Rick and Mayet (Anglo/German and Pinay/German couple looking to take on new furry, or otherwise friends

About this sitter

Well… we are an Anglo/Filipina couple, who are now both German. Rick is 70 and retired, Mayet is 63 and a district nurse hoping to retire “soon”. We’ve been married since 1985, after being introduced by Mayets cousin who was married to a good friend of mine. We have two children, I (Rick) have two more from a previous marriage, and have one granddaughter and two grandsons, (those two live only 500 yards away in the same village) ?. We’ve both done house and pet sits before through different sites, but were recommended here by a mutual friend. At the time of writing this, Mayet is on a Highschool reunion plus family meeting trip in the Philippines. I am looking after a large, untrained dog, who is helping me to stay fit… There’s also a cat in the house, but apart from grooming her each morning, she’s pretty low maintenance.
I had my first dog way back in 1957 as a fourth birthday present, a second Jack Russell joined me on my daily wanders along the local beach, and countryside. Since those two I’ve had a collection of small, and large dogs, ranging from Jack Russels to a rescued St. Bernhard, who died shortly after I took him in. Cancer sucks! Mayet and I had our last dog, Nicki who died of old age a few years ago, after a colleague was given a new assignment and couldn’t take the 10 month old with him, Nicki was a country boy, and wouldn’t be happy in a big city high rise. We also had a cat named Moppel who, as usual with us, was adopted from an animal care centre. She was estimated at about 1-2 year old, but lived for a long time never wanting to go over the doorstep into the outside world.

One more small point… If there is a car available to use, that would be a great plus for us. We are both experienced drivers, and have built up a 36 year “no claims bonus” on our car insurance proving that we are safe behind the wheel. (This request doesn’t apply to sits in D, NL, B, F, ???????,or ???????, we would use our own car/motorcycle to get there…)

Why they want to house sit

We don’t have our own pets anymore, although I have a couple of friends/neighbours who are all too happy for me to take their dogs into our hilly wooded are for walks. Using the other house/pet sitters sites has given us so much satisfaction, and love from other animals, ranging from dogs, cats, tortoises, rabbits, and even for a couple of days looking after three alpacas after the owner had an emergency. Alpacas are so sweet!!!

Their experience

Yes, we are both experienced, both in gentle grooming of dogs, cats and small animals, also giving light medicinal help. We are both not at ease with horses, so would not like to sit for house owners with stables. Sorry!

What can they bring to the assignment

We can bring time and love for your animals, belly rubs, special treats (after permission from the owners), long walks on or if permitted off lead runs, but only if the dog is safe off lead of course, and are both extremely tidy. We are both Non Smokers, and don’t drink alcohol. Tea is my stimulant…

I will x sometimes, for the question about charging. The only time I would charge is for recovering unexpected costs during the sit, eg. Vet visits, or similar events. Normally I do not charge, I consider house/animal sitting a win-win situation for both sides.
If the sit is abroad, it would be a big plus if we were permitted to use a car during our stay, to offset the cost of rentals. We both have over 35-45 years of accident free driving! The use of a car would normally only be for shopping trips or excursions with the dogs.