We have sat for Chewy’s owner seven times now in their beautiful home. Chewy is a two-year-old Cavoodle playful, cuddly, entertaining and just a joy to be with.

Chewy’s home is a short walk to Oxford Street and to the Brisbane River with it’s riverfront walks. He loves being out and about and we also enjoyed exploring the area with him morning and early evening. Chewy is brought inside at dusk due to possums being active from dusk to dawn. He has his last toilet break just before his bedtime. Bed is in his little porta cot which he happily takes himself off to when we ourselves are heading to bed.

Previous Sits: 12 Nov to 14 Nov 2021 – 10 Dec to 12 Dec 2021 – 31 Dec to 06 Jan 2022 – 04 Apr to 6 Apr 2022 – 07 Jul to 23 Jul 2022 – 19 Sept to 21 Sept 2022

This is our 7th sit with Lexus and it is now over 18 months since our 1st – she is still receiving her twice daily injections and is going strong. We have grown very attached to this little girl and even look forward to our early morning wakeup call.

Prior to this sit, back in June 2022 we had some additions to her care, namely daily insulin injections and monitoring. Both were new to us, but we felt that it was an opportunity to learn about feline diabetes and pet injections. We were very grateful that Lexus’s caring owners have had her fitted with a glucose monitor. We had access to her vet at all times via text messages and were able to send her readings through on a morning/evening basis. We have sat Lexus now several times after being accepted to look after her and their lovely home back in June 2021. She is an older pet, so gentle in nature and most days is just happy to lay on her bed venturing off to eat and drink.

While looking after Lexus on our first sit with her we noticed that she was drinking an unusual amount of water and using her litter tray more frequently. We queried this with her owner and it was decided that we would take her to her vet just to have her checked over. We, and her owners were very glad that we did as she was then diagnosed with feline diabetes. We were a few days out from the end of the sit and when Lexus’s owners returned they were able to get her insulin levels right with daily injections.

We were so happy to be invited back by Lexus’s owners to be looking after her again. We found a very different little girl this time round with her being well and not sick. She became our little shadow and where we sat she came to do so also. Lexus is an early riser and a favourite time of the day for me was getting to sit with her in one of the areas in the garden and watch the day begin. We have been invited back again and are hoping that we are available to look after her.

Previous Sits: 21 Oct to 25 Oct 2021 – 03 to 21 June 2021 – 16 to 21 Feb 2022 – 07 to 16 Jun 2022 – 12 Oct to 19 October 2022 – 5th Jul to 12 Jul 2023 – 22nd Feb to 29 Feb 2023 – 04 to 09 Oct 2023 – 20 Feb to 01 Mar 2024 – 13 Nov to 21 Nov 2024

With Bruno and I splitting he stayed in Norman Park with Nugget and Tiesto for ten days while I was in Carrara on the Gold Coast with Alfie & Bailey. Both owners were agreeable for us to do so. The owners of Nugget had described him as gentle, obedient and loyal and this is exactly was he was. Nugget is 8 years old and was very content to go for his daily lap around the park, eat, snooze and spend time on the front deck with us. It was slightly amusing watching people’s reactions when walking towards them with this beautiful boy. Tiesto is a pretty little girl and was just as easy to look after and spent most of her time asleep in her spot on the lounge or could be found on her chair near the kitchen.

Nugget is not a big fan of storms and large gatherings. Living across from a beautiful park we found that a lot of balloon popping birthday parties were in full swing most weekends. For these times Nugget felt safer and more comfortable either in his space downstairs or close by to us. We were very lucky to have back up in a neighbour who had also owned a Bull Mastiff and knew Nugget well.

We were approached by the family of two different owners (that we have previously sat for) and decided that we would split to do both of their sits. We were to be first time sitters for them both and this had me stay in Carrara with Alfie & Bailey and Bruno going to Norman Park to care for Nugget & Tiesto. Once again with Covid still alive and well, a lock down was called and the owners left a day early with me arriving on the next. We feel that with house sitting, being able to be flexible is very important and now during these uncertain times more so than ever.

As it was school holidays and with the owner’s permission I was able to spend time at the house with my grandson. He has a beautiful rescue greyhound himself and is no stranger to dogs. Alfie and Bailey didn’t seem to mind all of the extra attention either. They were both very easy to care for and I enjoyed my stay with these two a lot, with them being great company for each other and for me.

We feel very lucky to have been chosen to look after Poppy who is a 2 year old Cavoodle living in a beautiful apartment in Surfers Paradise. We were able to visit with Poppy and her owner prior to the sit. Poppy has been well trained by her owner and she has personality plus! A well known little celebrity in her apartment complex and she is forever being stopped for a pat or pickup cuddle.

Poppy traveled well in the car and came with us on many outings. She also loves a ball game and after many throws understood that “no more Pop” meant the game was over. Living in an apartment means that we took her down for toilet breaks and she was always so good with that. There is beautiful garden areas within the complex and we had access to the beach at all times. There were two things that Poppy didn’t like and they were any animal on the TV and other dogs being on HER beach!

Contemplating life at Sunrise!

We met with Dave and his little crew prior to the sit and arrived mid morning of the day of his departure. After a run through of his notes he was on his way. In Dave’s words: “Jazz and George are mini foxies, about 14 years old. Jazz is rather deaf and a little vision impaired. She is also quite anxious and often shakes, but she is a happy dog and will usually hover nearby and keep you company. George is super friendly, loves constant cuddles and is a sook. Belle is a furry friendly fat cat, who has never scratched anyone. She occasionally gets a urinary inflammation if stressed which is relieved by simple medication”. Thankfully we feel that Belle was comfortable with us and never needed this medication.

The three pets were very easy care and we enjoyed our time staying in Dave’s lovely country home in Boonah. Jazz, George & Belle are very much into a routine and I suppose this makes for an easy transition from owners to sitters as they all seemed very happy and contented to be with us. We had daily walks with them and also had some time out to explore the beautiful area.

We were able to coordinate with the owners of the sit that we were on in Annerley to leave one day early in order for Millie’s owners to leave for their holiday as Brisbane was being locked down due to Covid19. Both owners were happy with this as no one would be going anywhere if the change was not made. Millie is a sweet little girl and we thoroughly enjoyed looking after her.

We had a fun week with Millie, walks morning and early evening. She travels well in the car and came along for a visit to our daughter. Millie was a little unsure of getting down from my lap at first due to Chevy the Greyhound being around but after a while she plucked up the courage and went to discover the goldfish.

Responsibilities Included:

Feed/Water & Daily Walks for Millie

Mail Collection & Security of the Home

We were able to visit with Biscuit’s owners prior to the sit and were pleased that we would be caring for this full of fun little dog. Our first sit with Biscuit was cut short because of Brisbane having a 3 day snap lock down due to Covid. Biscuit’s owners had a family member care for him for one night to allow us to go early to our next sit which then in turn allowed those owners to leave early to avoid the restriction of movement during the lock down. We were very happy to be invited back for another short stay with Biscuit in February. We were close to everything that we needed and it was lovely to walk the streets of this leafy suburb with Biscuit. There are several cafes nearby all within walking distance and Biscuit enjoyed accompanying us to these.

Biscuit has a resident possum residing in the trees in his backyard. We were mindful as to not have him out too early in the morning or late at evening due to the fact that he would be barking non stop in order to see the intruder off his property. He was a gentle little dog but certainly didn’t like those possums or the postman!

Biscuit could be found any time of the day relaxing on the lounge. He kept us amused with his changing positions on the couch. He was a very easy little dog to look after and a touch of the lead would have him at the front door ready to go for a walk!

The most challenging sit to date but we would do it all over again!

We met with Rosie & Busby’s owners prior to the sit and were given the back stories of these two beautiful rescues. They could not have found themselves with any better owners for their new lives. Their devotion to Rosie & Busby is outstanding.

Rosie suffers anxiety greatly and with having a new home built either side the vet thinks that, that might have started off her paw licking, she had well and truly licked some sections of her paws to the stage of being raw in some spots. Then throw us (new carers) into the mix and the licking continued.

Communicating with Rosie’s owners we were able to try several things which included taking her to the vets to have a cone fitted, an antiseptic spray to deter her from licking, applying hemp oil to her fur gently massaging it in and covering her legs with socks. The cone just exacerbated her anxiety to a higher level so that was off within the hour, the spray helped as did we felt, applying the hemp oil. The socks she had chewed off her legs in record time!

We are very pleased to say that Rosie calmed down over a period of time and she must of thought that “This pair aren’t that bad after all” We stayed strictly to her routine and it was lovely to see this beautiful girl get better with things every day. She was walked twice daily and enjoyed going out early morning and late afternoon due to the heat.

Busby was also a delight and with everything that was going on we feel looking back on the sit, took second place. We also kept Busby in his routine and each day he was given his food supplement which he always took gladly. Busby is an “inside only” cat.

Responsibilities Included:

Food/Water for Rosie & Busby

2 X Daily Walks for Rosie

Medication – Weekly tablet for Rosie & Daily Food Supplement for Busby

Cleaning & Change Litter for Busby

Security of the Home

Mail Collection

Watering of Indoor/Outdoor Plants

Lawn Care

Once again with a gap in between sits we applied to care for Buddy as our dates connected perfectly. We visited prior and met with Buddy and his little family. This is one small boy who is a much loved member of the family with a huge personality. He was our first Staffy and we fell in love instantly! Buddy is well behaved, loves his walks and a play in the backyard with his two balls. Yes two, as the only way you can get one off Buddy is to throw the other!

Buddy loves to be with you and at night he would lie near you while you watched TV. We had so much fun with this little bundle of muscle and would return in an instant to be with him.