Post sit blues

Even after all the years we have been sitting it is hard to say goodbye. My husband and I occasionally find ourselves talking to a pet that we are no longer sitting a couple days after we leave. We have been fortunate to have many repeat sits to keep the relationships going. We had a long sit on Curaçao and raised a litter of puppies while there. We even had to bottle feed them! I was so sad to leave, really missed them and couldn’t wait to see them again. We stopped there on a cruise over a year later. The owner picked us up to go spend the day with them. It made me so happy to see them grown and healthy!

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It’s always tough to say goodbye, and it doesn’t get any easier with time. We’ve been happy members of THS for six years now, and are currently on our 60th sit. While the farewells remain difficult, I’ve learned how to cope better with them over the years. Each time it is a joy to see the pets reunited with their humans, and I know there is another pet waiting for us around the corner…

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Love that. Thanks for sharing.

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Agreed. That’s been my experience. I’m sitting full time now as well, and am so excited to meet the next pets. It’s a constant adventure, and so much fun. I absolutely love this site and the joy I get from traveling AND pet sitting.

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I think it depends on the sit and the animals, there are some that you bond with more than others. We had a pet sit in Amsterdam and I fell in love with a little Romanian rescue dog named Bear. Well we kept in touch and told them how much we loved Bear, And the next time they went away they reached out so we planned our trip around going to sit with him again. And then we moved to Amsterdam! I swear not just for him lol But now he is a 15 minute walk from here and we have visited with him several times already :slight_smile: so just keep in touch with people whose animals you love and perhaps you can go back to sit again, that will make you looking forward to the future future and not being sad I think.

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What a great story - thanks for sharing!

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We joined for the same reason. I’ve found some pets I really bond with and miss them tremendously. We also bond with the owners. There are times I want to call them up just to say hello and ask how their pets are doing. :rofl::rofl:.

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You could offer to foster animals for the animal shelter near you, or spend time with cats and walk shelter dogs.

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I’m always sad to say goodbye, but I completely humiliated myself at the end of my last sit by sobbing like a child. Not helped by the dog trying to climb into the car and come with me. Such a little heart-breaker! I’d just had such a great time exploring with him, and was so sad that it was all coming to an end. But perhaps the fleeting nature of these bonds is part of the magic of house-sitting?

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That’s how I feel too!

We are part of a number of schemes & have a dog that comes to stay so fostering would be difficult. I couldn’t cope with helping out at a rescue as I would want to bring them home so my compromise is that I’m part of a fundraising group Paws for a Cause where we raise money for lots of different shelters. Its shocking how many animals are in rescues.

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Can totally relate to the tears. I also feel sorry for HOs - particularly those who don’t understand that animals will bond with others. We sat for two young cats who had never been left before. The owners were shocked when they saw pictures of the cats on our knees as they said they never did that with them.

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