Dogs are amazing pets. They are loyal, loving and non-judgmental, which is more than I can say for most people, and the benefits of having a dog are well documented. The PDSA say that looking after a dog can keep you physically healthy, and can improve your mental well-being for example and much research have proven this.
My first dog was a cocker spaniel, Rusty. I adored this little dog and I was only little when my dad told me it had run away. It broke my heart. He actually found the dog a new home, not sure why to this day he told me it had run away but that was dad logic in the 1970s! I think he was concerned that it was not getting enough exercise. It looked like this cute puppy above, but we don't have any photos of her I'm afraid.
Fast forward 20 years on, and my next dog was Ben. He was a Collie cross. My ex-husband worked in an old peoples' home and one day an old lady was admitted who had no one to look after her dog. This is when my ex-husband came home and said 'I have a surprise for you' and Ben came running in. Before long we were looking after Ben permanently as the old lady needed full-time care and had to stay at the home.
Ben was a big softy and looked like Lassie. He would come for cuddles and would put his head on my lap looking to be stroked. If I was there watching TV, he would nudge my hand so I could stoke him. He was very protective and loyal, a typical Collie. I remember walking him around the area I lived through the park and then taking him off the leash and throwing a ball for him to catch. Although Ben had lived with the old lady for a couple of years, she had found him in a dogs home and Ben was not without his behaviour problems, and sadly we think he has been hit in the past. Unfortunately, his behaviours became an issue when I had my son Jake.
When Jake came along, Ben started getting jealous of any attention I gave to Jake and not him. One day when my neighbour's two-year-old child was in the house, Ben went for her and took a nip at her. Luckily she was ok but she had a red mark on her face. I was mortified and couldn't apologise enough! Of course, we couldn't take any chances when Jake was so tiny, so we asked my mother-in-law to look after Ben for a while instead. We saw Ben every week until he became ill with cancer and sadly died. Ben was a loving dog, his past, unfortunately, was a big cause of his behaviour issues.
Fast forward to today and I am married to Marcus or Mr W as I call him. As we travel a lot, and Jake has been away at university for the past three years we don't have a dog, but I miss not having one. This led us to recently trying housesitting. Housesitting is where you look after someone's house, and very often their pets too when they are away. There are a number of sites you can register to do house sitting on and mostly this is an exchange of services. You look after the house and pets for free accommodation, the owners know their house is safe and they pets are fed and well looked after. It's a way to travel the world for free and also have the benefit of looking after pets too.
Our first house sit was in a beautiful listed house in the Cotswolds. We were warmly welcomed by the owners who were incredibly laid back. Help yourself to the food they said! When we turned up, there was even a bottle of wine waiting for us. The dogs were brilliant too. A gorgeous Sprocker spaniel called Nellie and an older chocolate labrador called Meg.
Our day would involve getting up and feeding the dogs, letting them out to go to the toilet and then gave them a long walk morning and night. While we were there we toured the immediate area and saw some of the Cotswolds which is beautiful.
We loved looking after Meg and Nellie, however, it was not without incident, Nellie was an incredibly active dog and would chew everything in sight but we had been warned about this by her owners. One day I was looking for my hairbrush everywhere and couldn't find it, then I saw Nellie with it in her mouth, wagging her tail! She also had a habit of wriggling under the fence in her garden, I almost had a heart attack when I thought I had lost her. Again the owner warned me she would do this but always comes back. Nellie was a right pickle!
We would definitely housesit again as we loved looking after the dogs so much. You can choose which animals you are comfortable looking after. Check out Trusted Housesitters and other sites if you are considering house sitting.
So this is my pet story. Petplan want to hear your Pet Stories too, so whether it is a recovery from illness or just their day to day mischief share your story on Petplan’s Facebook or Instagram using #PethoodStories and check out Petplan Pet Insurance for peace of mind.
*This post is in conjunction with Petplan but all thoughts are my own
Want to travel the world, but have a limited budget, then why not consider house sitting?
Mr W and I love to explore the world, and as travel bloggers with two blogs, this one and Fly Drive Explore we need to create content all the time. We've been lucky enough to go on a number of press trips, but we still pay for a lot of trips ourselves. So when we were looking into ways of travelling recently without paying a fortune we came across the concept of house sitting.
House sitting, is what it says it is, you basically sit someones home when they go away. Most house sits also include looking after pets as well.
Benefits
There are many benefits to house sitting for both parties.
1. Someone is living in the house so it's great for security.
2. Pets are looked after and kept company.
3. Saves money for the homeowner on kennels fees.
4. Agreements can be made to water plants for example.
5. House sitters get to travel and stay in accommodation for free.
6. If you are a pet lover it's a great way to travel and look after different animals without the constraints of having a pet yourself.
7. You get to stay in someones home, so have more space than a hotel and an authentic local experience.
How to become a house sitter
There are a number of sites for house sitting. The majority expect you to look after a home and one or more pets. Some popular ones are below. There are a few that offer professional house sitting for a fee but I do not have experience of these.
Trusted Housesitters - many listings, one of the most popular sites. Free to browse and costs house sitters £89 a year. If you sign up with my link you get 20% off and I get two months free!
Nomador - Free to apply for three house sits, 65 Euros for the year.
House Sitters UK -UK specific, costs house sitters £20 a year.
What you need to do
Each site is different but there are some processes that are common and that you need to do.
After signing up which some will let you do for free with limited access, you need to create a profile. House sits are built on trust. so it's important in your profile that you show your personality, that you come across as trustworthy, have experience with animals and are generally a nice person.
Ensure you mention any previous experience of house and pet sitting and if you have had pets yourself. It's good to mention any jobs that show how responsible you are, for example, if you have been a teacher or nurse. If you have had a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check its also worth mentioning this, as this can help reassure the owners. Upload photos of yourself and photos of you with pets. If you can get a character reference or a reference from a previous house sit this will all help and should be mentioned in your profile.
Some sites will allow you to select animals you are confident in looking after and these can be added to your profile.
Once you create your profile then all you need to do is search for a house sit. If you want to get full access then pay the subscription charge and apply for your first house sit.
Our experience with Trusted Housesitters
I decided to sign up with Trusted Housesitters because they seemed like a professional company, they appear to be the largest and have the widest selection of house sits available at any time.
After creating a profile, emphasising how trustworthy we were and our experience with animals, I signed up for full membership. Trusted Housesitters have three levels of verification - Basic, Standard and Enhanced.
For a basic level, you need to provide an email address, phone number, and an external reference. My friend gave me a character reference and mentioned the fact that I had house sat for her and looked after her animals when she was away.
To get to the standard level of verification, you need to complete a document check, which can be done online through the site and doesn't cost anything. A passport or driving licence or an identity card is needed for this.
To get to the enhanced level of verification you need a CRB check, and this can be done again through the site. The cost for this is £100.
We have both had CRB checks in the past so decided not to go ahead with an updated one. I think housesitting relies on trust on both sides, and a CRB check doesn't really tell you how trustworthy a person is, how responsible and how good they are at looking after your home and your pets. Also, of course, there are the cost implications so we decided to see if we could get a house sit without one.
So we applied for a house sit and waited. After a couple of days, I thought that we didn't have a chance as we hadn't heard anything and applied for another house sit but got turned down as they had already found someone. All was not lost, however, as the original house sit I applied for got back to us and asked to speak to me on the phone. After a phone call and a chat with the owner, we were pleased to be offered it, our first house sit!
Our first house sit was in the beautiful Cotswolds, in a gorgeous grade 1 listed house. The owners were lovely and really laid back. We looked after two dogs, one older dog and a younger one under a year old. We really enjoyed our time exploring the area and the dogs were so loving but not without their challenges, however, we came through generally unscathed!
Some things to consider
Make sure you have some sort of house sitting agreement in place. On Trusted Housesitters the owners can create a welcome pack, with all the important information on and this is essential. There is a lot of information you will need, about the home and the animals and this should be written down so there are no misunderstandings. When you get to the home I recommend you spend some time with the owners to run through everything and ask any questions you have.
House sitting is an exchange of services. You will be expected to keep the home tidy, maybe water the odd plant or two as well, and feed any small pets like gerbils, and goldfish. It's not just restricted to dogs and cats and small animals though, I've seen donkeys, alpacas and lizards for example. Some may even leave bikes and cars for you to use. Make sure you are covered by the insurance and are aware of any terms on using them.
On leaving it's an unwritten rule to leave a gift, such as a bottle of wine, maybe get some basic food in for their return like bread and milk and leave the home clean. Don't forget you want a glowing reference from the homeowners so you can add it to your profile, and build a breath of references.
House sitting is perfect if you are a single person or couple. There are house sits where you can sit as a family but some people may not want children in their home, or cannot accommodate children / may not have space.
House sitting is a great way of seeing the world and we hope to apply for house sits in Europe and the US in the future.
If you want to try Trusted Housesitters go through one of my links above to get 20% off or apply code RAF145494 at check out.
Would you ever consider house sitting?
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