I am a graduate student researcher at UC Berkeley in Anthropology, and my partner, Ben, is a woodworker and architect, and works for a design-build business in Berkeley. We've been house-sitting and pet-sitting for the past few years and really enjoy it. We will take excellent care of your house and pets (if you have them).
Regarding pets, we are happy to take dogs on plenty of walks, and we are comfortable with administering medicine and handling any special needs that your pets have. Since I work from home part-time, I take multiple walks a day anyways. We also go on hikes most weekends and are happy to take them along. If you have cats, we'll give them plenty of attention too:)
We are kind, conscientious, and clean people, and we treat people's houses and pets as though they were our own (i.e., very, very well). We are both avid gardeners and are happy to take care of house plants and yards. We are also both handy indoors and outdoors and will assess/trouble-shoot any household issue that may arise (i.e., running toilet, leaky faucet, etc.) before disturbing you on your trip.
We like house-sitting for a variety of reasons. First off, we like experiencing what it's like to live in different places, whether they are far away or just different neighborhoods in Oakland/Berkeley. We like seeing different landscapes and geographies, or just different views of the same city we live in. I (Brittany) especially enjoy changes of scenery, since I spend a lot of time doing research and writing papers. We really love to getting to spend time with pets, since we aren't allowed to have any in our apartment. Lastly, I must confess that we do enjoy staying in places that are bigger than our studio and have outdoor space. We love our studio, but it's nice to be able to stretch out sometimes, and to sit outside and relax.
We are interested in house-sitting both locally in the Bay Area and in other parts of the country and internationally. We are fine with both cities and rural areas.
Please feel free to me with any questions, and we look forward to meeting you!
-Brittany & Ben