Busy summertime for a dogsitter (July 2024)

Summer has now kicked off and this is every year high-season for dogsitting. What I like about being a dogsitter is that there is always so much variation and each experience is so different. This summer brings me around to many different types of dogs; calm ones, crazy ones, young, senior, cuddly ones, lazy or sporty. I get a lot of experience from it and I must be able to adapt quickly to each kind of behavior. Each dog is a different world, actually. And you do not only learn a lot about dogs, but also about people! Each dogowner is also incredibly different and I need to put myself in their place each time. This makes me progress in many ways and teaches me how to “read” people. Some worry too much and are almost crying when they have to say goodbye to their furry friend for just one week. Others seem relieved that they now finally get a break from all the dogwalking for the next two weeks. Some want me to give them news and send photos twice a day, for others it is enough just once per week. Being an international “petsitting nomad” like myself requires people knowledge, a deep understanding of other people’s love for their pet, and really strong adaptational skills. 

This last month I have stayed with an adult rescue dog, Killa, who had only been adopted two months prior and was so afraid of everything that I could not even approach her. She had been living a nightmare, mistreated as a former hunting dog in Spain, and I will spare you for the horrific details. After that, I stayed with Buster a little pure breed Cairn Terrier, who was the complete opposite. Living his best life never having known any misery. After this, I left Spain and have now moved on to Denmark where I this July was staying with another rescue dog, Louie, this one from Greece, who was lucky enough to be adopted as a puppy, and now has forgotten about all the horrors of being homeless. Now, I am with two small pugs, Sally and Karla, who absolutely love each other. They are very affectionate and cuddly, but sadly this breed suffers a lot in the summer heat. In the beginning as a dogsitter, you imagine that it must be twice as difficult to take care of two dogs rather than one dog. But this is not always so, because two dogs will entertain each other and can easier be left alone too, as they will keep each other company. 

So, you see, in just over one month this is how different they have all been from each other. I get to love all of them, and even though I physically move on quickly  from one home to the next, I emotionally struggle to say goodbye and will be missing each of them afterwards.   

Keep following me next month in my new summer-adventures as I move on to Belgium and Holland.

LOUIE in Denmark.