More on Choosing Housesitters
My last post prompted a comment from Colleen, my most active reader, saying she felt it would be creepy to have a stranger look after her house and pet. I couldn’t agree more. When choosing a house sitter or pet sitter it’s important to have someone who you either know and trust personally or who comes highly recommended by someone you know and trust. In fact, I wouldn’t even feel comfortable hiring a professional for this very personal service. I want a more intimate connection to the person who will be responsible for the lives of our beloved animals and for all our personal belongings.
At our house we have a large (90 pound) dog who has a death wish for the neighbor’s dog, an elderly cat, a truly spoiled dwarf hamster and two tanks of fish. In addition, we live in Austin, Texas, which means that if someone is not watering plants as needed, we will return to tumbleweeds blowing across a landscape of dust.
We have historically pet sit for our neighbor’s menagerie of exotic pets so I intend to ask their children to walk our dog twice a day. On a leash she’ll be fine. This will relieve our house sitter from the most time consuming duty.
The hamster will go to my 11 year old friend’s house who we know is gentle and loves small animals. Hamsters are great since they’re portable.
The fish are pretty much a no brainer if we clean the tank well before our departure. My husband’s part of the trip is 3 weeks so they’ll be ok.
The cat will need food, water and some petting as well as scooping of the litter but that’s pretty simple. He doesn’t care to go outside so there is no worry there.
Our vegetable garden is equipped with drip hoses but we’ll need to purchase a timer so that it gets watered regularly.
We’ll have the mail stopped. We don’t get any newspapers that need to be stopped. All in all, it should be a pretty easy job for whomever is chosen.
Really, the biggest piece of work will be getting the house clean enough that it is a great place to stay and locking away any valuables. Even if we fully trust our house sitter, I will put away obvious valuables. There is always the possibility that something could disappear or that the house could be robbed during their stay. I figure, there is no reason to tempt fate or to put anyone in an uncomfortable situation.
