Hello everyone,
We are a couple living in Porto, Portugal. We just joined the community and wanted to introduce ourselves.
My name is Eduardo, Iām 34yo and I work remotely as a Designer and Project Manager for an Irish Cyber Security company. Iāve been working remotely for over 7 years now which is amazing as I get to spend a lot of time with our rescue dog Elvis (yes, like that Elvis ).
Corinne is 29yo and currently work as Learning Experience Designer for a Portuguese company. Corinne has also been working remotely since COVID hit and will probably be back to the office at some point next year, that is if COVID goes away for good of course.
Weāve been living in Portugal for about 5 years now. We are currently living in Porto but before lived in a city called Braga (lovely city, if you ever plan on visiting Portugal, consider going to Braga for a day).
Corinne and I met in Dublin, Ireland (where sheās from) while I was living there to study English and also work as a Designer. We moved to Brazil and lived in SĆ£o Paulo and Natal (another amazing place worth visiting) for over two years before moving to Portugal.
Here in Portugal, we volunteered in Braga at an animal shelter for around 6 months and it was probably then when we decided we wanted to adopt a rescue dog.
We adopted probably the cuddliest dog you will ever meet. Elvis was around 4 yo when we adopted him and I knew it was him the moment I saw his huge paws - they are actually not that big but Elvis has a weird body shape, people often say he looks like a Husky puppy, they usually call him āLobinhoā which is Portuguese for āSmall Wolfā.
Elvis is just an amazing and lovely dog , at home all he wants to do is to sleep, get some cuddles, and eat, of course. We usually joke and say that Elvis is two dogs in one because at home he is SUPER relaxed and doesnāt care much about playing. Whenever we have friends over they always comment on how calm and relaxed he is.
But when we go out for walks, Elvis is much more energetic (I think his strategy is to save up his energy while heās at home for his walks). He loves his walks (as long itās not raining) and is very friendly with other people and dogs (females mainly). He can get a bit territorial with other male dogs but mostly because other male dogs are bigger than him and they sometimes try to jump on him.
Elvis has been through a knee surgery a couple of months ago and has recovered very well. He walks normally but can get a bit tired if he walks for a bit too long or put too much pressure on his knee, so its something we have to keep an eye on.
We are joining as Owners and Sitters as we are looking forward to meeting new people and pets. Iāve always had dogs, birds and some exotic animals at my parentsā place, which was great as it gave me confidence and knowledge to be around other animals.
Elvis is our only pet, sadly. We would love to get another dog but we would need a bigger outdoor area for that! I think thatās pretty much it, I think I wrote a bit too much so please be patient.
Before I go, I only have a couple of questions and it would be great if you guys could give us your input:
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I know this is relative but how easy is it to get sitters? Iām just wondering how easy will it be to get sitters here in Porto.
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How long in advance do you usually start preparing for a trip and put up your ad for sitters? 1 month? 3 months? 6? longer? I know the longer you have your ad up, the more applicants you will get, but I just wonder if we have some sort of emergency, how easy would it be to get sitters.
I think thatās all guys. We wish you all an amazing day!
Ed and Corinne