We were accepted by the owners to sit in Atri, Italy before arriving for our six month stay in Europe. It is an area of Italy that we have not been before and found Atri itself to be a very vibrant and lived in village. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and this was mainly due to the pets.
A little about the pets starting with Ozzy who is a rescue and obviously has been mistreated prior to coming to live with the family. As with other sitters it took a good week with gentle coaxing and patience before he would even come out of hiding. He prefers females to males so after a while I was able to get his “magic harness” on. Once on he was a different dog enabling us to bring him in for the night and take him on walks. It broke my heart to see him like this but with his family he is comfortable enough to not be frightened all the time. By the time we finished the sit he was happy to spend the afternoons and evenings with us.
Basil was the complete opposite to Ozzy. our little shadow from the start and could be found by one of our sides wherever we were. She is an older dog requiring morning and evening medication for a heart condition which we gave her without any problems.
Princess & Gordon were delightful and kept us entertained with their high energy antics! They are both inside only cats due to the home being situated on a busy country road and the owners had lost a previous pet through being allowed outside. They were both easy care with litter box duty, clean water & fresh food each day.
Hazel & Piper, mother and daughter miniature goats were acquired by the owners after we had accepted the sit. We had no problem with the addition and were quite looking forward to looking after them as well as we have not sat miniature goats before. Once again very easy care with feeding, supplying a new lot of leaves daily and locking them in for the night due to wolves and wild boars in the area.
Lazy afternoons – Ozzy & Basil
Ozzy’s hiding place
Afternoon Walks
We watered and weeded the gardens on the property and during our stay we were able to enjoy all the fresh vegetables from the vegetable garden. There were several flower gardens also which were in full bloom by the time we left.
