Shannon & Colin

Experienced sitters with over 50 5* sits with THS - link available on request

*** We are looking for sits in the Canterbury area over the period of 10th Feb - 27th Feb ***

A reliable, calm, caring, non-smoking, retired couple with a great love of dogs. We will look after your home and pets as if our own.

Hello, we are Colin and Shannon. We took early retirement in April 2021 and since then we have been enjoying the wonderful life of pet sitting. We have completed over 50 sits since we started out. We enjoy the company of dogs and it keeps us active and able to travel more.

We spent 9 years living in Christchurch between 2004 - 2013 and are dual NZ/UK citizens. Now our daughter has left home we are hoping to spend much more time back in New Zealand, starting with this trip. We are going to be here between the 5th Feb and 30th March 2025. We plan to catch up with friends in Christchurch and spend time in the area and then hope to see some of the North Island where we have a sit booked for mid March as that is something we didn't do enough of when we were here.

We are huge dog lovers and as well as owning dogs and sitting for family and friends over the years we have experience on THS completing over 50 sits (many repeats) for all types of dog (as can be seen in our photos), e.g. large dogs, older dogs, dogs with mobility issues (ivdd), rescues (reactive/ timid or nervous). Dogs that sleep in crates or dog beds and some that have slept on our bed. We don't mind either way.

All dogs we care for get lots of cuddles, after all that is why we do this :-), unless of course they really are not into them. Some of the very timid ones may take a little longer to warm up but generally would find their way to one of our laps.

Unfortunately we are unable to sit for cats as Colin is highly allergic to them.

We have lived abroad for many years staying in rental and holiday homes and also as home owners. We built our dream home in Christchurch, NZ. Unfortunately after 9 years in NZ the earthquakes changed our long term plans and we returned to the UK in 2013 after also spending a year in Melbourne, Australia.

From our previous careers we have held the highest levels of security and police clearances and are advanced drivers. We also have excellent references as you can see below. We pride ourselves on keeping anywhere we stay clean and tidy as we are very house proud. We can turn our hands to general household maintenance tasks and light gardening. Mowing Lawns, weeding, watering etc. We request only non-smoking homes.

We have over 50 five star reviews on Trustedhousesitters. You can read our reviews on the THS website by searching for a sitter in Christchurch (NZ) and looking for us.

Some examples are here:

Sally: 21/5 - 14/6 2024
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Shannon and Colin have done several sits for us, but this was the longest so far. If I just filled this section with complimentary words about them, it still wouldn’t be enough.
They love our dogs and our dogs love them, nothing fazes them, they are organised, think for themselves, they do not take liberties, they look after our home as if it were their own, leave it clean and tidy and just do what’s needed and more without any fuss. They are the epitome of dog sitters!
The best part is that they have become dear friends, we always look forward to their arrival and the chance to pick up where we have previously left off and always feel a little sad when they leave.

Stephanie: 17/6 - 5/7 2024
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Another excellent sit by Shannon and Colin - communication great as always, and returned to lots of compliments from local dog walkers about how lovely and friendly they are when they meet up on walks. Hugo is looking forward to seeing them again next month!

Hannah: 16/4 - 22/4 2024
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Shannon & Colin were our first sitter experience, and we couldn't have been happier! Douglas was so well looked after whilst we were away and it gave us great peace of mind to know he was being looked after by such responsible and experienced sitters. We loved our updates on how Doug was doing, and Shannon & Colin were lovely, organised and calm throughout the whole experience - even when we unfortunately missed our flight home. They also left the house even cleaner than how they found it, and a lovely loaf of bread for us to enjoy when we got home 🥰 brilliant sitters - thank you!

We really look forward to taking care of many more pets. We hope that by choosing us you can take that holiday or work trip safe in the knowledge that your pets and home are in the best of hands.