Island Bay Wellington

Hi,
We are looking for dog-experienced house-sitters to care for and have fun with our deaf border collie Ben while we are away August-October. We also have two guinea pigs.

Our home is a comfortable, humble 3 bedroom 60s house on the hill. Our house gets full afternoon sun until sunset and has a lovely western view over towards Hawkins Hill and the iconic Wellington wind turbine.
From our house you can walk to the Island Bay shops in 10 minutes where there is a supermarket, cafes, hairdresser, pizza, Thai, art galleries, a medical centre, small library and mechanic. 10 minutes further down the road is Island Bay Beach where we occasionally spot dolphins!
We have a heat pump, heaters, modern TV, dishdraw, washing machine and dryer, a basic oven and toaster, but no microwave.
We have a queen bed, set of bunks and a single bed. All cotton linen on these.
There is a small 'granny flat' underneath our house where our downstairs neighbour lives. They are generally very quiet and work during the day.

Our dog, Ben is a 4 year old deaf border collie. We adopted him at 2.5 years old and he comes with some quirks! He is pretty high energy and will play ball all day if you let him. He needs a calm, assertive person to help him know what is expected of him and when to settle and relax. He can get 'worked up' and start chasing shadows, reflections, and even toes if he's excited. He is crate trained and needs his relax time in his crate. He knows a lot of hand signals, including 'lie down' and 'relax'. He likes cuddles and soft pats and scratches, and he is a joy when he does settle. We take him for long walks in the town belt and throw the ball for him on a long line (he needs to stay on the leash on walks). He can be dog reactive if he perceives another dog as threatening or 'in his face', so we have particular areas we walk him with few other dogs. He's good with people and responds well to treats and toys (especially balls!). He will be well suited to someone who is experienced with working breeds and knows some dog training techniques.
We also have 2 guinea pigs who generally just need lots of grass and hay, with water top ups and some veggie scraps.

We have a semi-wild garden where we are nurturing native plants, young fruit trees, a small veggie patch and a menagerie of other wild, wonderful plants (If you know about edible wild plants you may be in your element!). There are spots in the garden where you can hang a hammock or just sit among the trees for a little bit of nature. We are frequently visited by Tui. Silvereyes, and fantail, with the occasional Kaka or Karearea flying over. We don't expect much maintenance of the garden (but feel free to have a play if you are green-fingered). Someone comes to trim the lawns once a month. Our garden is organic, and our home is free of artificial chemical sprays and fragrances (We use mainly Ecostore cleaning products).

We prefer sitters who are able to be available at least every 4 hours to let Ben out of his crate for play time or exercise (he sleeps all night without needing to be let out).

Our usual day goes something like this: Ben watches us get the kids ready for school 7:30-8am, We let him out and take him on the school drop-off run. He gets a long walk/exercise between 9-10 am (usually earlier on the weekends). Back at home, he gets breakfast and maybe a bone to chew. We encourage him to rest and sometimes he naps for an hour or two. If he can't self-settle, we encourage him back into his crate for some low-stimulus relax time. At lunchtime we let him out again, for some ball play, tug-toy, or another walk. In the afternoon it is the same in reverse- nap, school pick-up and walk/exercise. If the kids are too tired after school then they come home first and Ben gets his afternoon run sometime between 4-6pm. Usually he's ok in the evening to do gentle ball play while we make dinner. We have dinner and then feed him right after. Sometimes he will settle enough to have a cuddle while we watch TV, usually he needs to go to bed around 8:30-9pm.

If you think you will be a good match, please do get in touch :)

Helen & David