Our last house/pet sit Down Under was in the Hunter Valley area (north of Sydney).
The owners, a young couple, where off on a holiday to Thailand and this was the first time that they had left their dogs. Both were extremely anxious about leaving them. We had arranged to have a "handover" period of a day, but arrived to find that they were heading straight off.
This is not something we would normally suggest to any owner thinking of leaving their pets. We always like to have a day or so for them to get used to us being around, whilst the owners are still at home. The dogs, unfortunately, were very unsettled and clearly sensed that things were happening they did not understand.
We were looking after two large dogs, Abi a Rhodesian Ridgeback and Oscar a Spanish Mastiff cross. Unfortunately, one of the dogs Abi, was really nervous of strangers and males in particular (she was a rescue dog and been mistreated by a man). It took a lot of patience (and doggy treats.....cat biscuits as recommended by the owner) and almost 24 hours before we were finally accepted into the "pack".
Fortunately, for then on we did not have any further issues with either Abi or Oscar, they relaxed and accepted us in their environment.
Part way through the sit I had a call to say that my mum was seriously ill and I should return to the UK. Tom and I had had several discussions on what we would do if anything like this should happen. Life throws all of us curveballs from time to time. It was difficult situation, for us the only sensible solution we had was for me to return and for Tom to stay on and complete the sit.
So I left and Tom stay behind. Not great timing as it was his birthday during this period, the first time we had not celebrated it together - still at least he had Abi and Oscar to help blow out the candles!
