Retired Canadian couple living in Portugal– experienced home and pet owners – will ensure your peace of mind

About this sitter

We are Kathryn and Bill – a retired Canadian couple with 31 years of experience as homeowners and two lifetimes of experience as pet owners. We’d love to take care of your home and pets while you're away. You can leave everything in our capable hands, and enjoy your time away without having to worry.

We’ve been married for 35 years and have three grown children. Kathryn is a writer-editor and Bill is a mechanical engineer. We’ve always travelled a lot but, now that we’re retired and have the time, we want to experience really living in other countries. We are non-smokers and would want a smoke free house.

Why they want to house sit

We've learned over the years that we love 'slow' travel: staying in one place for a length of time so you get to know a community, the people and the culture much more deeply than when you’re quickly passing through. That’s why we want to housesit – because it’s usually for a few weeks or months and you become immersed in the community. We love grocery shopping, taking dogs for walks, riding our bikes around the countryside, trying new foods, meeting people at local markets, attending local music concerts and festivals, running errands, and all those things you do when you live in a community. Housesitting allows you dive in to the experience, something that staying in a hotel can never do.

We are planning to travel and live abroad for a few years. The downside to that is that we’ll miss our pets. Housesitting and pet sitting will let us spend time with furry friends for a while!

Their experience

We both grew up with dogs, cats, guinea pigs, birds, rats and hamsters. As adults, we have continued to love our pets, which have included many cats, saltwater fish, a leopard gecko, a chinchilla, turtles and butterflies. While volunteering on farms in Costa Rica and Australia, we’ve worked with goats, sheep and chickens.

We've looked after the pets of our friends and family while they've been away, and have had to handle pet emergencies.

We've owned our own homes for 31 years in Canada, so we know how to take care of the routine maintenance required inside and outside. We have shoveled a lot of snow and mowed a lot of grass! We enjoy gardening and landscaping, and have also undertaken many renovations over the years, primarily to kitchens and bathrooms. We have a lot of practical skills: painting, carpentry, plumbing, drywall, tiling, woodworking, cooking, sewing, planting, weeding, harvesting, preserving, pruning, and looking after a hot tub (adding chemicals, cleaning, changing the water). We also know how to keep a house clean, wash dishes and do laundry.

Between the two of us, we've been to 33 countries. In 2002 to 2003, we took a year off to travel around the world with our three kids, homeschooling them along the way. These experiences have taught us to be flexible and adaptable to new routines as we travel. We can figure out how to get around in other countries, how to navigate the culture and language, and how to get errands done. English is our first language; we also have intermediate French, Portuguese and basic Spanish.

Other skills: Kathryn is certified to teach English as a second language, has strong writing/editing skills for print and digital publications, and has strong clear language editing skills. Bill teaches guitar and bass at all levels and in many styles. We both love to sing and are certified scuba divers.

What can they bring to the assignment

We bring peace of mind for homeowners. They can go off on their adventures, knowing that their home and pets are in capable, experienced hands. Please contact us today. We would be happy to have a video call to find out more about your house sit.