We looked after Arthur and his sister Alize back in 2016. A few weeks before we were due to arrive we received the very sad news from their owner that Alize had been euthanised due to incurable cancer. It goes unsaid that her owners were devastated and with very heavy hearts we arrived to look after Arthur.

We returned to a very different little dog. Arthur was obviously grieving for Alize and had developed some feeding issues and was very quiet and withdrawn. We never left him alone the whole time we were on the sit with him coming everywhere we went. Armed with all of our passports including Arthurs, we even did a day trip across the border to Spain. 

He is such a well-behaved boy and was no trouble at all. Even allowing you to brush his teeth daily with his liver flavoured toothpaste!
Because of his feeding issues he ate small amounts throughout the day. We were very happy to do this and even tried to make it different for him with a bit of scatter feeding.
Once again, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Argeles with morning and afternoon walks to the village. Taking Arthur to the café where he was always was greeted with a treat and a fresh bowl of water.

We did a handover to other sitters taking over from us. This is the second time we have done so and thoroughly enjoyed their company sharing a meal the night before our departure and sharing our housesitting experiences. These sitters also know Arthur well and have looked after him with Alize before. We felt very confident driving off the following morning leaving Arthur in their very capable hands.

Original Sit: 1st September – 23rd September 2016

Responsibilities Included:
Feed/Water for Arthur
Lots of Cuddles/Brushing Arthurs Teeth
Daily Walks / Playtime
Lawn Care/Watering of Plants
Mail Collection
Security of the Hom

We arranged this sit while we were in Calabria Italy visiting family at the beginning of our 6 months stay in Europe. We were to have in our care Hutch & Gotskey – 2 Cane Corsos a breed that we had actually never heard of let alone sat before. To our surprise they were very large dogs even bigger than how they looked in their photos. It didn’t take us long to realise that we had 2 large softies on our hands. Hutch had this habit that when you were in the yard he would come and sit on your foot. Both dogs loved being with you and we, though wary at first due to their size, grew very fond of this big boy and girl!

At the other end of the scale we had Luciole a very lively 6-month-old kitten. Hutch and Gotskey were outside dogs and had the run of the property which was quite large and well fenced. We both walked the dogs daily taking one each on the lead. The owners had instructed us to be mindful of other dogs as particularly Gotskey had the potential to be aggressive. Thankfully this was not an issue.

Luciole proved to be very entertaining as most kittens are. She was an inside cat who was allowed to venture outside onto the front patio. Gotskey and Hutch had a barrier to prevent them coming up onto the patio and each day we found Luciole getting braver and braver with where she would venture to. One day we went outside to see both Gotskey and Hutch having bailed her up at the barrier. We think both sides were a bit unsure as to what to make of each other.

The owners also had a large vegetable garden to be watered daily and we were very fortunate to be able to have fresh vegetables at hand each day.
The home was situated between Aix en Provence and Marseille and we were able to visit some of the interesting towns around the area.

Responsibilities Included:
Feed/Water Gotskey, Hutch, Luciole
Daily Walks / Playtime
Daily Watering All Gardens      Mail Collection & Security

We had skyped with the owners before leaving Australia for Italy and as the camera was not working from their end we were unable to see Lizzie and Mia and also where we would be sitting. We were pleasantly surprised on our arrival to find that this beautiful and very private home was only one stop from the centre of Florence. At the owners suggestion this allowed us to take ourselves off either morning or afternoon for a few hours to explore the area.

We have found that as with most of the pets we have had in our care, Lizzie had no problem with her owners leaving. I think it has something to do with leaving someone to feed them. Lizzie required a daily walk and this was mainly in the local park as the streets were busy and the footpaths narrow. She loved her walks and was well behaved with other dogs. We also had to administer ear drops when required and treat some hot spots with her prescribed cream. She slept at the foot of our bed each night and apart from the odd night of snoring was not a bad roomie! She had a beautiful big yard to explore but apart from her walk each day preferred to laze around and receive lots of attention and cuddles.

Mia was a different story – she is a very shy little calico cat and for the first few days we only knew that she was still there due to her food bowl being emptied at night. One day I noticed the cupboard door open slightly and this is where she had been hiding for those few days. That did change and we were pleased that for the remainder of the sit she felt comfortable enough to come out of hiding, stick to her normal routine of things and actually stay around us. She did have her water bowl but she preferred to drink from the bathroom taps.

We first started our communication with the homeowner in March when we were still in Australia. This was  prior to leaving for Europe in May. We were spending time in Calabria, Italy with family when the owner contacted us with confirmed dates as these were still having to be decided due to medical appointments. Being close to the crossing to Sicily we were happy to accept the sit.

We had in our care Hoover & Sophie – 2 rescue dogs and Clementina & Braccobaldo the two cats. And of course, their lovely home which was situated high on a mountain with amazing views over Siracusa/Ortigia.

We arrived in the afternoon the day before the owners left and were taken around and shown all of the local facilities which we might need during our stay. This was wonderful as where the home was situated was a little remote. As there was no rubbish collection we had the option to go to several disposal points and these also were pointed out to us. We then went back to the home to a lovely home cooked meal.

This was another sit where “expect the unexpected” applied. We had in our care Max the Labrador and halfway into the sit Max lost his “chief walker” in Bruno after he had a fall and fractured his fibula. It could only be described as one of those sliding door moments when making the decision to do the long walk home resulted in Bruno slipping on wet grass on a slope. The next six weeks were then spent in a moon boot & crutches and resting for that time. We were very careful to follow the doctor’s orders as we had a flight booked to Europe within seven weeks. This meant we had one week to spare after the moon boot was discarded. Gail then became the sole walker of Max.

Max is just a delightful dog and once again very typical of the breed loving his food and walks. St Lucia is a leafy inner-city suburb of Brisbane and we were very lucky to be one street from the Brisbane River and the golf course. There were great walks along the river and around/through the golf course which we went on twice daily. At one stage we also had to take Max to his vet as he had developed a limp. Thankfully this was nothing serious and cleared within a few days of rest.

We were contacted by the owner through Aussie Housesitters to see if we would be interested in pet and housesitting for them. As we were in between sits we said yes to the opportunity to travel to the Blue Mountains NSW area. We met with the owners the day before they left in order to pick up keys and to be given the instructions with regards to pet care etc. We were to be their first housesitters. They say ‘expect the unexpected” when housesitting – well we certainly didn’t expect to have two missing dogs within the first few hours of our arrival! We arrived the following morning and after some ball play with the dogs we needed to go grocery shopping.

We left three dogs and came home to one! Panic stations. Jake is the owners dog so therefore was left inside and Mia and Toby were their son’s dogs and as per their instructions were to be left outside in their fully fenced yard if we were to go out.  Bruno immediately started searching the streets – asking workmen and the postman along the way had they seen the dogs. I rang two of the vet practices in the area explaining our predicament and whether they had been handed in to them – they hadn’t. I then rang the animal shelter in the area who noted their descriptions and would phone if they were handed into them. We rang the contact person we had been given and they in turn phoned the owner who then phoned me to say not to worry they knew the area and they were sure that they would return. This did not reassure our anxiety level unfortunately as the house was situated on the main highway. I also registered on the local lost and found website and within minutes someone had also posted a photo of the dogs wandering around the local school asking did anyone know who they belonged to?

Responsibilities Included:
Feed/Water for Jake, Toby and Mia
Ball Play for all three dogs
Morning feed  George every 2nd day
Tank Maintenance for George
Feeding the Koi in outside fish ponds
Mail Collection
Security of the Home

This was an incredibly sad ending to having looked after such a beautiful and gentle dog. We feel very privileged to have been part of Bella’s care. We also were looking after Freya – the owner had warned us that we would only be able to feed her as she had quite an erratic personality. I refer to Bruno as the “Cat Whisperer” and true to form he was able to get the odd pat in before she lashed out. Poor Freya with all that was going on it was just food, litter change and the odd pat!

Charlie Brown and Schroeder are very well trained and were a pleasure to look after. Each boy has a very different personality and are the best of friends with Charlie Brown being the older of the two.

They are fed a very specific diet of kangaroo meat and kibble and their food needed to be measured and weighed each feed. They also received a treat of a pig’s ear and frozen chicken leg each day.
The home is situated on acreage overlooking a valley and is close to a river. From the back deck each afternoon we had some beautiful sunsets! We were able to take the boys to the river for a swim and each day we drove into town to go to the dog park for a little bit of social activity for them both.

It was Charlie Brown’s birthday while we were there and for a treat we went to the beach. They also scored their favourite treat of some hot chips (these are not given very often only as a rare treat – a tip given to us by the owners) Both dogs just love the water and Charlie Brown loves to retrieve a ball.

The owners also feed the native birds and each day we had an assortment of these beautiful birds arrive. On this sit, we were very mindful of water usage as home is on acreage outside of town.

We house sat for the owners and had in our care their much loved pets Tilly – Collie/Lab X & Ebony and Cleo their 2 cats while they took a week’s break in Fiji. The home was situated in a gated community backing onto the river in Helensvale.

Ebony and Cleo were both gentle cats, Ebony could be found most days lounging on her chair and Cleo spent her time, apart from when she ate in her owner’s cupboard. This is something that we were told that she also does with her owners. During our stay the owners were having the NBN installed and being a gated community we were able to give access to the home at the designated appointment times for this to happen. 

Daily Routine Included:
Food & Water for Tilly, Ebony & Cleo
Daily Walk for Tilly
Mail Collection Security of Home
Yard Maintenance

He is a lovely boy but is not a fan of being nursed and is very independent. We had to be extremely careful not to allow him out as he had an arch enemy in a neighbours cat who would delight at sitting in Sampson’s yard just as if to torment him. You always knew when this cat was about due to the amount of hissing going on!