our 6 acres in Ottawa.

And the latest edition to our family includes 4 laying hens.

Finally we spend much of our time fostering kittens and cats for the local humane society HAWS.

Employees

In order to ensure the best quality service possible, we do NOT have any employees.  Dan & Kelley, the owners, perform all of your pet care personally.

Insurance & Bonding

Happy At Home Pet Sitters is a member of the Pet Sitters Association, LLC. association of Eau Claire WI.  We carry liability insurance under the same company, as well as "Special property of others coverage" to protect against things such as mysterious disappearances, destruction, breakage.  We chose this as well as being bonded because bonding means that IF someone steals from your home AND is convicted of the crime then the bonding company will reimburse you immediately and the thief will reimburse the bonding company in payments.  Our insurance is actual insurance plus a separate bond, and includes a much broader scope of personal property coverage.

Professional Pet Sitter Affiliations & Insurance

We are the founders of the Professional Pet Sitters Association of Wisconsin (PPAW), and enjoy working with other area sitters to promote the professionalism of Pet Sitting throughout Wisconsin.

We are also the founders of the Professional United Pet Sitters (PUPS) association, a worldwide association with over 6500 members.  We are committed to helping new pet sitting businesses get off to a professional start.

In addition, we also participate on many Pet Sitter forums and message boards.

Other Memberships

We are a proud & active member of many organizations.  We volunteer at the Waukesha County Humane Animal Welfare Society, and we are also foster parents.  We are also proud to be a part of the Humane Society of the United States, and the Hooved Animal Humane Society.

Our Continuing Education

We have been educated with the following certifications:

Red Cross Pet First Aid - Kelley is certified by the American Red Cross in Pet First Aid techniques.  She is also a certified Pet First Aid trainer, and is available to teach Red Cross Pet First Aid to those who wish to become certified.  Dan is certified in Pet First Aid through Emergency Medical Training Services in Brookfield, WI

Equine Studies, WCTC - Both Kelley and Dan have completed all of the training required to obtain the Certificate of Equine Studies.  Both Dan and Kelley have applied for the final certificate.  We have also taken extra equine electives that we felt would be useful in our profession, and we continue with this line of education.  

Other Equine Education - We are excited to be on our way with Parelli professional horse training.  We have brought our new horses to beginner and advanced level 1 classes, and are working our way through the level system.  We have both also taken personal lessons to improve our riding and training skills.

NAPPS Certification - Kelley obtained Professional Pet Sitter Certification through NAPPS in 2003.  NAPPS Certification & Training focuses on standard pet sitting skills, as well as in depth dog and cat health care issues.

Other Studies - We are avid readers of veterinary health manuals, message boards, books, and various magazines and we enjoy a variety of animal husbandry classes and WCTC and other colleges.  We also volunteer at various organizations, and frequent the local veterinary offices with questions about medical procedures and issues.  We periodically attend conferences on pet care, pet sitting, and security.  Both Kelley and Dan have participated in professional Parelli Savvy Natural Horsemanship training, and are currently working through the level system with their horses.  We feel that the health of our animals, and the animals we care for, is important to our own well-being.  We have found that the right mix of love, nutrition, exercise, healthcare and more love can result in happy, loving families.

Other Activities & Education

Both Kelley and Dan are avid computer professionals who enjoy a variety of computer activities.  Kelley and Dan are the webmasters of the Professional Pet Sitters Association of Wisconsin web site, and also personally manage, design, and update this website as well as a couple others.   We are qualified and happy to help you with computer or website issues when needed.

Kelley has earned two Bachelor of Science degrees from Carroll College of Waukesha, WI in computer science and human service related fields.  She enjoys practicing Karate & self-defense, as well as riding her scooter around town.  She also has an interest in reviewing websites and giving SEO and other pet sitting advice to beginning pet sitters.

Dan is a former Computer Network Administrator, and he enjoys horseback riding, body-building, skydiving, making paper models, working on and with computers, and watching professional wrestling.  He also enjoys giving our neice and nephew rides on his motorcycle.

Much of our spare time is used working with our businesses and helping new sitters start their businesses.  But when the weather provides for it we love to camp out as well as ride the Kettle Moraine trails, and roller-blade throughout Dousman.