Does a house sitter like this exist?

[JustPoppingToWaitrose]

I have an opportunity to work overseas every few months for 4 weeks at a time. I have a dog. I also have a beautiful flat in the centre of London. Sorry, not bragging, just painting a picture.

I am wondering if it is possible that someone would like to come and housesit for me and look after my dog. They would have use of my flat, no rent, no bills, they would have a parking space and use of my car if they wanted.

Is this a good deal or am I deluded? Does such a person exist? I imagine someone who would like to occasionally spend time in London. But it would have to be when I am working overseas. And they would have to look after my dog properly.

Where would I find such a person? Is there a website? Has anybody on here had such an arrangement and could advise me? Thanks.

We use Animal Aunts (house and pet sitters) whenever we travel abroad to see family. They’re usually (in our experience anyway) retired couples who get paid to stay in different places and look after pets and houses.

They are led by our routine with dog walking etc and carry out all pet duties whilst staying in the house. Always had fab experiences with them.

@JustPoppingToWaitrose

It would need to be someone who is home mostly, as my dog doesn’t like to be left alone.

I would think you would have to pay then as the person needs to be able to fund their existence

I’m not in the UK, but we have the exact same house-sitters website for our country. And we always get house-sitters for the dates we need them.

No money is ever exchanged and it’s a trust-based model.

We’ve never had any issues. We meet with them either in person or virtually beforehand.

I’m sure you will have people jumping at the chance to sit for you. It just probably won’t be the same person / people each time.

You certainly can find someone like this - my husband and I were on Mindmyhouse.com. We were travelling and had stays around the world. But when we returned we were contacted by someone in the UK - who we still sit for now regularly. They initially contacted us via Skype and then we went down to meet them before the stay. I would recommend the same. They said they knew we were capable, genuine and that we loved dogs! I would offer but we are not able to do it. Best of luck - we do exist!

To follow up my previous comment, the reason I used to do housesitting was because I lived in a house share with multiple people and this was a chance to have a space to myself for a while, it was always bliss and I was always happy to stay at the home all day (worked from home). So you might find someone like this in the same situation.
If you want to have the same person each time for consistency for your dog, you might be better off finding a dog sitter who can take him into their own home. I don't house sit anymore now I have my own place, but I do regularly take in pets from friends and neighbours when they go away.

I think if you're wanting the person to be home most of the time, then you're probably better paying for the service. A retired couple for example may be fine with having one person at the property the majority of the time, but otherwise there's no real plus point for being in London if you can't go out for the evening for example,

I imagine someone who is a writer, someone who needs peace and quiet to work.

Actually you have a point there. My friend is a writer and dog lover and she'd probably jump at a chance like that

For those saying you need to pay someone for this service, I have used one of the above mentioned websites and my house sitters actually told me that some times sitters are expected to pay the host for utilities.
My sitters were here for 6 weeks, looking after my dog and cat. We agreed that they would send photos and updates every 2-3 days, of course if there was an emergency they would contact me immediately. They sent me a very detailed questionnaire to fill in about my pets routine and my preference around house cleaning that they would need to know. If I told them I hoovered three times a day they would have done it!
It’s about 4 years since they were here and occasionally they will email with photos and tails of their trips around the world.

yes often these serices can have specifics like my dog needs two one hour long walks per day and can be left alone for no longer than two hours per day ( you have to let them leave house to do food shopping etc) if they are not allowed to leave at all you might have problems as even if they use your car to go shopping the dog would have to stay in car while they were in the shops

Sounds great - if I was single I would love to do this. I'm working from a home and we Would love a dog but can't afford the costs.