A traveling pet sitters
Guide to free love
Free rent and the
Freedom of letting go

I started pet sitting in March of 2019. It had never crossed my mind until I overheard a married couple talking about their adventures across New Zealand while having their breakfast in the Tulsi  dining room at Om Ham.

Om Ham is like that in many ways. You make unique friendships there and it’s often the case you will see the same people back there on future visits. But, I digress . This is about pet sitting.

The couple, Andrew and Alice showed me photos of the pets they took care of and the beautiful homes they lived in at no cost while traveling in their van up and down the coast of New Zealand. The website they used was simple and affordable and I joined right after breakfast. I’d already been in Bali for seven months and I was due for a visa update, which in this case, meant leaving the country for a day or as long as I wanted. I decided as long as I had to leave Indonesia, I may as well explore somewhere new. An Australia and New Zealand adventure looked perfect.

My first assignment was just a few weeks later. I wrote to a handful of homeowners about watching their pets, and I was excited to secure my first assignment at a beautiful beachfront house in Fremantle, a suburb just south of the Perth business district in Australia.           

Fremantle felt a lot like Venice Beach California to me.  Coffee shops and cafes on every street, a backpacker’s hostel on the main drag, and beautiful clean and expansive sandy beaches. My first dog was a sweet rescue Greyhound named Tango.

From there it was five weeks in Devonport New  Zealand and after that, my first assignment in the United States, in Los Angeles California taking care of a sweet black cat named Monkey! I had a new career and I didn’t know it then, but my life was beginning to change course.

The people and families I have met over the years, have been so kind, generous, and often times, so accomplished in their life, that in some moments it was a little intimidating. Doctors, nature photographers, people in the healing arts, and so many more walks of life. Mostly, they are all travelers, and look at life through that lens of loving the experience of new cultures and meeting new people.

Like any other endeavor in life, there are always unexpected moments or situations and the occasional sad moments to go with all the incredibly happy ones. And of course, like anything else, I had some standout dogs and cats that have already provided me with a lifetime of memories.

 One sweet Golden Doodle, who shall stay nameless here, became a favorite from day one. I met him when he was only eight months old, and I was with him for two full months. We had lots of walks and play time in the back yard, and he took over a good portion of my bed. And in the morning, he would stretch out fully and then crawl over to my face and throw his big paws over me and start with the licks.

His people came home late afternoon, and they had such a sweet reunion. Later that night, I heard him barking and then their bedroom door opened. They thought he needed to go in the backyard for a nature call, but he ran to sit in front my bedroom door. They told me he slept on my bed a few days after I left, waiting for me to return. I never had a woman show me that kind of love and loyalty. Dogs are amazing!

So, here I am, writing this blog post from my current pet sitting adventure in Seattle. I end up back with my sweet Golden Doodle for the whole summer, and then back to my other life in Bali.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask and if you have any pets that need a loving caregiver for a while, just contact me here for information on my rates and availability.

Peace, Love and Namaste