Ally @ Pawshake

Just an update to this for the record - Pawshake is now backed by insurance from Lloyd's of London. And our deductible is pretty excellent compared to our competitors. ;) https://www.pawshake.com.au/insurance

At the risk of tooting my own horn, Pawshake has some great sitters in the Campbelltown area. TJ in Harrington Park has a menagerie and is always open to adding a few more for a couple days. :) https://www.pawshake.com.au/petsitters/sydney/out-dogs-harrington-park-2567-near-camden-36643

Hiya! I dog sit for a 6mo pet English Springer regularly, so I'm not an owner but I can hopefully tell you a bit about one girl's temperament! Grooming - she barely sheds. Occasionally a few stray hairs will come off during a really good pat but nothing you can't blow off. I actually can't find a brush in Lotus' doggy stuff so who knows if she even has one... Trainability - We almost mastered fetch and drop with a tennis ball in one afternoon (drop is the tricky one). Lotus is motivated by play (rather than food) so she is relatively easy to train and reward. Energy Levels - Highish. Lotus doesn't really sleep during the day, she just sits and reluctantly waits for me to finish whatever I'm doing that doesn't involve playing with her. When walking she is a terrible puller as she has to be everywhere and smell everything. She gets really stroppy when it's time to go for walks because of this, and will playfully run away from me when I bring the gentle leader harness out, and lay on the ground moping or smooshing her face against things when it's put on. Work in progress with that one! Noise - I have never known Lotus to bark at anything aside from once or twice during really boisterous play! She's also not a whiner. Very quiet dog... not good as a guard dog at all! ;)

Thanks so much - these are great and I won't feel like I'm interrupting Lotus' training from her mum in the process. The key is to stay calm I suppose, which is difficult when you're in pain! I am in the process of teaching her fetch and drop it. She didn't have any balls previously - only squeaky toys - but she picked up a rogue tennis ball on our last walk and really enjoyed it, so I will add a ball to our play from now on. :) Luckily (or unluckily?) she's a very smart pup so I don't think it should be too much longer until she realises what's what. Question that probably should be in another thread: does desexing affect energy levels in any way? Lotus is also the first dog I've known that wasn't already desexed, and she had the big op two weeks ago.

I'm having a problem with this currently too - a 6mo Springer Spaniel I dog sit regularly nips sharply when excited, and occasionally doesn't let go when she grabs a finger. It's pretty painful and my arms and legs are covered in bite bruises! I've never had a nipper before so I don't really know what to do aside from shoving a toy in her mouth instead. I've started just carrying toys around in my pockets all the time...

Aww happy tears! I dogsit a Springer and she's such a sweetie (if a bit nippy). Love the Kelpie roundup too.

Awesome - thanks so much guys for mentioning Delta. Their office is actually just near me in Summer Hill so hopefully I can find out more and see if my company Pawshake would like to be affiliated with them!

Thanks so much for mentioning us! I manage the Australian branch of Pawshake and I really believe that finding a perfect pet sitter through our site is a much nicer experience for puppies and parents. The idea of leaving precious babies locked in a kennel in a strange place is sort of upsetting, and whenever I mention my job, people bring up kennel horror stories () and are SO glad to hear of a local friendly alternative. If anyone's still on this thread, feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about our service.

How lovely is this? Anyone know of any similar programs in other areas? http://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/south/pets-are-proving-to-be-a-real-winner-at-aged-care-facilities-across-brisbane/story-fni9r1nj-1227182425024 Pets are proving to be a real winner at aged care facilities across Brisbane January 13, 2015 1:10am PETS of all shapes and sizes are helping to enhance the lives and wellbeing of aged care residents across ­Brisbane. At TriCare Jindalee Aged Care Residence, the facility encourages residents to interact with pets, including dogs, budgies, chickens and guinea pigs. TriCare Jindalee Aged Care have animals on-site and that visit patients to boost residents' mood and improve wellbeing. Graham Enslow cares for chickens at the residence. Photo by Sarah Keayes The powerful difference the human-animal bond can make is evident at the facility where dementia sufferer Graham Enslow (above) cares for chickens and Lilian ­Carmichael bonds with Norah the labradoodle. Facility manager Paul MacDonald said the residents absolutely loved interacting with animals. “It helps reduce anxiety and puts a smile on their faces,” he said. The Animal Welfare League Australia (AWLA) last year announced a new small grants program to deliver $10,000 funding to support pets in aged care settings. While a number of aged care facilities have shared pets for the companionship of all residents and staff, the Pets in Aged Care Grants program has been developed to support and maintain the existing bonds between aged care residents and their individual pets. It provides residents with the practical means to cover costs for the likes of vet bills, grooming, dog walking, feeding or making minor modifications to living quarters to enable live-in ­arrangements. Funding may also allow for a carer to help. Visit awla.com.au for more information.

One more thing! The only issue we've had with our bookings so far is one situation where a doggy client broke a lamp in the pet sitter's home (doggy was okay! Lamp was not). If anything like this happens we're happy to help out. Currently it's best to discuss potential issues directly with your chosen pet sitter, and have written out a detailed emergency guideline for your boys so that if anything does happen, you're all prepared. I have a whole bunch of guides written up in regards to this if you wanted to check them out on our blog. Time for a cup of tea now, I think. Have a lovely day! :D Ally

Hi Joanne (and Tom!) Full disclosure - I'm the Australian representative for Pawshake. ;) I live in Sydney and started out as a Pawshake pet sitter before joining their admin team. Apologies it's taken so long for me to find this post! I hope your booking has been sorted either way. Mel and Lawrence sound like great Pawshake sitters if they're offering a reference and contract, so thank you for mentioning them. I'll keep an eye out for their profile. It's true that currently Pawshake does not offer insurance, however as we've only been active for a few months in Australia this is something we're working towards at the moment. What we do recommend in its stead is a meet and greet - any where you like - so that you and the potential pet sitter can discuss your pet's routine and your home, and exchange contact details and important information. Even after the meetup, there's no obligation to book with a pet sitter if you're still unsure about letting a relative stranger mind your beautiful boys! It's understandable - I had a little trepidation booking my first Pawshake sitter to mind my cat Tiger at our home, but he treated our house beautifully (even washing the dishes we left!) and Tiger seemed pretty happy when we returned. Of course every pet sitter and situation is unique but hopefully if you do end up booking through Pawshake you'll have a pet sitter who is equally as loving and careful. I guess what Pawshake is aiming to foster is a community where pet lovers - whether they own pets or not - can gather and scratch one another's backs. We've got a fair few professionals signed up to the site who use Pawshake to boost their bookings, but most of us are just animal lovers who want to help out (and get as many pats and licky kisses as we can in the process). Just a note that the admin team does check every profile and you can see at a glance how the Pawshake team has verified their identity, be it through phone call, email, SMS or Facebook. I hope that helps! Feel free to private message me and I can provide more information and my phone number if you'd like to chat - this message board is great so I'm keen to hang around! (Oh - and we also have a staff member in Melbourne if you'd like to meet up with her! Her name is Jess, she lives in Carlton and she's absolutely lovely.) Best, Ally