Bringing home owners and house sitters together
Sitter available
Retired Canadians with great references!
Canada
Testimonials
They have 3 testimonials (view below)
Pet experience
Dog(s), Cat(s), Chicken(s), Fish
Police check
They don't have a police check
Availability
From: 10 Jan 2021
Until: 31 Dec 2024
Occupation
Retired
References
They have referees/references (view below)
About this sitter
We are a retired Canadian couple in our mid-fifties with a lot of house-sitting experience and excellent references. We’ve been using house-sitting websites to travel for the past ten years. We don't smoke and we don't have kids or pets. We are reasonably fit and we love to bike and walk around to discover new places. We are quiet, tidy and respectful of other people's property.
Why they want to house sit
House-sitting is a great way to discover new, off-the-beaten path places. It gives us the opportunity to stretch our travel to a longer time period while enabling us to meet new people, make new friends and enjoy a little pet therapy. We love cats and house-sitting is a neat way to compensate for not having any of our own because we travel too much at this time.
Their experience
Since 2010, we have completed over 50 assignments in Canada, in the United States and in Europe. Over half of these assignments have involved the care of cats. Your house and pets would be in capable and caring hands, giving you the peace of mind that you need during your time away. We are quite versatile and we can adapt to both rural and urban settings.
Our very first house-sit assignment was in Vienna in Austria for three months in the Fall of 2010. This was a fantastic experience and it spurred a new life style for us -- working in Newfoundland during the summer and travelling the rest of the time. We sold our Newfoundland home in late 2014, relocated to Vancouver (BC) and plan to continue to travel on and off in the coming of years.
It’s been an incredible journey that has taken us down to the United States many times: Maine, Winston-Salem in NC, Rochester NY, Charlottesville, Stevensville, Washington DC, Portland Oregon, Seattle, Denver and San Francisco. This winter in February 2019, we broadened our experience and took care in Bellingham in Washington State of chickens for the first time -- they were gorgeous, pretty cool and the eggs were delicious!!
House-siting has also enabled us to explore our own country with assignments in Newfoundland (Corner Brook), in Nova Scotia (Lunenburg), in Ontario (Ottawa, Sarnia), in Alberta (Calgary) and in British Columbia (Vancouver, Gibsons, Coquitlam, White Rock, Sidney, North Vancouver).
Since our Austria trip in 2010, we've been back to Europe three more times: three months during the summer of 2015 (Netherlands, Brussels, London), six weeks in Amsterdam in June/July 2017 and another three weeks in Amsterdam in July 2018. House-sitting is a great way to travel, that’s for sure…
What can they bring to the assignment
We are a middle aged couple who has the maturity and experience needed to take care of most maintenance associated with house ownership. We have owned several homes over the past 25 years. We even ran a small tourist business for 6 years, renting our lovely seaside cottage to people who wanted to come to Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland to experience a very unique scenery in Canada. We are very tidy and clean and, we are good at communicating with our hosts so that they are kept informed during their travel. We are dependable and we try our best to follow instructions to the letter.
We enjoy the company of cats and it seems reciprocal. We are comfortable with giving medication and caring for elderly cats. House-sitting has provided us with regular and much appreciated doses of “pet therapy” over the years!
Last updated:
4 Dec 2023
Available to house sit
Canada, Netherlands, United States
Availability dates
From: 10 Jan 2021
Until: 31 Dec 2024
Do they charge?
They don't charge for house sitting services
Personal details
Age: 56-65 years old
Family status:
Couple
Membership
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References
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Sitemap
MindMyHouse.com – https://www.mindmyhouse.com/owners/sitter_listing/36652
Testimonials
Highly Recommended Cat and House Sitters
I can highly recommend Patricia and Derek as cat sitters! They have an obvious love for cats, understanding their unique nature, and are very reliable and trustworthy. Right from the start of communications with Patricia, everything was clear and easy, with quick response times. They showed a keen enthusiasm, which was great! I knew right away that I would be comfortable with them looking after our fur baby, and our home. They were interested in knowing how things were done around here, so that they could look after everything well. They wanted to know exactly how things went with our cat, so that they could give her the best care possible. They were comfortable with our septic and well-water systems, and it was good to know Derek was able to fix things, should the need arise. We got to meet them before we left, and they were also kind and easy to chat with. I could tell from the reports of how our cat was behaving, that she liked them, and felt comfortable with them. So important to us! We were so pleased to come home to a happy cat! Our home was also in great shape, having been well-cleaned and looked after. Our plants, both indoor and out, were looking terrific, so they, too, had been well cared for. They were very conscientious of water use, as well as recycling/composting/limited garbage. I would very happily have them back, without any reservations (and hope they do!).
Kathryn, Canada, 18 Sep 2024
An Excellent choice!
In March 2022, Patricia and Derek, weathered their way to my housesit in KC from the Pacific NW/USA for a month long stay with my 2 amiable cats. They were a delight to work with from beginning to end. They lavished my cats with great care & fondness in my absence. Plus, when I returned the house was spic and span with everything in it's place... as if I'd never left! Even though the winter weather was not very cooperative it didn't affect their sense of adventure... the hopped on bicycles to explore the city almost every day! Gotta love that. They are fun and interesting! I would definitely recommend them to anyone in search of reliable, trustworthy, tidy, and and conscientious pet sitters. (I hope you come back sometime soon, Patricia and Derek! Thanks! Debi and the Clowder)
Debi, United States, 8 May 2022
Wonderful, took great care of everything!
Patricia and Derek were a pleasure to interact with. We had the unusual opportunity to meet them before our trip, and they seemed like very nice and responsible people. During and after our trip, that very much proved to be true. We were out of the country for three weeks and they took very good care of our cat and our house during that time. They also provided great updates via email to keep us from worrying. When we got home, our cat was well cared for and our house was in perfect shape. Patricia and Derek will be our first choice next time we need someone.
Michelle, United States, 4 Apr 2019