Active Canadian professional women who love animals

About this sitter

We are two friends, Canadian citizens living part of the year in Sweden and part of the year in Australia (and sometimes home to Canada during the summer to see family). And sometimes housesitting around the world because we love the experiences we have when caretaking pets and homes. We have many excellent references and verified testimonials from previous sits, so please just ask.

Why they want to house sit

One of us is a university professor (science) and the other is a retired teacher. We travel a great deal for work, mostly for extended periods while conducting research in different laboratories around the world. We discovered housesitting as it seems like a great solution for people like ourselves who travel more than 6 months a year because we really prefer to live in a house rather than a hotel. We love pets, and are much happier coming home to take the dog for a walk or cuddle with the cat. Work related travel makes it impractical to have pets of our own, but we both love dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, horses and we can even take care of chameleons!

We do not smoke or drink, and prefer a quiet evening sharing the peace of your home with your pets. We are very security conscious and will always ensure that your property is protected. Our motto is to 'treat it like our own,' so you know you will come home to a clean, well-cared for house.

Their experience

We have experience and expertise in pet and farm animal care, as well as carpentry and building upkeep. We love gardening and will take good care of your plants, and can also handle most property maintenance problems as they arise. Karen is retired, so is keen to do pet and garden care, and loves to keep busy around the house. As people who have owned (and still own) houses ourselves, we understand what it is to keep up a property and leave it in excellent condition. We have owned both urban and rural properties, on the grid and off the grid, with alternative power, including generators, solar, wood stove heat, etc., so we are comfortable in just about any setting. We've taken care of several homes with swimming pools and are familiar with their care and maintenance.

One year in Norway while housesitting, we finished off a bathroom renovation, landscaped the property and repaired the bicycles and outbuildings. In Sweden, we planted the garden for the returning owners who were pleasantly surprised to come home to a blooming veggie patch. We have taken care of a sheep station in Western Australia, a ski chalet in Switzerland, a farm/nature reserve in Costa Rica and many other beautiful homes and estates in various parts of Europe, USA, New Zealand and Asia. We've taken care of all sorts of pets, including horses and bees. We love to take dogs out on walks and runs.

We are immaculate housekeepers

What can they bring to the assignment

Mostly when we are housesitting, Aly needs quiet time for writing and working on manuscripts, so our only requirement is good internet. One of us is generally home most of the day, and very happy to undertake projects and gardening as well as pet care.

We are both energetic, outdoor-loving people, who daily run, walk, swim, or bicycle, and enjoy exploring new places. Housesitting is a wonderful opportunity to experience a new place without being tourists.

We are happy to provide our many excellent references from previous housesits, we have never received anything less than 5* as sitters (and have completed more than 75 house sits over the past twelve years).