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Illustration by April Dela Noche Milne
It was time to sell our beautiful home in Deep Cove, in North Vancouver, because we felt the city was becoming too big and too busy. After our son moved out, the house seemed oversized for two. My new criteria? A house I could clean in 20 minutes flat. So our home went up for sale; after a couple of tries, it sold. Now what?
My husband’s dream was to build somewhere on Vancouver Island. He was general contractor for our home in Deep Cove, so why couldn’t he do the same again. But building from scratch? Absolutely not. My dream was a cute little fixer upper that needed a new bathroom or kitchen redo. But once we went looking on the island, the reality of low housing inventory at the “bargain” price we were hoping for evaporated. We woke one morning and realized we were homeless, no fixed address.
Then my husband came up with the brilliant idea of pet/house sitting until we either found a dream home or the right property to build on. It works like this: care for the pet(s), house and plants, and we’d get to stay in the house for free. We would only have to buy our food. Both home owner and pet sitters sign a contract detailing responsibilities and time frame for the sit. We signed up with a U.K.-based company, put a profile on their website and started applying for sits.
As pet sitters, we could move around the island and have “boots on the ground” to live in different communities and see what they were like: learn where to buy groceries, community supports, etc., but best of all, we would not have to pay rent which was taking a chunk out of our nest egg.
We moved our stuff into a storage locker. As newbie pet sitters, we had too much stuff with us initially. We learned there were many things we couldn’t (at first) live without, especially when we discovered numerous stairs or elevators were involved. Twelve pairs of shoes/sneakers/boots? No. Lugging four king size pillows to each sit? Nope. We culled until we were down to one car load and could see out the rear window.
The website profiles the house and pets and usually any issues with the house and pets. Forewarned is forearmed, unless you are not! We weren’t informed of the issues with a large poodle/Afghan cross we agreed to look after until we arrived in the home. Turns out this beauty doesn’t really like other dogs and even with the bark collar on, she would bark, jump and generally have a fit even if the other dog was half a block away. She was Jekyll and Hyde, who loved a tummy tickle first thing in the morning. Inside the house, she was a gentle loving soul who liked to steal anything with our scent on it. One day my husband announced he was missing a favourite sock. We looked everywhere, until one morning we woke to our girl throwing up in the living room. On the carpet was a blob of something, on closer inspection it was the missing sock. She had eaten it, had numerous meals on top of it and as it couldn’t be digested, up it came. We were shocked, but so relieved she hadn’t choked or needed emergency surgery to remove the sock.
Our next sit took us into a senior’s condominium in Qualicum Beach and into the lives of three special people. Sebi was an old dog who was rescued years ago from the mean streets of Los Angeles with numerous scars to prove it. Getting him outside to do his business was like trying to wake up old Grandpa from his easy chair. We were successful most of the time, but afraid the ramp got quite a bit of watering and, one time, worse in the hallway.
As pet sitters we were like grandparents that loved and spoiled the animals and then happily handed them back after a few weeks. But a deep affection for them developed over a short time. Many tears might be shed saying good bye.
Who are the people opening their homes and hearts to (almost) complete strangers? We have met many generous, trusting and helpful people ready to give ongoing friendship and support. We’ve had numerous offers to come early for dinner and even stay an extra night or two. We now count Sebi’s human parents as good friends, offering us a place to stay in between sits if needed, sheltering us like they did Sebi.
Our pet sitting homes now number in the double digits and friends ask what pet we will get when we finally settle down. My heart goes out to the senior dog whose puppy enthusiasm is only a memory when they see their leash. They only need love, a cozy bed and soft food.
In the end, we decided to build our new home just north of Qualicum in a lovely little community called Bowser.
Sharon King lives on Vancouver Island.
