House Sitters

[Snickals]

Has anyone used a house sitter before? Or have any recommendations for reputable websites?

Normally my mother looks after my pets for us but is thinking about joining us this time. I don't have the heart to put them in a kennel (they are a 'little' spoilt) so figure a house sitter might be a good option.

 

[becpee]

I used a housesitter, it's a friend I work with.

I'm using one again this time, my sister's housesitter, she's rapt to have free Foxtel for 5 weeks

 

[hellosue]

Has anyone used a house sitter before? Or have any recommendations for reputable websites? Normally my mother looks after my pets for us but is thinking about joining us this time. I don't have the heart to put them in a kennel (they are a 'little' spoilt) so figure a house sitter might be a good option.

I am using a house sitter this time too, a friend used a service called 'happy house sitters' so all good so far have met her and she has met our pets. All booked and making contact each month just to be sure. Good luck!

 

[dabecs]

We are using the same house sitters we used last trip, a retired couple who live in Scotland! She is an Aussie, he is British and they took great care of our dog and house last trip. They come to Australia every few years to see family and they house sit for a few months.

We have a whippet who suffers some separation anxiety, so the idea of putting him in a kennel seemed so cruel. He was very content to be in his own space and bonded with our sitters really well.

I used a service (Aussie sitters or a similar name) and the couple gave me references whom I rang. The lady was an Australian Federal Police officer before retiring so I felt pretty safe. It was a big leap of faith because I didn't meet them in person till the day they arrived and we left!

 

[zanzibar138]

We have a go to house-sitter who minds the dogs, cats and the house for us. She's a student who does it as extra income, so there is a small charge, but it's soooooooooooo much less than the cost of putting them in kennels! Plus, we don't have to worry about the cats either. She won't come when it's high fire danger because of the area we live in, but that tends to work ok for us since we don't generally go away during summer.

We originally asked DH's friend who works with dogs for a living whether he does dog-sitting. He didn't, but he recommended this girl for us, and she's been pretty good. I would always prefer word of mouth, and would struggle with the idea of leaving a 'stranger' in charge. Our dogs are pretty high energy and in your face though, and have been known to turn on each other when there is no 'alpha', so we really need someone who loves and can handle dogs.

 

[BecBennett]

I'm always a fan of it being someone you know. We've had my aunty, who had just moved to Australia and hadn't gotten a job yet, so she was happy to head inland for a few weeks for us, and my brother.

DH used to housesit when he was over 18, but still living with his parents. If you know anyone who fits that description, and that you trust not to throw parties, then I'd ask them

 

[FireflyFi]

I used a house sitter last time as my brother had just moved to a new development and I didn't trust my dog to not escape. I found her on Aussie House Sitters (and there are a few other websites like it out there). Even though I only needed someone for two weeks, I had lots of people applying.

It wasn't all smooth sailing though. I met the girl I ended up trusting my house and dog to twice, and she had all the references and everything, but I still panicked for the first couple of days. I couldn't get in contact with her (I forgot to leave her my wifi password....) and so there were a few hours of frantic international call enabled public phone hunting while in Osaka. When I finally got a hold of her, all was fine (of course!). But then, two days before I was due home, I got an email to say that my dog had been attacked while out on a walk oh man, did I feel like a guilty mum...I was already winding down from the trip at this point, and wanting to go home, but add this worry to the mix and I was becoming desperate.

The sitter was very good, she chased away the attacking dog and rushed mine to the emergency vet. She picked up the bill and I reimbursed her when I got home. The dog was fine, but she had some pretty messy bite wounds and staples in her back.

I'm not sure I'd do it again. A couple of elements to the story the sitter told didn't quite add up, and the actual experience made me think - you can hand over your keys to someone, and they could say that they're going to be there to keep your house / dog company, but are they really? I got photos every couple of days of my dog, so I know she was there in the middle of the time, but at the beginning...? Who knows.

But then I also don't know if I could trust a kennel. And finding someone within your circle who is old enough and responsible enough to look after a house and animals, but without all the commitments that they can move in and look after yours for a few weeks is tough!

 

[zanzibar138]

FWIW there are some very good kennels out there. We found one for our last trip when we were unable to get our usual house-sitter.

I was quite nervous because one of our dogs is very um... expressive when he's excited or anxious, and the other one was a rescue who had spent a month in the pound (yes, his time was up) and I didn't want the experience to bring back any memories of that.

Our dogs shared the 'penthouse' suite, which was basically a small lounge room with furniture and a TV, dog beds, plenty of toys, and an attached small yard so they could be outside as much as they wanted. The staff were wonderful with them, were obviously real dog lovers. They had hours of activity each day, some social play time with the other dogs there, some individual game time playing fetch, going for walks, or swimming in the onsite doggie pool. The staff even made a card to give to us when we picked them up, which had photos of the dogs enjoying themselves and they looked so happy!

I'd happily leave them there for every trip, but it's just not financially viable for us. We paid more for their accommodation than we did for most of ours

But I just wanted to put it out there that kennels can be great if you find the right one.

 

[carlnlisa]

Usually we just get my Mum to look after our dogs and collect our mail but she has moved so next time we are going to get my nephew who will be 20 he is very strict and does not believe in blowing his money on drinking so I just hope that doesn't change when we are away and he turns our house into a party house my BIL used to do house sitting and the it was all very straightforward with the owners of the house picking who I think they can trust, plus I have heard many good stories. Basically the sitters need you to give them top reviews or they may not be picked again so most go above and beyond when looking after your house.