What an excellent idea, one which I am sure will prove both popular and a Godsend for many people (myself included).

A note of caution.

As a much younger man I once dog sat for an evening to help a friend. At some point in the evening the dog swallowed one of its toys. A mad dash to the vet was not enough to save the dog.

You can imagine the dog owners reaction when they got home from the funeral they had been attending.

If something is going to go wrong it will happen when you're looking after someone elses pride and joy.

I would suggest a waiver should be signed by all concerned.

I got a right bollocking from the vet and a lecture on sensible toys for dogs as well. I didn't pass the information on to my ex friend.

Thanks for your inputs and I am sorry about that unfortunate incident.

However, I am not sure what a waiver would do, in such arrangements, as this is informal and money will not change hands (but I wont say no to wine!). I welcome thoughts on that as well as further explainations though.

All in all, I believe that strong common sense needs to be applied in this sort of arrangement (between the sitter as well as the person leaving the pet). Should I decide to leave my pet with someone, I need to make sure that they will be equipped or experienced enough to handle my dog's energy, lifestyle as well as their plans for that weekend. Otherwise, unfortunate accidents will happen regardless of whether you entrust your dog with the most experienced, sought after sitter on the market or just a friend. Just my 2 rappens.

Aggie, we should let our dogs meet up soon. I live down the lake from you, and their age gaps are not too far apart. I am sure they will get on like a house on fire. I will be happy to help look her after if she is not in season during that period of you being away. My dog is castrated but alot of dogs down this side arent

I think this is a wonderful idea. At the moment i cannot have a dog as my current landlord will not allow animals, but i am moving in september to an apartment with a garden so i can once again have a doggie of my own.
In the meantime i am always looking to look after/walk dogs during the day and evenings as dogs have always been my life and moving here it is such a lovely place to be able to exercise myself and dogs at the same time.
sue

Fantastic idea, Summerrain - kudos to you for getting this going!


Best of luck with the project.

This may be Switzerland but, coming from a litigious society, I think it's a smart thing to do. When we boarded our parrots in the US, not only do you sign a waiver, you also sign an agreement that they can take your pet to the vet and that you are authorized to permit the vet to take any and all measures to save your pet or only up to a certain dollar amount. It saves the person who is watching your pets from wondering 'What do I do?' if they can't get in touch with you. It may or may not be something you want to do or think is necessary here, but it is something to think about.

After thinking about this, I think I will leave it to the individual owners to decide between themselves if they want to do that.

I think the objective of this thread should be to just provide the contacts, finding a match, and not let anyone on either side of the fence feel pressured to do anything they are not comfortable with.

Well.. looks like youre putting me as a petsitter out of business here summerrain!

Lucky I'm leaving

I do like the waiver idea though. Of course, when all goes well it seems so simple and safe and fine.. and a waiver seems pointless.
But when I'm looking after somebody else's pet.. I am terrified 100% of the time (I think I may be quoting Meredith Grey there) that something will go wrong, and often the owners are hard to contact (as I discovered this week when all of a sudden the hot water in this house died on me!) and I would really love to have some clear guidelines on what to do, and what to allow the vets to do and everything..

I guess people should just think about it.

This thread is a great idea though

great idea!

Spacey has a good point, here's an example of how such an agreement or understanding could look like.

I think this is a great idea. I now have my two cats here but they love to go out and I cant let them, one was hit by car and still recovering. Not sure I would want to put that stress on someone else. Pets will have accidents. Back home I had official pet sitters and they were brilliant, not sure you can get this service here.

Yes you can. I am sure a cat owner will be along very soon with some good recommendations. Alternatively, do a search on this forum.

Hi, I have an ill cat at home and I'm not too sure whether it would be a good idea to let a friend do the catsitting... if something would happen to Arthur (my purr burger), I believe my friend would be traumatised for ever.

I use the services of Cats and Co (http://www.haustierbetreuung.ch/). Denise Steiner is running the business and I feel safe with her looking after the kitties, as she used to work as a vet assistant - she would recognize anything funny straight away and bring Arthur to the vet. They ask 28.- a day - I find it rather decent, especially as she is willing to travel quite a bit. She covers the greater Zürich aera, from Zürich-north (Kloten) to Küsnacht. I don't know if she speaks english but it might be worth trying to get in touch with her. Very much recommended!

I know you couldnt let a friend take responsibility. I will bookmark this website though. Whenever the volcano subsides I might get back to get my stuff.

By the way, I checked with her today - she speaks english... v.good

hi everybody, last year i used to live in Wollerau and i've done a lot of dog and cat sitting and i really loved it, i will be back in switzerland in septembre so if there is some owner who would need someone help to take care of there pets around zurich'lake, i will be realy happy to go out with them and to feed them, well everything they need.
i've 1 diplome in agriculture and an other one in management and concervation of the wild life, i've done 2 month of volunteer in a reserve in peru amasonia, with a lot of wild animal, and this month i'm going to take care of sea turtle.
anyway all this to say that i have some experience with animal, there are my passion.

if you leave in holiday in can also do some house sitting : i will take of your pets and in the same time keep your house safe and clean untill your return.

some stuff about me :
i'm a 23 years old french girl who speak english all the time because of my travellings.
i have also no problem to work with swissgerman people even if i don't speak german.

okay well send an email if you need me, i will be realy happy, i have all the time during the morning and the afternoon so go ahead and contact me ...

thank you

Thanks for everyone's responses so far and I hope some of you have managed to contact those who've signed up near you, to arrange for walks or chats. I've met AggieCoco's beautiful and well behaved lab down the road from me and our dogs got on like a house on fire. Its a great relief to finally find another person that I can trust with (and tolerate!) my dog if we decide to go away.

Just a gentle reminder, for those of you who didnt read the first post of mine - that this thread is not for paid pet sitting services, nor for advertising - I hope everyone can respect that. Some of the posts I've read arent exactly clear if the poster is volunteering their free time to look after someone else's pet or offering their pet sitting services, which is not the point of this thread.

Apologies in advance if I'm cynical.

i-b-deborah, seems like you might have potentially found someone!!

Anyone willing to sit for my 3 cherubs (labs) 22-26 July either here or at your own home? If so please PM me to discuss.

TIA

Ooops, wrong dates it's 15th-19th July.... glad that was spotted before I hit confirm on the flights