Finley, Riley and Prince

We watched my friend Jen Hagel's two dogs and horse for a week from April 22 to April 29, 2023 while they enjoyed a vacation in Arizona.  Jen's two dogs were Finley who is a large 7 year old mix of Boxer, Golden and another breed and Riley who is a Golden Retriever and just coming out of puppy stage at 2 years old.  She also has Prince, who is an older horse that is no longer ridden but well cared for.

Finley is 7 years old

Riley just turned 2 years old when we were there

Prince awaiting his breakfast!

We have stayed with Jen before so the dogs knew us well but this was the first time we watched them.  We had our routine.  Twice a day we would go out and feed Prince, which involved mixing his grains for the next feed and cleaning out the prior days.  Prince is shy and rarely comes up for anything.  We both did win him over a bit and was able to feed him his treats by hand, which is rare.

Jeanne earns Prince's trust and takes his treat from her

Life on the property consists of feeding Prince twice a day.  He ate a combination of grains that we pre-mixed and then let soak for the next feeding.  That meant that we had to take the soaked one to where he feeds, clean out the old one, take that back and make another mixture for the next time.  Finally, we had to make sure his water bucket was full.

Jeanne mixing the grains for Prince's next feeding

The mixture is heavy so Jen has this hauling cart

We replace the old bucket with the fresh one then clean out the older one and start the mixing process all over again

During the times to feed Prince, the pups know that is also a time for them to come out to the outer pasture and play.  Finley is a bit old now to do any ball fetching but Riley, being just a puppy, absolutely loved to fetch the chuckit.

It's playtime in the pasture!

Finley did like to wrestle with a stick from time to time

We had a little bit of warmer weather later in the week and were able to go out on the deck with them.  Riley also was an excellent frisbee catcher.  Finley was the property watch dog.  He liked to keep an eye on everything around and check things out or just enjoy the sun on the deck.

Both of them licked their snuggle time inside too.

They were such good doggies.  They play well together and that made it easy for us to enjoy them for the week we were there.

We miss them but know that we will be watching them for Jen and Joe in the future too.  This wasn't a Trustedhousesitter sit but you can find a review from Jen in the review section that is linked at the top of the blog.

Nani Bear and CooCoo Kitty

We watched Nani Bear and CooCoo Kitty for their owner, Lisa, while she enjoyed two weeks in Mexico from April 8, 2023 to April 22, 2023.  Lisa lived around 30th and Division in inner east side of Portland, OR.

We stayed in a modern one bedroom apartment

The apartment was small but we had no problem adapting and enjoyed our sit a lot.  We had walking distance to restaurants from at least 10 different country cuisines. 

Waiting for pie from Loretta Jean's

Nani Bear was an English Lab and she was a gentle girl.  She was very mannered when getting ready for a walk and was good on a leash.  Lisa liked to use a retractable leash for her as she liked to do a lot of sniffing. We just adapt to whatever the routine and tools are.

We found this neat tunnel on a walk

There was an abundance of neat old neighborhoods in every direction and we explored all of them with her.  She had an amazing sense of direction which was funny because she always wanted to be going away from the apartment as she knew that if not, it meant we were heading back.  Of course, eventually we would have to turn and sometimes she would put up this funny sit down or stand off as an objection in principle. But she wasn't that dififcult and we got around those humorous times.

Clear but cold day for a walk

This was Nani Bear's favorite open area

She also knew exactly where the businesses were that we coulld get treats.  She led us to the pet store who knew her.  We did discover a neat doggie self serve treat box on one of our walks.

The "Good Dog" biscuit station

Our stay had unseasonably colder weather but we were prepared clothing wise and it was just fine even though it was rainging, hailing or cold some days.  But on the couple days of sunshine we took advantage of the weather and took her to the forest for some hiking.  She loved it.  We went to Powell Butte.  It is still in the city but has a good forest area and nice trails.

Hiking at Powell Butte

We made it up to the top trails at Powell Butte

She found every single side trail no matter how overgrown

CooCoo Kitty was a young cat and spent part of his time outside and part inside.  It's always a bit worrysome as pet sitters to watch cats that are outside cats because we cannot control the situation should something happen to them but she was very well mannered and would usually come when you called for her from the back area.

Cuddle time

CooCoo Kitty was sleepy after being outside for awhile

CooCoo Kitty on the backyard fence.  She like the neighbor's big yard

The two got along quite well.  CooCoo Kitty liked to snuggle when she wasn't napping, eating or outside.  It was nice to have a lap kitty for this sit.

Jeanne getting some kitty love

A tired Nani Bear after a hike

Drying off after a wet neighborhood walk

Playtime with CooCoo Kitty

Nani Bear like to chill with me on the couch

Nani was very good in the car

CooCoo Kitty liked to lay on the bed a lot

We really enjoyed our stay with them.  It was truly difficult to have to say goodbye.  We will miss them.

This was an official trustedhousesitters sit and a review is on the site and in our review post on here.

Clover, Lumi, Garfield, Linus and Maple

After making our transition back to the USA to start our official pet sitting full time, our first pet sit was a full house.  Dave and Maria lived in NE Portland and while they enjoyed spring break in Mexico, we watched their two dogs and three cats.  We watched them from March 25 to April 4, 2023.

Clover was a 7 year old mix and a sweetheart boy that would love to just be a big lapdog inside.  Outside he was an avid squirrel searcher during walks.

Lumi was still a large puppy at 1.5 yers.  She definitely had that herding instinct and was a handful to keep busy, but also a sweetheart.  She loved going to the leash free dog park and running with the fast dogs.  Like her brother, she was an active squirrel searcher outside.

We had two nearly identical cats that were brothers.  Linus was a bit more brave than his brother Garfield but both rapidly grew fond of us and were ever present throughout the house wherever we were.

They had a third cat, Maple, that they warned us we would never see.  She like to hide under their bed whenever we went upstairs.  We did sneak a peek at her under the bed but other than that, they were correct, we never saw her out.  But we made sure she had food and a clean cat box nevertheless.

Though it was cold and rainy the majority of our stay, we made the pilgramage to the dog park each morning to give the doggies lots of exercise and socialization.  They were generally good with other dogs but like any dog in a larger dog park, we just had to keep a watch on them for bathroom breaks or other dogs that made it harder for the usual play.  All in all, we had a lot of fun and met some of the morning regulars at the park.

Garfield and Linus slept with us and even Clover joined for part of the night.  But with a double bed, that made for a crowded time.  We would even have Lumi up there for brief periods but she would usually get too hot.

The doggies were good during meal time and never counter-surfed, although they could have easily had the opportunity.  They were expert shedders though and we had special indoor sweats that were our "hair" outfits for the time. 😄

All in all, we had a great time with the big animal family.  Dave and Maria's home was a wonderful old Portland home with that great NW character and they were very gracious and easy going on rules and routine.  We had a lot of indoor plants to watch after but they were pretty easy to give some water to and other than that, we just made sure the place was very clean when we left.  We enjoyed our time with the gang!

This was an official trustedhousesitters sit and a review is on the site and in our review post on here..