Reliable, experienced couple

About this sitter

We are Mary and Matthew, a retired couple with over 5 years and 70 sits worth of experience. Mary is British/Canadian; Matthew is Australian/Canadian and we met while cycling in the States. We've worked, traveled, owned our own business, had a child, farmed, worked some more, and finally reached our longed-for retirement in 2018. Mary, in her youth, was a competitive three-day eventer with her horses, and we both gained valuable experience with livestock large and small as goat farmers in the Cariboo. We've done basic veterinary care for the goats, pigs, livestock dogs, three rescue Boxers and Greyhounds and our Standardbred ex-racehorse, Mercy.

We are non-smokers - our bad habits tend more towards spending too much time on our laptops and sampling too much good local chocolate...

Please note: we have added a handful of references from our Trusted Housesitters, Aussie Housesitters, and Housesitters UK accounts to the "references" field.

Why they want to house sit

Pets have been a part of our lives since the beginning. When we decided that retirement was going to consist of long periods of time in countries other than our own, we realized that we were going to have to reconsider having pets. This was unacceptable and caused a great deal of stress. Then we heard about pet-sitting. What a fantastic concept! To be able to travel as much as we'd like and yet still have furry friends, albeit temporarily. We were instantly sold. We also realized we'd be offering a valuable service to other pet lovers - they could take their much-needed holidays while being assured that their four-legged family members would be left in trustworthy hands.

Their experience

Our first house sit was Christmas 2017 for a gorgeous Bernese Mountain dog. It went so well (thank you, Annette!) that it was soon followed by three more in BC. We arrived in the UK in Nov 2018 and began housesitting our way around the country, sharing our adventures with new cat, dog, parrot friends and even an entire kennel near Liverpool!
Five years have now gone by (much to our surprise) and we're still loving our unconventional life. We've visited France and Australia, in addition to the UK, Canada and Cyprus, and have been fortunate to hang out with fun pets in each country.

What can they bring to the assignment

Reliability!! It gives us a great deal of satisfaction that we have never cancelled a sit so should you entrust us with your pets and home, you can be assured that we will arrive as promised.
We are self sufficient, non-smokers, respectful, and endeavour to treat your pets just as you would. We will follow your instructions, and are happy to send pics and videos while you're away.