It took us 3 times to had the opportunity to look after Tatjana’s and Derek’s place and animals and it was worth waiting. We had contact in the past but because of changing dates in our calendars we couldn’t match our calendars in the past. This time it worked out and we arranged this sit via www.mindmyhouse.com
It was an absolutely fabulous and nice sit. Our first time in the Algarve, Portugal, and as we always say……. The pets make our sit!
First we had Otto, the 3 legged cat, but no worries………… he could do whatever he wanted to do. He was absolutely not scared by the dogs, but he had his own place at the back of the yard and the guestroom and washing room. He came to ask for attention every morning and evening. During the day he was always out and at night he slept in the washing room.
Then we had the 5 dogs. What a pack that was! Absolutely NO problems at all, but because of the energy and to make sure the dogs get all the attention needed, we suggest this sit for a couple or 1 very energetic and fit person.
Shorty is the oldest of them all. We celebrated his 14th birthday during our sit. We could take him to the beach, out for lunch or just strolling around and we did. He is deaf but he is still acting as he’s the leader of the pack.
The real leader of the Pack is our big, cuddly, giant Bailey! If he barks, everybody knows it’s serious and there’s absolutely no chance that anyone will enter the property without him being aware of it. He is strong, beautiful and listens very well. We walked almost daily with him in the neighborhood. He had a hip operation a couple of months before we arrived, so we started to train a little bit of running with him. Beware, if he sees a cat, it will be strength training for the sitters, as Bailey is a strong dog.
There was also Mandy, we called her the lazy lady of the pack. She is a very gentle dog. We took her always together with the crazy sisters Emma and Klara at least 3 times a week for a run/walk between 45 minutes and 2 hours. We went a couple of times to the beach (they run like crazy) but mostly to Ludo, a nice area with dunes, hills, water and forest where the dogs could run off leash. We could join with Tatjana her friends and we had regular dog walks with them and their dogs. It was nice socializing for us and the dogs.
Emma and Klara are sisters, and FULL OF ENERGY. It was so cool to run with them as they could go on for hours! Klara has the lowest rank in the pack and that’s maybe why she is aggressive to other dogs if she’s out. She always needs to have her muzzle put on if we went out for a walk. She’s gifted with a natural running talent, where Emma has more power. Where Shorty, Bailey and Mandy can sleep during the day, they are always running around at the property and barking at everything/everyone who’s passing by. Not annoying, but so much energy………
Otto and the dogs gave us our daily rhythm and it was a good vibe. They do listen very well and it’s easy to control them with 2 persons.
The house had everything we needed for our remote work and a very big TV screen. The gardener, Stefan, came weekly to clean the garden. We did our regular hoovering and mobbing inside and also mobbing outside after it rained.
We are both working part-time and besides our work and dog walking we had still plenty time to ride our bicycle and to explore the beautiful area. We visited many different places and we had also the pleasure to go to the carnival in Loulé, which was fantastic.
Tatjana and Derek are very relaxed and we had great communication with them during and after the sit. They had a fantastic holiday and we had a fantastic stay at their place. It gave us a very relaxed feeling and we enjoyed this sit very much. After this sit we stayed for 6 weeks in Albufeira and we did join Tatjana with her dog walk and we had dinner with Derek and Tatjana and their friends.
We would definitely recommend this sit to other sitters and we hope that we can come back again to look after Otto and the dogs.
