We met with Mya’s owners a couple of weeks prior to the sit and were able to go through the care instructions for both Mya and their lovely home. Mya has been very well trained, so much so that she is able to walk off leash when appropriate and obey every command. She will go ahead but is forever on the lookout that you are following her. She will stop at the kerb and wait for the command “walk to heel” before crossing the road. It was such a pleasure walking her.

Mya’s home backs onto a corridor of bushland which not only is an appealing view from the home but allows her the freedom to take herself off for a wander. She is very obedient and if out of sight, it is only a matter of calling her name and she returns to her yard. She is quite the celebrity with the school children who use the pathway to the school near the home.

Mya is always up for a game and she loves to chase a ball through the bushland at the back of the home. It was nothing to turn around and she would have either a ball or stick in her mouth! It was always us who tired first of these games as she could have gone on forever.

Looking after Mya was very easy and we enjoyed our time in Taringa. The home is very close to Brisbane City and two major shopping centres. We were able to take advantage of some of the lovely cafes within the area also. The owners have tastefully and fully renovated the home and it is easy care and very comfortable.

There were many walks that we were able to do with Mya which included the Mt Cootha Forest – here she had to be on leash. She walked well both on and off leash.

Responsibilities Included:

Food/Water for Mya

Daily walk & play

Security of the Property

Mail Collection

Lawn/Garden Care – Mowing & Watering

We are very familiar with this area having had our family living here for many years. On arrival the beautiful 1 acre property was like all others in the area, very dry not having seen any rain for a while. The weather soon changed and we had rain for most of the sit.

The owners had 5 free range chickens and we were the recipients of lovely fresh eggs each day. Along with keeping chickens the owner is a keen native bee keeper and we had approximately 25 hives to check daily.

We arrived home one afternoon to unfortunately find that a snake had entered the chicken coop and taken one of the chickens. Due to the size of its meal it didn’t appear to be in any hurry to move on. This was to be the first of two visits to the coop from snakes but thankfully the second snake did not take another. The owners son has his boat at the property and thankfully on both occasions had arrived to take the boat out so removed them from the property for us. One of the drawbacks we feel to rural living.

Responsibilities Included:

Feeding Chickens/Fresh Water & Egg Collection

Checking the Hives Daily

Security of the Home

Mail Collection

Mowing of the 1-acre property & Gardening

We arrived the morning the owners were leaving for their short break and were treated to a beautiful BBQ breakfast on the deck.

What a peaceful and relaxing property this is. The owners have 400 acres of land and run beef and dairy cattle. During our stay they had some of the land leased and would put their own stock on it upon their return. We were woken each morning by the sound of the kookaburras and had kangaroos passing through at dawn and dusk.

We were very excited to be adding to our list of animals that we have cared for, Stan the Poddy calf. Stan had one of his legs in a cast due to a mishap while being born. The owners assured us that Stan would just need to be fed and watered and that he would just hang out in the area around the house. What could go wrong?

It turned out that Stan had a few behavioural issues, on the top of the list was that he didn’t think he was a calf, he thought he was more of a human we think. We found Stan in numerous areas that he was not supposed to be in. The laundry – not doing the laundry but eating it! Rearranging the owner’s boots and eating the laces. Doing a spot of exploring in the shed and his favourite spot being the garage to escape the heat.

We woke one morning to find that after a night of rain his cast has softened and he had licked through the cast exposing his injury. A quick call to the owners and a visit to the neighbour, we sprang into action with the neighbours help to remove the cast, clean the wound, bandage his leg and tape it.  He certainly wasn’t impressed at first with our doctoring/nursing skills but after a while settled and allowed us to go ahead and do what was needed. Thankfully this all happened the day before the owners returned as he had nearly eaten through the new taping and on their return, they would recast his leg.

Alfie and Smirky were no trouble at all and were our TV companions at night. They both had lovely natures and were a pleasure to look after.

Responsibilities Included:

Feed/Milk Prep for Stan

Keep Stan Safe & Sound

Feeding Alfie & Smirky/Water

Security of The Home

Rusty’s owners were off to Western Australia to visit with family so needed someone to care for their special boy. Rusty lost one of his eyes several years ago due to an illness.  He is also quite elderly and it was our pleasure to have him placed in our care. He is such a gentle boy and would like to stay near you at all times.  Rusty requires drops into his remaining eye and you only have to call him and say “eye drops, Rusty” and he would come to your side and look up at you knowing what was to come. Now, I would like to say it was because of his impeccable behaviour, some would say it was because of the treat he knew he would get after the drops is the reason, he is so well behaved! Straight after the drops he would then head to the pantry door!

We were also told by his owners that he would not go for his walk if only one of us went. One morning we put that to the test and sure enough he sat on the driveway refusing to move until we both headed off down the road with him. Rusty’s walks were not too long due to the heat and his age. There is a park at the end of the street which became his daily “go to” walk and there we would sit for a while allowing him to take in the sights and sounds of the area.

Responsibilities Included:

Food/Morning & Night & Water for Rusty

Daily Medication – Eye Drops

Daily Walk

Security Home/Mail Collection

Garden & Pool Care

We were very pleased that the “girl’s” owners chose us after we applied through Aussie House Sitters as they had an experience with previous sitters that did not work out well at all. We felt that this meant they had the confidence in us that we would care for Keeta and Nala and their home in the way that they expected.

Keeta is chocolate brown and Nala is golden and they are just beautiful girls. Being young they were full of energy and loved playtime in their large and beautiful yard. This included going for a dip in their pool and they kept us highly amused with their high energy paddling. They were also respectful of each other by taking turns in the pool. They have access to the outside of the home through their doggie door during the day but were to be kept in over night due to their love of finding a toad to play with! At night they were good TV companions!

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here and the house is very modern and comfortable situated in a private road backing onto a nature reserve. Bruno was kept busy with mowing the lawn and some gardening. Due to the hot weather that we had during this sit, Keeta and Nala enjoyed the air conditioning in the house and this is where they loved to have a sleep also during the day.

Return Sit: 13th April-14thApril 2019

Responsibilities Included:

Feeding & Fresh Water for Keeta & Nala

A Lot of Play with Keeta & Nala

(Due to not being walked At Owners Request)

Security of the Home/Mail Collection

Lawn Care & Gardening

We applied through Aussie House Sitters and arranged to visit on our return, with the owners, after phoning them while we were still overseas. A week or so to recover and we then took a drive down to Arundel to meet with them. In our care we would have Jordan and Meeka – the furry members of the crew, seven birds the feathered members and Rango, one water dragon the scaly member. Jordan and Meeka were easy care with no need of a walk, as per owner’s request. At feed time we needed to separate them as Jordan was a speed eater and moved quite quickly onto Meeka’s meal after finishing his own.

Rango was our first Water Dragon that we have looked after. He also was easy care with enough live food and dry food being left in his tank to see the sit through. He was in a temperature controlled tank and this needed to be monitored for his comfort. He loved to spend time in his water container that was in his tank.

There were three cages for the birds. In the first cage was Harry the lorikeet, in the second was a mixture of cockatiels and in the third cage was a blue ringneck parrot. The cockatiels and ringneck were easy care but Harry was a different story! We had been warned that he bites and so cleaning and feeding was a little complicated and needed the two of us to complete both tasks! I am sure anyone seeing us clean and change his feed would have thought it quite comical as Harry was determined to get a bite in! Thankfully we came away with all fingers intact!

Responsibilities Included: Feeding Jordan & Meeka. Morning & night & making sure that they had fresh water. Playtime for them both. Temperature monitoring for Rango and daily cleaning of his water. Cleaning the bird cages, checking their food/water supply. Harry had a special blend of food that needed to be mixed in water and changed daily. Security of the home. Pool maintenance. Mail Collection

We arranged this housesit through Trusted House Sitters and when we turned up the afternoon before the owners departure we saw Orlagh through the gate. My first thought was “what is she standing on?” to my surprise she wasn’t standing on anything! Orlagh is the largest dog that we have looked after and the largest dog that I have ever seen. Her gentleness equals her size. She is just beautiful!

We shared a lovely meal with her owners that evening and the following morning they departed for their holiday. Orlagh has her own transportation in the form of a little Honda Jazz and this is used daily to take her to the nearby dog park. Her home is on the Gold Coast. Each day we took Orlagh to the park, she isn’t the most active of dogs but thoroughly enjoyed her outing. One lap of the park, then she would come and stand next to you to indicate that she was ready to leave!

Orlagh’s meals consisted of kibble & cooked chicken breast. Medication was to be given 3 times a day as Orlagh has some health issues. These were no trouble at all to give her. She is allowed on her couch in the home and is very well behaved with not going on any others within her home.

Responsibilities included:

Daily medications – Morning & Evening

Security of the Home/Mail Collection

Cooking Orlagh’s Chicken when required

This was our last sit in France before heading back home to Australia late October. We had in our care Bosco a very elderly mixed breed dog. Because of his age Bosco had several health problems which we were made aware of and monitored during our stay. He had such a lovely nature and followed us everywhere. The owners had asked that we didn’t pat him as he also was nearly blind and any sudden movement would have him snap at you.

Louna, (Male) Mailia & Agathe (Females) were all rescue cats and had the run of both the house and yard. Louna & Malia were brother and sister and suffered from Haws Syndrome. This is where both of their third eyelids were prolapsed and the vet thought that it may have been due to intestinal worms or other parasites after eating a small dead animal in the yard. 

After time they should return to normal and we did notice an improvement while we were there. The three had big personalities with Agathe the smaller starting a fight with the other two on a daily basis. It was nothing to see a flash before your eyes and then two of the cats high in a tree! All three were to be kept in at night.

Louna and Bosco were great mates and most times were to be found snuggling up together on the mat.

Responsibilities Included:

Feeding Louna, Mailia & Agathe twice daily. Wet and Dried food.

Feed Bosco – Once daily

Ensuring fresh water for all the animals.

Yard Work

Security of the Home & Mail Collection

We organised this sit in December 2017 knowing that we would be in France at the time when the owners required someone to look after their home and their lovely little rescue cat Grignotte. The name Grignotte in French means “to eat small amounts all day” and she certainly lived up to her name.

She was an extremely docile little girl who slept for the best part of the day. We were told by the owners that she would let you know what she wanted, by either standing at the door to go out or to come inside. She would place herself right in front of you sitting on the floor letting you know that it was time for her to eat. We found this very amusing as you could come out of the bathroom and there she was sitting there waiting for you!

The owner’s home was on a large block of land, well secured with beautiful huge trees and lovely gardens. The home was situated about 1km from the village of Octeville sur Mer itself and about 6kms from the port of Le Harve.

One of our responsibilities was to maintain a large vegetable garden which involved weeding, watering, pruning and removal of any fallen fruit or vegetable. We were lucky to enjoy an endless supply of tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, melons and grapes.

Around the property were lots of strawberry and raspberry plants and an apple tree which we also could pick the fruit from. Bruno enjoyed mowing the lawn each week with the ride on mower.

Responsibilities Included:

Feed/Water for Grignotte

Lawn Mowing/Watering Plants/Vege Garden

Mail Collection

Security of the Home

Jungle and Jack live with their little family in a small village backing onto the river La Vilaine. We were invited to dinner the night before the owners left for their holiday in the Ardeche and received the house keys and instructions as they were leaving early the next morning. We were to be their first experience with Housesitters.

Jungle and Jack are two very different cats with Jungle being the older of the two, quite shy and timid whereas Jack being the younger cat was still in kitten stage always up for playing and a little bit of mischief. To say they didn’t like each other was an understatement. They were fed two different types of dry food with you having to stand guard over Jungle’s food as Jack was forever trying to pinch her food prior to finishing his own. Both Jack and Jungle were easy care pets and we thoroughly enjoyed their company. The family had an above ground pool that we also maintained during our stay.

We enjoyed afternoon walks along the towpath of the river and it was nothing to look out the back door and see a canal boat either passing or moored right behind the house. The owners left details for surrounding places of interest and on the odd morning or afternoon we took ourselves off and discovered this to be a beautiful area of Brittany.

Responsibilities Included:
Feed/Water for Jack and Jungle
Lawn Mowing and Watering Plants
Mail Collection & Security
Pool Maintenance