What is Happening Here?...Dog Walking (said with an English accent)!

After a month of hot, hot weather in Greece (and that week in Albania), I made my way to England. And, you won't believe this but it was predicted to RAIN. I haven't seen much of that in the last month. 

My first stop was St. Albans but not for sightseeing. It was my first gig as a Trusted Housesitter. My charge was Miss Elsa, an American pocket bully.

As you can imagine, six months of travel can get pretty expensive, especially when visit more expensive countries like the UK, so I have found a few ways to keep housing costs down. Petsitting is one of those. Basically, I stay for free in exchange for making sure the furry family member(s) are well cared for. Since it was my first time, the jury is still out on how I like it. I like the free part. However, it can be a little daunting to be responsible for a stranger's home and pet. I didn't get to meet the family and the pup before so I felt a bit lost when I arrived. 

It is also weird to be in someone else's house, searching through cupboards and rooms for things you need. Plus, some may know this about me, but I am a bit of a neat freak. So, it took ALL of my willpower not to do some deep cleaning at the house. Having a dog, especially a bully breed, is all about cleaning. It's about vacuuming and cleaning up drool and more vacuuming and more cleaning up drool. This was a busy family of 5 with small kids so keeping up with that schedule is probably impossible. I lost the battle more than once but hopefully, it was helpful to them. 

I was definitely reminded how much work dogs are! There's the walking, the feeding, the medicine, the playing, the snoring, the cleaning up and REPEAT...it was work about 30% of the time and the rest of the time it was just lounging and listening to Elsa snore while I got some computer stuff done ( you know like start a resume for when the time comes to join the work world again). I also got some video calls in with friends, let me know if you want to chat--I love chatting with people at home.

When Elas was awake, she was awake and she demanded strong footing and strong arms. She liked to play pull and shake, which almost tossed me over the fence. We stopped that game and the pull toy disappeared! We had lovely walks once or twice a day, not heart rate up kind of walk, but to a lovely park that included little nature walks. 

All in all, it was a good long weekend to regroup to finish some planning, contemplate the next steps and reenter the 'northern' world after a month of sun and sand to prepare for the next parts of the UK adventure. You won't believe what comes next.

Here are some photos of my first British friend, Elsa!