Welcome to my Website!

 

My name is Kimberly Van Roekel, owner of Pampered Pooches Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Services.  Being a pet owner and lover, I have always had the joy of having pets in my life since I was a child.  I grew up in a very small town in South Dakota and after graduating from high school I moved to the Denver, Colorado area where I lived for about another 17 years.  At the time, I worked in the manufacturing industry until I decided to go back to college again (I had previously went to college for a degree in Travel and Transportation and also for Computer Programming in the early 80s) for a Paralegal degree and have worked in the legal field for over 25 years.  While in Colorado I went to the local shelter where I adopted two Chows, Meiko and Teddy Bear.  They were a great part of my life and were with me for 15 years and 17 years before going to the Rainbow Bridge.  I left Colorado around 1994 and moved back home to South Dakota to help out my family for a few years in their business. While in South Dakota it was then that I adopted the most precious little boy….SpikeLee IV, a little white Pomeranian!  He was born on October 04, 1995.  Spike was the best little boy.  He went EVERYWHERE with me. He absolutely loved to go swimming, he would go fishing with me all the time (and of course scare all the fish away, ha) he loved riding in the boat and jumping off the dock into the water to swim. He went on many airplane rides with me and loved car rides.  My precious Spike was the joy of my life for almost 18 years until I got the devastating news in January of 2013 that he was going into kidney failure.  On July 26, 2013, I had to make the most difficult choice I have ever had to make in my life, and that was to let him go on to the Rainbow Bridge.  As you all know from being a pet owner, this is the most difficult choice you will ever have to make. To this day it still haunts me.  Of recent, on November  29, 2018, my baby Roscoe  suddenly and unexpectedly passed away and it just ripped my heart out.  Roscoe was my little "devil child".  I adopted him when he was about a year old and when he passed he would have been only about 7 years old.  He left me way too soon and shattered my heart, but we will be together again.

 

So, anyway, back in South Dakota around 1999 after being back home for a few years I decided that South Dakota was not the place for me anymore.  The Winter months are just too darn cold!  So I packed up my little RX7 car with as many clothes as I could fit in it, my 13" TV, $200 in my pocket for gas money and Spike and I look off for Las Vegas, Nevada where we lived for about another 7 years until I got married and we moved down south to Georgia.  But, that's another story. While living in Georgia, my apartment had caught on fire and we lost almost everything.  I was not at home at the time of the fire only to return when the place was in flames.  Thank God the firemen were able to rescue my baby Spike as he was still inside our home. From Georgia we then left and lived in Alabama for a while and then moving to Gulfport, Mississippi on May 29, 2005, for my job.  Well, as you all know what happened 3 months later on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf coast destroying everything in her path.  Spike and I stayed down in Gulfport with a friend on the other side of town and thankfully survived this devastating Hurricane.  Four days after the Hurricane we were able to get out and manuver our way around all the devastation over to where our home used to be.  We had lost everything. Trying to start our life all back over again from scratch, we stayed in Ocean Springs, Mississippi for about another year trying to survive, but there was just nothing left.  So, around Labor Day of 2006, Spike and I packed up our new belongings and headed to Nashville, Tennessee.  I found a place to live in Goodlettsville, Tennessee and my parents moved out here with me from South Dakota around 2011 where we purchased our home in Goodlettsville.

 

Sometime in 2012 I was speaking with one of my neighbors and we were talking about our love for animals and they were telling me that I should get involved with animal rescue transports. Well, the rest is history!   I have been volunteering with many different animal rescue transport groups throughout the United States transporting animals to a better life with foster families and their furever families.  For those that do not know what an animal rescue transport is, it is a mode of free transportation designed to rescue animals from high kill shelters and abusive/neglectful situations and transport them to screened/approved rescues and furever homes.  The transports are broken down into "legs", intervals of 60-90 miles in length or longer depending on how many legs you want to drive. The transporters drive their legs, then hand off the animals to the next driver(s) at the next interval, in relay style, until the destination is reached. Many times, furkids are overnighted and then continue their journey the next day. Of course, there is always strict protocol that we follow to ensure the safety of the furkids we are transporting. Rescues are always in need of money for vetting, etc...; food, bowls, towels blankets, crates, collars, leashes, etc...  If you are interested in making donation(s) or becoming a volunteer driver, coordinator, foster or seeking to adopt, please contact me and I can get you in touch with the right people.

 

So, with all that said, I have many years of pet care experience and a passion for making sure that all animals entrusted to my care are loved and treated as if they were my own while their families are away.  Your furry companion will get individualized care, keeping them on their schedule as close as possible with walks, playtime, and feedings, as you would do, along with daily text/photo messages to keep you informed. Whether your pet needs a scratch around the ear, a face to lick or a place to play, your best friend will always be taken care of as if he/she were my own.  With many years of experience working with animal rescues and volunteer animal rescue transport groups, your furkid is guaranteed to be in safe and caring hands at ALL times.

Thank you for taking the time to check out my website and please if you have ANY questions, don’t hesitate to call or email me!  References are available.

 

Kimberly