Laura & Gary

My husband Gary and I (53 & 49) have been pet sitting on and off for 8 years - more on than off now that our kids have all recently flown the nest. We've condensed our lives, rented out our home in Wales and turned into what we hope will be for the long term “snow birds”
We have a caravan sited in Tenby for when we’re back in the UK. However, I’m continuously searching on the THS platforms and similar for UK house sitting opportunities even during the summer months whilst we’re back. We have got the bug and enjoy it so much. Our elderly dog died last year which was both painful and also freeing in terms of this “phase 2” of our lives.
We have been housesitting sporadically for around 8 years mainly on THS. We have also housesat through other platforms, returned to quite a few of the houses informally.
Gary works remotely so we’re able to fund as we go.

I have a background in private housekeeping & we were also foster carers for around 12 years so as you can imagine, we’ve been vetted to umpteenth degree, in addition I was a carer to a disabled adult for 5 years, a role that I adored.
In our last year before taking off, I wanted to do dog home boarding so we became licensed home boarders with our local authority. It was a wonderful year and, not meaning to sound like l missed the modesty class, there were many re bookings and sadness from owners that we weren’t going to be longer term for them. However, we made some lovely connections- one being Reg the dachshund, now a solid FB friend.
We’ve owned both large and small dogs ourselves from Chihuahuas, Yorkies and my last dog was an Italian spinone which is XL breed. We’ve looked family groups of dogs from pugs to GSDs. We’ve experienced reactive dogs, incontinent dogs and dogs that needed medication as examples of additional support needs.

We’ve looked after horses, Gary used to own one, and some farm animals too. I have to say that dogs and cats are more of our thing though we do love all animals. If I’m honest, I might want to give rodents a miss, though as long as it’s caged…

We can both drive, have our own car and would be open to all locations around the UK if the overall position looked suitable for us. We will be back in the UK from the beginning of May, after that, we’re hoping to stay in the UK, possibly housesitting or just happy staying at our lovely caravan home until about the end of Oct/Nov through to March/April 2025 when we will once more return to warmer climes.


Let me know what you think and you’re welcome to get in touch.