Hello,
My wife and I are looking for house and dog sitters while we are gone from September 3 to September 26, That’s a bit longer that we’d want to kennel our dogs, given other options, so we’re hopeful we can find a reliable couple to take care of things while we’re away. Unfortunately, the friends we’d arranged are now unable to take this on, so we’re scrambling.
We own a home near Vancouver, BC, Canada. While we’re located in a suburb, we’re also lucky enough to have a home that backs onto a wooded ravine. Our backyard view is trees and mountains, with occasional visiting owls, eagles, or raccoons. We hear the coyotes at night from time to time, and there are sometimes black bears spotted in the vicinity.
We have two dogs of distinctly different temperament from each other.
Penny is the older of the two. She’s a 9 year old, spayed, border collie mix with that typical border collie high strung attitude. She was a rescue and has always been nervous around other dogs, except Zephyr. Men can be very frightening until she gets to know them. Hats can be terrifying, depending on the hat. She absolutely loves fetching and jumping in water. Penny will be your best friend if you just keep throwing things for her. She is so enthusiastic about balls and frisbees that she needs to be prevented from hurting herself from over-exertion. At 9 years old, she’s starting to get some stiffness coming up the stairs after a day of retrieving. Penny is the smarter of the two dogs and regularly tricks Zephyr into giving up his toys or bones by barking a false alarm that gets him running to check things out. Then she circles back and takes the toy. Sneaky! She loves to snuggle too.
Zephyr is a four year old neutered male Siberian Husky mix with an unusually relaxed temperament. He likes sleeping, belly rubs, and food. He’s been known to talk back from time to time in typical husky vocalization. He loves people, especially babies and squealing little girls. Other dogs are great as long as they realize he’s the boss. In the dog park he’s the playground supervisor and he’s quick to make sure any un-neutered males give him his due. Zephyr has spent quite a bit of time with other dogs and he gets on famously and has a great time with them. Zephyr is very, very food motivated. You can train him to do anything given enough treats. He sheds hair like crazy. You cannot avoid dog hair in this house as a result.
Zephyr would be fine kennelled, he loves seeing all the other dogs and always has a great time. But Penny really doesn’t cope well with a kennel and is always terrified and we really can’t separate her from Zephyr without her becoming distressed. So we really want to avoid kennelling them if we can.
This is our first time considering a house sitter that isn’t a family member or close friend so we’re new to this. Our house is in a nice area, has a great view, a big yard and big deck. The kitchen has everything you'd need, we have multiple barbecues, a woodworking shop in the garage and a model train in the basement. Both my wife and I work in the video game industry, so we have lots of games and great broadband. I'm not really sure what else to add.
James