In November 2023 we were taking our first vacation in quite awhile- a weekend trip to Seattle and we were talking about how we could manage to do a bit more travelling. We had heard of pet sitting or housesitting in exchange for accommodation and had talked about doing it as an opportunity to vacation on a budget. We love animals and travel so this just made sense.
A month later, one of us said it out loud…what if we could do this full time? And the crazy idea quickly became reality. We switched to working remotely, and started booking pet sits. By February and March we had pet sits lined up back to back, and were only in our rental for a whole 3 days over both months. Realizing that worked out to paying $1000/night to stay in our 450 square foot condo (thanks metro Vancouver prices), we gave our notice and set off to our next pet sit with all of our belongings tetris packed into the car.
We have had the privilege so far of staying in beautiful properties in Washington, the BC lower mainland, the Okanagon(BC), London (UK) and southern Germany with furry companions that always steal our hearts.
This blog is a way to document these adventures, inspire others, keep our worried families updated, and share some hilarious (and sometimes messy) tales of our four-legged (and occasionally two-legged – 🐔!) friends around the world.
To start with, here is a list of things I had no idea would be such a prominent part of my vocabulary in 2024.
“No, no! Don’t pee on your sister/brother!!!”
“C’mon, eat your dinner. Mmmm look at how good it looks. Mimics chewing sounds. C’mon honey, come eat it.”
“No! Poo is not for eating!”
“You want to go for a walk?” (insert bouncing, spinning, tail wagging and/or barking)
“Whoops, sorry to walk in on you, I’ll clean the litter box later.”
“C’mon, let’s go for a walk. It's good for you! C’mon, lets go” (Yes, some dogs need to be coaxed to go on walks!)
“We are down to only 2 poo bags?” Danger territory!
Insert cringey high pitched voice: “Who’s a good (dog/cat/girl/boy/name)??!! YOU are, you’re the best!” (Said to every single animal)
“You’re having another poo??! “
“Can you please not swat my hair!”
“Don’t eat your (siblings) food” (turns out this applies to horses as well)
“C’mon go pee!”! (Picture me standing by the door in my pajamas shivering while the dog gallavants around the yard for 15 minutes).
“Ow your claws!!!”
“Sorry I can’t move (animal name) is sleeping on me.”
Gotta go, 2 dogs need a w-a-l-k!
Harmony