House/pet Sitters

[mita]

Our lad & his wife have been using pet sitters for a long time now. I'm not sure which website they've worked through, but they've been very pleased with the people they've had stay caring for the pets & house.

Only couple weeks ago, there was an emergency requiring that family to go to the city for medical treatment, covering several days.

They contacted the last couple who'd been their pet-sitters....& they were in a position to come stay.

[kja]

I use a house sitter whenever I go away, but I've always used a friend. I did have to rely on a friend of a friend one year for a few weeks as my original house sitter had to fly home unexpectedly with a family crisis. The new person couldn't move into the house, but did a fantastic job making sure my furries weren't bored or neglected. It worked just fine (and that friend of friend is now a friend).

[poochmad]

We are using house sitters for when we go overseas for 5 weeks this August. They are a retired couple who spend most of the year looking after houses and pets. We've emailed and spoken on the phone. They have police checks and references. I'd much rather the dogs have someone in the home to keep them company, give them individual attention, walk them and look after them, as well as looking after the house, then put them in a kennel. I didn't place an ad, I just looked through the ads and contacted the ones I liked.

[Tintin Jac]

Having a house sitter can be great.

For the last five years, we have gone away for two weeks after christmas.

We found house sitters on Happy Housesitters. The same family have been here for the last 4 years. Their references were easy to check as the parents are both school teachers. They love having a cheap holiday (they drive down from Sydney) where they have a home as a base and we love having someone look after the animals and the house. And it works out really good value for us too because we don't have to pay boarding fees. Our pets don't have the stress of going somewhere else for a while either.

I think housesitting wins hands down a long as you can get good references.

[Pretty Miss Emma]

I always use a house sitter. But it is someone I know and trust. If I can't get them to come I usually send dogs to go and have sleepovers with friends and have a neighbour come to feed/check the cats.

So far it's all worked. I have looked in to a kennel and there is only 1 or 2 that I would use and only if every other option had been exhausted!

[sheena]

We have got a regular housesitter through Aussiehousesitters.com & the dogs love them. Highly recommend this site. I originally put an add in for free & had a dozen or so to choose from. Now the same ones come back every time for us

[Aetherglow]

I usually have a friend pet sit for me who charges me ridiculously low rates and practically moves into the house to lavish attention on Tarja and the cats, and she usually does a big clean on the last day as well so I come home to a lovely neat house. She's more of a neat freak than I am :) Once in an emergency I had Lonely Pets Club do two daily visits for a week, but it was definitely not my preferred option as even with two visits daily that would still only have been a little bit of contact and attention and I suspect walks would have been very short. I couldn't get them all into a kennel/cattery on the very short notice I had before going away that time and my friend was unavailable, so it was really my only option, and I certainly wouldn't do it for a longer time than that, either.

I used to do long house minding and pet sitting stints for family friends when I was a student still living at home, and even after I started work until I moved into my own place. It can work out well for everyone - so long as the student is reliable and not prone to throwing big parties they win by getting away from the family home for a while, and the owner has someone looking after the house for cheap or free. I'd only do this with someone I knew well and trusted, though.

[MrsD]

Having a house sitter would work out much cheaper for us when we go away overseas every couple of years but not many people are capable of or keen to look after 4 high drive working dogs .

I make myself feel better by telling myself that in kennels at least they are safe & can't escape!

[OSoSwift]

A dog is alone all day in a kennel anyway, in a cage mind you, alone from breakfast until dinner with heaps of others dogs barking and whining and with MAYBE an short grass break.. to me that is not a great experience.

REally, not sure about the kennels you go to but I know of only one like that, the rest are excellent

[juice]

I think this thread was bumped to get someone's business pushed ;) i started it last year.

I ended up going the kennel option, having a bull breed i was concerned about her getting out or being walked by someone who didn't appreciate how careful you have to be theses days.

They were fine for 5 weeks, all came back fat and happy :D

[OSoSwift]

Ahhh so it was :D

[Tintin Jac]

Oops! I didn't notice the dates.