Hilbert, Western Australia
ID: 3n99Single-storey house in the suburbs
Nearest major city: | Perth |
Sitter required for: | 21 Feb 2025 27 Mar 202534 days |
Pet sitting required: | 3 dogs |
Sitter's pets welcome: | Yes |
Reply rating: |
About this house sitting position in hilbert
Hello
PLEASE PLEASE only reply if you will not cancel as I have had the problem 2-3 times that people confirm then cancel
l am in Hilbert, near Armadale WA
l have 3 spoodles that do need cuddles every day. They are very loving dogs and love to be around people and are inside dogs. The 2 girls are small size and Ollie the boy is around 12kg and they are toilet trained. Ollie does need a little more attention when inside but will discuss this with you
l also have an aviary with budgies and these only need feeding every 2nd day and water change every 4-6 days depending on weather.
l have a 4 x 2 home and you will have your own bedroom with TV/dvd player, A/C ,clean, secure and safe. lock up garage.
Everything you need for your stay just bring your food, pillow and blanket. (if needed l have a blanket too)
l would prefer a non smoker. (if a smoker l would request that smoking only outside not inside)
The garden is very low maintenance and only the occasional weed pulling is needed.
l am a 5 minute drive from Armadale's 2 main shopping centres (and the local supermarket is also less than 5 minutes away by car) PLEASE NOTE that the train service into the city will not be running and buses will be used instead
l do leave a list of all requirements before leaving and of course discuss it with you before l leave. l also have emergency contact if you have any questions/problems and not able to contact me.
lf you are interested l will send you a photo of the house and the dogs.
lf you have any other questions for me please ask.
Thanks Andrea
Please note any questions please ask in regards to the review left with very bad comments about myself and my home which where all untrue and discussed in length with mindahome directly Read more...
Amenities
Internet
Wifi
Aircon
Heater
Dishwasher
Close to
Shopping Centre
Supermarket
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Restaurants/Cafes
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“To Whom It May Concern,
My partner and I have been housesitting around the world for the past eight years and have amassed over 30 housesits during this time. During this time, we have received glowing references and have never had anyone unsatisfied with our work. Since our reputation is extremely important to us, we feel it necessary to respond to our first unsatisfactory review by a recent homeowner. Please note we have emails and pictures to back up everything stated below.
We responded to an ad from Andrea of Hilbert, Australia at the mindahome.com website. She needed housesitters with short notice as her original housesitters canceled and the dates worked well for us, so an agreement was reached to care for her three dogs and 16 or so birds while she was away. Andrea did invite us to the house for a visit prior to accepting, but looking at the three small dogs figured this was just a normal situation. Everything was bopping along as it always does with these things until we arrived on the day of the housesit.
We had a two day overlap from the housesit we were finishing and Andrea’s housesit, so Erica dropped me off at Andrea’s and returned to the old housesit. This is where I feel the need to go point by point through Andrea’s review and offer my thoughts.
1)- We agreed to watch three dogs. When I arrived, an additional dog was added to the list without any prior notification from Andrea. Usually, this is not a problem as we looked after 4 Balinese dogs in Bali for seven months (to another rave review!). This was different as the newest member to the clan was a young female who was coming into heat. Changing doggie diapers and dealing with two unfixed males with a female coming into heat was not in our agreement with Andrea and was something we were not prepared to deal with. If we had known ahead of time, we would have declined the housesit from the start. We feel it was incredibly unfair to put us in this position. Be that as it may, it was the situation we were in and it needed to be dealt with. Since Andrea’s friend had a sick child, we kept the female for a week until she was gracious enough to take the extra dog off of our hands.
2)- Andrea comments that we did not invite her friend, Courtney, and young son into the house when they arrived to collect Rosie. Her friend’s son is a very young toddler. While they have their own sweet personalities, Andrea’s dogs are basically feral in that they are completely untrained and allowed to jump all over anyone and anything in sight. We felt it safer to keep the dogs away from the child to keep from knocking him over and possibly becoming injured.
The description of events with Courtney are interesting. I, Fred, spoke with Courtney at the door, not Erica. I offered a lead for Rosie (with an extra long length) and offered the doggie diapers for when Rosie came into heat. Both offers were politely refused. At no time were Courtney and her child locked out in the heat. Ridiculous! True we did not invite them into the house for the reasons above, but all dog items were located instantly and the handover was rather smooth and uneventful. I know this because Erica did not know where any of the dog items were and I did.
The description of confusion with pickup dates for Rosie is completely refuted by text messages between Erica and Andrea which can be provided to anyone on request.
3)- Andrea also claims as “fact” that her dogs were not walked because the neighbors stated they only saw us walking the dogs a couple of times. Completely false. We take our responsibilities very seriously. I walked the dogs personally every day. I was unaware I was to inform the neighbors of my daily dog walking. Note to future housesitters; these dogs are balls of energy and go completely off the charts when they know they are going for a walk – again the word feral comes to mind. They are untrained, difficult to get on leads and the three of them together have quite a pull on the leads.
4)- I work for a company on the internet. As we were driving to Andrea’s, I got a phone call from my employer stating they had an emergency situation and asked me to take a shift that directly conflicted with driving Andrea to the airport. So, upon arriving, I asked Andrea if I could not only call an Uber to drive her to the airport, but I also offered to PAY for the Uber as well. I insisted a half dozen times and each time, Andrea declined. It was Andrea’s choice to inconvenience a friend instead of having me pay for a ride. I am not sure how much else I could have done under the circumstances.
5)- It was agreed ahead of time that the use of Andrea’s car was included in the housesit. As with everything else, we take great pride in the care of others pets and property. This car was indescribably dirty with trash everywhere and food containers thrown about inside. It was so incredulous, I had to take before and after pictures. Andrea arrived home to a completely clean car with more diesel in the tank than when we arrived.
The house was in a similar state. We understand that people live differently with some folks tidier than others. Since the dogs have run of the house and furniture and drag everything in with them, suffice it to say that Andrea’s place is not the cleanest place in the world, in fact, it was downright unclean. The male dogs are chained inside at night and have a habit of peeing on the floors inside as well, even after extensive time late at night for a “final wee”. Erica set about cleaning everything when she arrived two days later. Again Andrea returned home to a completely clean home with all linens washed and put away.
6)- Andrea claims we were irresponsible for changing the puppy’s food without her knowledge. We left a detailed list of handover notes for Andrea when she arrived home. In the detailed notes, I described the following. Had I not mentioned it in the notes, there would have been no way she would have known what happened. We believe in honest transparency and described the situation.
When we arrived, the puppy, Ollie was on puppy food. We pay attention to our pets and noticed right away that he was constipated and having great difficulty defecating. He was constantly straining and nothing was coming out. Having raised our own dogs and looked after countess others, we recognized that he may have an allergy or intolerance to his food. Since Andrea was incommunicado for most of her trip (again, we have saved all communications), we had the following choices: a)- leave him alone and hope it cleared up; b) take him to the vet or c)- try a different food. We waited 48 hours to see if the situation would clear up on its own. It did not. Then we were left with the options b and c. Before taking him to the vet and incurring a nice vet fee, we opted to change his food to what the older dogs were eating to see if this was the issue. Within 24 hours he was pooing like a champ. Obviously, he was having a reaction to the puppy food. We would think our actions would be applauded as mindful pet carers, but obviously not in this case. I simply ask the reader, “what would you have done?”
7)- Andrea also claims her dogs were somehow mistreated by being outside before her return. Please! I had to be at work and we needed to be at our next housesit and Andrea was due home in a few hours. We walked and fed them before we left and left them quite content in the enclosed yard – under cover with plenty of fresh water. We did not leave the “special red bowl” with water as the pup loves to knock it over. The pup loves to knock over the water buckets and bowls. We decided to leave another large bowl PLUS the proper watering dispenser – one he could not knock over- to make sure they had plenty of water. The dogs had plenty of shade under the porch and there are plenty of shaded areas around the house and the dogs often went on their own be in these shaded areas. Andrea’s assumptions in this matter are simply without merit.
8)- Andrea claims we only updated her twice during her trip. We have all emails and sms to prove otherwise. In these communications, Andrea states she is out of range on certain dates and when she returns to civilization, states her phone is not working and please leave emails. On one occasion, Erica mistakenly put Tuesday as our leaving day in an email to Andrea when in fact it was Wednesday. Andrea’s concerned email at 6:34 was answered and date corrected at 6:39 (5 minutes). We have a complete log of all emails and text messages.
9)- Andrea claims we gave her short notice on getting a ride from the airport. Erica sent an email to Andrea on 26 Jan ASKING if it were possible for Andrea to obtain a ride from the airport, a full 10 days before her flight home. Hardly short notice and it was a request. Had she not been able to get a ride, we would have gladly collected her.
10)- A couple of things to conclude. A)- we departed on Wed 5th of Feb, not the 4th, B)- birds were watered and fed as instructed. Did not see any signs of mice. All birds were alive and well when we left.
Anyone thinking about sitting for Andrea please make sure you get all the details about how many dogs, which are having pups and which are coming into heat. As well as be prepared to be in a home that is dirty and smells like dog pee as the males will pee at night on the corner of the lounge chairs even if you let them out at 11 pm and again at 4.30 am for a pee.
Kindest Regards
Erica and Fred
” - Read more
My partner and I have been housesitting around the world for the past eight years and have amassed over 30 housesits during this time. During this time, we have received glowing references and have never had anyone unsatisfied with our work. Since our reputation is extremely important to us, we feel it necessary to respond to our first unsatisfactory review by a recent homeowner. Please note we have emails and pictures to back up everything stated below.
We responded to an ad from Andrea of Hilbert, Australia at the mindahome.com website. She needed housesitters with short notice as her original housesitters canceled and the dates worked well for us, so an agreement was reached to care for her three dogs and 16 or so birds while she was away. Andrea did invite us to the house for a visit prior to accepting, but looking at the three small dogs figured this was just a normal situation. Everything was bopping along as it always does with these things until we arrived on the day of the housesit.
We had a two day overlap from the housesit we were finishing and Andrea’s housesit, so Erica dropped me off at Andrea’s and returned to the old housesit. This is where I feel the need to go point by point through Andrea’s review and offer my thoughts.
1)- We agreed to watch three dogs. When I arrived, an additional dog was added to the list without any prior notification from Andrea. Usually, this is not a problem as we looked after 4 Balinese dogs in Bali for seven months (to another rave review!). This was different as the newest member to the clan was a young female who was coming into heat. Changing doggie diapers and dealing with two unfixed males with a female coming into heat was not in our agreement with Andrea and was something we were not prepared to deal with. If we had known ahead of time, we would have declined the housesit from the start. We feel it was incredibly unfair to put us in this position. Be that as it may, it was the situation we were in and it needed to be dealt with. Since Andrea’s friend had a sick child, we kept the female for a week until she was gracious enough to take the extra dog off of our hands.
2)- Andrea comments that we did not invite her friend, Courtney, and young son into the house when they arrived to collect Rosie. Her friend’s son is a very young toddler. While they have their own sweet personalities, Andrea’s dogs are basically feral in that they are completely untrained and allowed to jump all over anyone and anything in sight. We felt it safer to keep the dogs away from the child to keep from knocking him over and possibly becoming injured.
The description of events with Courtney are interesting. I, Fred, spoke with Courtney at the door, not Erica. I offered a lead for Rosie (with an extra long length) and offered the doggie diapers for when Rosie came into heat. Both offers were politely refused. At no time were Courtney and her child locked out in the heat. Ridiculous! True we did not invite them into the house for the reasons above, but all dog items were located instantly and the handover was rather smooth and uneventful. I know this because Erica did not know where any of the dog items were and I did.
The description of confusion with pickup dates for Rosie is completely refuted by text messages between Erica and Andrea which can be provided to anyone on request.
3)- Andrea also claims as “fact” that her dogs were not walked because the neighbors stated they only saw us walking the dogs a couple of times. Completely false. We take our responsibilities very seriously. I walked the dogs personally every day. I was unaware I was to inform the neighbors of my daily dog walking. Note to future housesitters; these dogs are balls of energy and go completely off the charts when they know they are going for a walk – again the word feral comes to mind. They are untrained, difficult to get on leads and the three of them together have quite a pull on the leads.
4)- I work for a company on the internet. As we were driving to Andrea’s, I got a phone call from my employer stating they had an emergency situation and asked me to take a shift that directly conflicted with driving Andrea to the airport. So, upon arriving, I asked Andrea if I could not only call an Uber to drive her to the airport, but I also offered to PAY for the Uber as well. I insisted a half dozen times and each time, Andrea declined. It was Andrea’s choice to inconvenience a friend instead of having me pay for a ride. I am not sure how much else I could have done under the circumstances.
5)- It was agreed ahead of time that the use of Andrea’s car was included in the housesit. As with everything else, we take great pride in the care of others pets and property. This car was indescribably dirty with trash everywhere and food containers thrown about inside. It was so incredulous, I had to take before and after pictures. Andrea arrived home to a completely clean car with more diesel in the tank than when we arrived.
The house was in a similar state. We understand that people live differently with some folks tidier than others. Since the dogs have run of the house and furniture and drag everything in with them, suffice it to say that Andrea’s place is not the cleanest place in the world, in fact, it was downright unclean. The male dogs are chained inside at night and have a habit of peeing on the floors inside as well, even after extensive time late at night for a “final wee”. Erica set about cleaning everything when she arrived two days later. Again Andrea returned home to a completely clean home with all linens washed and put away.
6)- Andrea claims we were irresponsible for changing the puppy’s food without her knowledge. We left a detailed list of handover notes for Andrea when she arrived home. In the detailed notes, I described the following. Had I not mentioned it in the notes, there would have been no way she would have known what happened. We believe in honest transparency and described the situation.
When we arrived, the puppy, Ollie was on puppy food. We pay attention to our pets and noticed right away that he was constipated and having great difficulty defecating. He was constantly straining and nothing was coming out. Having raised our own dogs and looked after countess others, we recognized that he may have an allergy or intolerance to his food. Since Andrea was incommunicado for most of her trip (again, we have saved all communications), we had the following choices: a)- leave him alone and hope it cleared up; b) take him to the vet or c)- try a different food. We waited 48 hours to see if the situation would clear up on its own. It did not. Then we were left with the options b and c. Before taking him to the vet and incurring a nice vet fee, we opted to change his food to what the older dogs were eating to see if this was the issue. Within 24 hours he was pooing like a champ. Obviously, he was having a reaction to the puppy food. We would think our actions would be applauded as mindful pet carers, but obviously not in this case. I simply ask the reader, “what would you have done?”
7)- Andrea also claims her dogs were somehow mistreated by being outside before her return. Please! I had to be at work and we needed to be at our next housesit and Andrea was due home in a few hours. We walked and fed them before we left and left them quite content in the enclosed yard – under cover with plenty of fresh water. We did not leave the “special red bowl” with water as the pup loves to knock it over. The pup loves to knock over the water buckets and bowls. We decided to leave another large bowl PLUS the proper watering dispenser – one he could not knock over- to make sure they had plenty of water. The dogs had plenty of shade under the porch and there are plenty of shaded areas around the house and the dogs often went on their own be in these shaded areas. Andrea’s assumptions in this matter are simply without merit.
8)- Andrea claims we only updated her twice during her trip. We have all emails and sms to prove otherwise. In these communications, Andrea states she is out of range on certain dates and when she returns to civilization, states her phone is not working and please leave emails. On one occasion, Erica mistakenly put Tuesday as our leaving day in an email to Andrea when in fact it was Wednesday. Andrea’s concerned email at 6:34 was answered and date corrected at 6:39 (5 minutes). We have a complete log of all emails and text messages.
9)- Andrea claims we gave her short notice on getting a ride from the airport. Erica sent an email to Andrea on 26 Jan ASKING if it were possible for Andrea to obtain a ride from the airport, a full 10 days before her flight home. Hardly short notice and it was a request. Had she not been able to get a ride, we would have gladly collected her.
10)- A couple of things to conclude. A)- we departed on Wed 5th of Feb, not the 4th, B)- birds were watered and fed as instructed. Did not see any signs of mice. All birds were alive and well when we left.
Anyone thinking about sitting for Andrea please make sure you get all the details about how many dogs, which are having pups and which are coming into heat. As well as be prepared to be in a home that is dirty and smells like dog pee as the males will pee at night on the corner of the lounge chairs even if you let them out at 11 pm and again at 4.30 am for a pee.
Kindest Regards
Erica and Fred
” - Read more
Erica - Great House Sitters With Excellent Refs - 24 Feb 2020
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