We love to spoil pets, travel, meet new people, build new friendships, cook, and experience new places. Our native tongue is English, my husband speaks Italian, French and German and I have some Spanish that I'm working on improving as well as my Italian.
About Us: Molly & Riccardo (richard)
We jumped off the adventure cliff of house and pet sitting in April of 2019 and completed 9 house-pet-sits in England, Wales, Italy, British Columbia and Santa Fe, New Mexico and had planned on doing #10 in VT last summer before COVID stopped the world in its tracks. Once we've gotten the vaccine we will be back on the road.
Our first "sit" in Hunston, England was really special...which I know sounds pretty cheesy, but it really was a great experience with our hosts, their wonderful dog and kitty, and the friends and neighbors we met in their little village South of Chichester. Now, as professional nomads, we are taking advantage of the opportunity to travel and meet new people and explore new places while spoiling and caring for other people's pets.
Our stuff is in storage, we've got our car to help us get from point A to point Q (when in the States), and this way of experiencing the world is a pretty fabulous life. We used to have 2 wonderful kitties that people would pet-sit for us when we traveled. But now that they they're gone, we get our "pet fix" by taking care of other people's pets. We've taken care of puppies, old dogs, rowdy dogs, sleepy dogs and a deaf and blind dog who still loved to play and eat. Now that he's retired - my husband, not the dog - and I can work remotely, we have the freedom to travel the world and meet people and pets along the way. We've travelled extensively for work and for fun - Italy, France, Spain, Malta, Sweden, Finland, England & Argentina, to name a few - and we look forward to experiencing more and more of the world.
Why we want to house sit
While we love great hotels, there's a different perspective one gets when you are introduced to a new place (or return to a favorite spot) as part of the community. We've been lucky to stay with friends around the world and getting to know their friends, their neighborhoods and their favorite places to go changes how one experiences the city and country. It's an added-bonus when there are pets for us to pamper, the ability to cook with local ingredients, and if there's a chance for Molly to play in the dirt and do a little gardening, so much the better.
Our experience
The 9 house/pet sits we completed were through another site (it won't let us name it here but initials are TH). All reviews from our hosts have been very positive and we've been invited to return if the timing would work for both sides. We both grew up with dogs and/or cats and inherited 2 kitties from our daughter that we cherished for ~10 years. When the kitties were no longer with us, we became the "go to" full-service pet hotel for our friends' dogs. Some liked to go for long walks and to play catch for hours on end, others preferred just to sit in our laps or snuggle up with us on the couch.
Molly gardens and can organize the scariest of closets. Richard has renovated 3 houses and built 1. We're both pretty capable when it comes to doing basic maintenance-y things that houses and yards always require, including taking care of a pool and hot tub, but we know when to call those who know more than we do when necessary. We've also house & pet-sat for friends to make sure their home and animal-children are in good shape when they return from their short or long-term excursions.
Besides taking care of the home and pet(s), we like to keep our hosts updated during their trip. Pictures and texts are a pretty usual daily occurrence. We also leave the home in a very clean condition. It's important to have our hosts come home to a clean house, clean fridge, clean sheets and if they need, a re-stocked cupboard...and most importantly, a happy pet.