We’ve been travelling as full time pet sitters since January 2018, and in that time we’ve gained a lot of pet care experience with a variety of different animals. Sometimes we forget just how many unusual situations we’ve been in, and it’s always fun for us to look back on the thousands of photos and videos from the 100+ house sits we’ve completed! It’s safe to say we’ve had our fair share of wild experiences..! Here we’re sharing some our craziest pet sits, and this is only a handful of them – check out Part 2!
18 dogs in Essex
Back in 2021 we JUMPED at the chance to care for 18 Pugs, Chihuahuas and Pekingnese for a long weekend. We figured it would be an adorable experience, and if it was overly chaotic then at least it was only for a few days! Thankfully every single one of the dogs was a delight to care for, and we were sad to say goodbye after enjoying a wonderful 3 days getting to know each pup and their individual personalities. They had a good-sized, enclosed garden to exercise in – so no tangled-up walkies required – and we loved having them chase us around the garden, watching their little legs run as fast as they could! They also had their own separate sleeping quarters, so we slept soundly despite having so many dogs in the house! A truly unique sit.
Walkies with goats in Oxford
At a smallholding pet sit in 2021 where we looked after dogs, cats, degus, chickens and a tortoise, we also had charge of two friendly pet goats! Their owners told us that Blossom and Gem loved being taken for a walk around the garden on their leads, so the first chance we could we headed out for goat walkies! It involved less of us walking the goats and more of them walking us, as they sniffed their way around the expansive garden looking for the best grass to munch on, but it was a very sweet and unique experience to have at a house sit, and one we’ll never forget!
Alpacas in Kent
One of the house sits we always get asked about is our time spent caring for alpacas. We first completed this rural house sit in 2018, though we’ve returned multiple times since then. The house is made up of three converted oast houses, with views over beautiful fields of tall grass that house the resident alpacas. While people have a lot of questions about the responsibilities required to pet sit them, alpacas are one of the most easygoing pets we’ve ever cared for! Aside from topping up their water troughs, and giving them extra hay in the Winter months, they pretty much take care of themselves and are excellent at chasing off predator foxes that come for the chickens and ducks in the garden. We got a tip from their owners that the alpacas LOVE being hand-fed a carrot or apple – something that made us very popular as the herd crowded round us upon entering their field with a big bowl! Alpacas aren’t the best at queuing, and we managed to dodge a few spitballs that flew through the air as they got overexcited waiting for their snack! Once they’d chowed down their treats, they were more than happy for us to pet them and tousle their fluffy hair.
An Irish Wolfhound in Chichester
As we mainly pet sit around the UK we end up caring for a lot of similar dog breeds, so we’re always on the lookout for pet sits with unusual animals or breeds. When we were invited to care for Irish Wolfhound Wolfie (and his mix-breed brother, Murphy) we said yes immediately! We spent a lovely long weekend with them and kitty cat Prinny, and despite his intimidating size, Wolfie was a total softie and got on incredibly well with his four-legged house mates. If he wasn’t snoozing on the sofa, long legs twitching as he dreamt, he was putting his big, happy snoot in our faces then backing up for a leg-squishing cuddle! He didn’t walk too far, just around the local park where he slowly sniffed his way along before flopping down to relax with us, and watch while his energetic brother Murphy played endless games of fetch!
A house hen in Eastbourne
Our shortest sit to date – a 24 hour pet sit caring for two dogs and Florence, a house hen. She lived happily in the kitchen and back garden, where she’d scratch for little bites to eat each day before taking herself off to her basket in the kitchen at bed time. Her owner told us her favourite breakfast was a banana, so on the morning of our departure we spent some time sitting in the garden while Florence happily pecked her way through a banana from one end to the other! We loved our time with her, we only wish it had been longer!
5 miniature Dachshunds in Bristol
Our fifth house sit ever back in 2018, and another one we just couldn’t pass up!! We enjoyed a very adorable stay caring for Ozzie, Poppy, Stanley, Lexi and Lucky, who all loved a good snuggle and would wait patiently in line for us to pick them up and put them on the sofa with us each evening! One morning we awoke to all 5 lining up to be put on our bed one by one, so they could enjoy a cuddle with us – the sweetest sight to wake up to! On our walkies, each of the five little sausages had a bell on their collars, so they played a nice jingly tune as they bounced along. This meant we were never worried about losing any of them, but also meant they claimed the attention of lots of googly-eyed passers-by who instantly fell in love with them, just as we did!
Lambing in Buckinghamshire
An unexpected surprise at a last minute pet sit booking in 2022! The situation was stressful at the time, but looking back we’re grateful for the experience it gave us. We never thought we’d be standing in a field at 11 o’clock at night, in the pitch black, while it snowed, trying to coax a ewe and her 2 newborn lambs into a barn… But there’s the joy of pet sitting – there’s never a dull moment!! While we were only there for 5 days, 2 ewes gave birth during our stay and we navigated our new responsibilities – the first of which was herding mum and babes into the barn to keep warm, out of the cold April weather. We then had to dip the umbilical cords in iodine to make them harden and drop off, before determining the sex of the lambs. Thankfully all 4 were female – we’re not sure we would have been prepared to castrate the boys as the homeowner wanted! Before we left the mamas to it, we had to stimulating the milk flow – massaging her udder by hand, to make sure the lambs could feed. A real baptism of fire for us and it took a few days to calm our nerves, but it was very sweet to watch the new lambs bounding around their field for the rest of our stay!
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