Susi

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About me

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Susi: 66, Educator

Hello! I am in my mid sixties, an educator and passionate about all creatures great and small (save for select insects!), being in nature, traveling, and solo guardian of one dog and two cats.

favoriteWhy I love house sitting

What I most love about housesitting is the exchange of services in lieu of capital--as we lived for millennia and continue to live in many parts of the world. In this spirit, I have traded cooking for multiple services over years, and deeply value the sense of interdependence this practice offers.

When I was a tween, I ran an animal hospital in my bedroom, with shoeboxes for recovering animals, and nursed them diligently. As a teenager, I must have read the James Herriot series several times over.. And when I spent the summer in Paris (France) in my uncle's home, my mother's gift to me for that first extended time away from our home, was a locket with a photo of our beautiful dog tucked in it. I dreamed feverishly of being an animal behaviorist parallel to which I was certain that, ... Read moreWhen I was a tween, I ran an animal hospital in my bedroom, with shoeboxes for recovering animals, and nursed them diligently. As a teenager, I must have read the James Herriot series several times over.. And when I spent the summer in Paris (France) in my uncle's home, my mother's gift to me for that first extended time away from our home, was a locket with a photo of our beautiful dog tucked in it. I dreamed feverishly of being an animal behaviorist parallel to which I was certain that, once grown up, I would be living on a modest plot of land in the country, home to 8 cats, 3-5 dogs and a horse.

Many years have since passed, and the road ahead is regrettably about one third the length of the road behind me. I never had that horse, nor a home in the country, but I taught children and struggled for social justice in three different countries over three decade, and loved immeasurably three generations of cats who shared their lives with me. I finally returned to my house in Toronto three years ago and welcomed my first dog who, like my cats, is both the heart of my life and the bane of my wallet! (Seven, not three, is actually my "favorite" number. ;-)

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Pet care

I haven't had any experiences using this site in caring for others' animals, though have stayed numerous times at friends' houses to look after their animals in their absence.