Do you have sleepless nights worrying about what you’re going to do with your pets when you go away on holiday or simply for a long weekend?
If you do, have you considered getting a house-sitter? And if you’ve thought of this option how do you go about it? Some people may have told you horror stories of kennels that stressed their pets out or even tales of neighbours unfilled promises or drop in day pet sitters that didn’t work out at all. The things you need to consider when going away is what will work for you and your beloved pet? A house-sitter may be just what ‘the doctor ordered’.
WHY WE STARTED HOUSE & PET SITTING
When my Dad got ill and had to have a prolonged stay in Dudwell St Mary’s nursing home in Etchingham, my husband and I used to spend hours driving to and from Farnham to see him. Sometimes we would book accommodation which soon became very expensive over the months.
In 2012, we started looking after dogs at our own home in Farnham via barkingmad.com. In September 2018, we decided to go from looking after dogs in our own home, to pet sitting in other peoples homes. We were hoping for house-sitting opportunities in East Sussex and surrounds, and we have so far been lucky to get these quite often. We’ve stayed in Tunbridge Wells, Heathfield and other lovely places which has enabled us to see dad quite a lot which is great.
We started off fairly local, and enjoyed it thoroughly, both the opportunity to look after someone else’s pets and trying out their home and surrounds. Even though it wasn’t far from our home it still felt completely different and the walks and dog were superb. So we jumped right in and we now do this quite a number of months a year, just so long as we can continue to work from their homes. We don’t charge and this service, which is fairly normal, although I friends think we’re mad, as the idea is one of collaboration, we get your home and you get our services looking after your pets and home.
SO WHAT DO YOU NEED TO CONSIDER WHEN GETTING A FREE PET SITTER?
Do the people you are talking to about house and pet sitting have the following qualities:
ARE THEY PET LOVERS?
Do the people you’re considering for the job have previous experience of looking after animals, both domestic pets and farm animals – if this is required and do they naturally love animals of all kinds?
Will they know what to do in an emergency? We have both trained in dog first aid which is very useful knowledge to have Are they local or are they travelling from far away – could they get delayed and can you deal with this?
Labrador heaven for Ella 
Eadie Rockets 
Lettice 
Hector the lively Lagotto Romagna 
Bailey loves balls
29 Feb 2020
SLEEPLESS NIGHTS WORRYING ABOUT YOUR PETS WHEN PLANNING HOLIDAYS?
Do you have sleepless nights worrying about what you’re going to do with your pets when you go away on holiday or simply for a long weekend?
If you do, have you considered getting a house-sitter? And if you’ve thought of this option how do you go about it? Some people may have told you horror stories of kennels that stressed their pets out or even tales of neighbours unfilled promises or drop in day pet sitters that didn’t work out at all. The things you need to consider when going away is what will work for you and your beloved pet? A house-sitter may be just what ‘the doctor ordered’.
WHY WE STARTED HOUSE & PET SITTING
When my Dad got ill and had to have a prolonged stay in Dudwell St Mary’s nursing home in Etchingham, my husband and I used to spend hours driving to and from Farnham to see him. Sometimes we would book accommodation which soon became very expensive over the months.
In 2012, we started looking after dogs at our own home in Farnham via barkingmad.com. In September 2018, we decided to go from looking after dogs in our own home, to pet sitting in other peoples homes. We were hoping for house-sitting opportunities in East Sussex and surrounds, and we have so far been lucky to get these quite often. We’ve stayed in Tunbridge Wells, Heathfield and other lovely places which has enabled us to see dad quite a lot which is great.
We started off fairly local, and enjoyed it thoroughly, both the opportunity to look after someone else’s pets and trying out their home and surrounds. Even though it wasn’t far from our home it still felt completely different and the walks and dog were superb. So we jumped right in and we now do this quite a number of months a year, just so long as we can continue to work from their homes. We don’t charge and this service, which is fairly normal, although I friends think we’re mad, as the idea is one of collaboration, we get your home and you get our services looking after your pets and home.
SO WHAT DO YOU NEED TO CONSIDER WHEN GETTING A FREE PET SITTER?
Do the people you are talking to about house and pet sitting have the following qualities:
ARE THEY PET LOVERS?
Do the people you’re considering for the job have previous experience of looking after animals, both domestic pets and farm animals – if this is required and do they naturally love animals of all kinds?
Will they know what to do in an emergency? We have both trained in dog first aid which is very useful knowledge to have Are they local or are they travelling from far away – could they get delayed and can you deal with this?
• It’s a well known fact that the most popular sitters love animals and may have previously had pets of their own, a lot of pet sitters use the opportunity to travel the world seeing places whilst getting free accommodation
ARE THEY TRUST WORTHY AND WILLING TO COLLABORATE WITH YOU?
Is the prospective house-sitter happy to chat to you on Skype or WhatsApp so you can see what they are like? And visa versa.
Do they have references on the website your looking at – trustedhousesitters.com
offers the opportunity to review the sitters as well as the home owners, so it’s a two way street
Are they able to be flexible with their plans to help you to care for your pets and your beloved home?
Are they willing to water the garden or collect the post and deal with emergencies
We usually suggest that we arrive the day prior to the owner leaving, this is for the animals to get used to us before the owners leave and we also often stay a day later in case of delayed flights too, which has in fact happened to us previously
DO THEY LOVE EXPLORING NEW AREAS?
• Will the pet sitter enjoy discovering your area, and if so are you able to give them local maps and pointers to the best pubs and restaurants in the local area? So that the house-sitter can live-like-a-local
WORKING INDEPENDENTLY
• Do your pet-sitters need wi-fi to be able to work and if so is yours high-speed?
AND WHAT DOES A PROSPECTIVE PET SITTER WANT FROM US?
• All a pet sitter usually asks for is – a clean home and dog, clean and comfortable bed, a pet inventory to tell you about the pets and home, some foods to start them off and some information about the area around the home and walks if it’s dogs they are taking care of.
WHERE WILL YOU FIND A HOUSE AND PET SITTER?
Look at trustedhousesitters.com or nomador.com to get your sitters, we personally are registered with both and also have our own website WoofWoofAway.com, there are other websites too, but as we haven’t tried them we are unable to recommend them to you. Wish you luck with your travels and pet sitters.