Dog-sitting student finds creative ways to save

As a student I am always interested in finding new and unusual things to do and dog-sitting is a great way to earn and save money for uni next year. I liked the idea of house-sitting. As a dog owner myself I decided that I’d look for local houses with pets that need looking after and this dog-sitting assignment was ideal. I was told about Housesit Match by a friend and I joined with the prospect of house/dog-sitting whilst carrying out my studies and revising for exams.

The website was easy to use and quickly matched me with a house-sit. It was easy to send the owners a message through the system and I arranged to meet with them to have an initial chat and get to know their dogs before agreeing to the dog-sitting weekend for them.

Meet and Greet

I went to the house and was warmly greeted by two adorable dogs; a 10 week old German Shepherd puppy (Cara) and a two year old West Highland Terrier (Murphy).

Both dogs were lively at first, excited to meet a new person they instantly said hello and I was thrilled with the prospect of looking after these two lively and friendly characters. I was then shown around the house by Annie (the owner). She gave me a run through the key details about the house and of course the dog sitting routines.

Dog-sitting made fun by these puppies

Staying in the house was great. Though normally I live with my family at home I thought that initially I may find the house to be lonely but Cara and Murphy made sure that this wasn’t going to happen, coming over to me for affection and strokes regularly I felt very welcome in their home.

They were very easy to look after and I got to explore new areas of beautiful country side whilst walking them in the local surroundings and woodlands.

The house was very pleasant and easy to live in, I spent an afternoon in the garden playing with dogs and sunbathing ?-dog sitting was really fun and active with these puppies.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my time whilst dog-sitting whilst fulfilling my aim of exploring new surroundings. The dogs kept me company, causing no extra hassle only enhancing the experience for me. HouseSit Match made finding the opportunity very easy and I will definitely be using it again to find future house-sits.

The daily routine was very straight forward to do. When I woke up I would first let the dogs out, to go to the toilet in the garden. We would then have little play in the garden and I then proceeded to give them their breakfast and top up their water. I then left them with their dog flap open enabling them to go freely between the house and the secure garden area throughout the day. When I came back after school I said hello and they would greet me with their usual excitement, then I gave them their treat for the day. Following this we would go for a walk around the local woodlands. When we came home I gave them their dinner and then carried on with my usual evening, watching television whilst playing with them. For bed time Cara had to be put in her cot to sleep due to her being a puppy but Murphy is allowed to roam the house. It was great fun, and I hope to look after them again sometime soon.

By Monty Robins
High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, UK.

To register as a house-sitter or a homeowner follow this link to HouseSitMatch REGISTRATION