This is the blog section of the Bill The Housesitter site. See above tabs for ‘About’, ‘Availability’, ‘Contact’ and ‘References’.
Nothing really much to say here except that it’s a delight to spend time with these two dogs, and we use a few little training tips every day in play and walking time.
Here’s what some of it looks like.
This is the blog section of the Bill The Housesitter site. See above tabs for ‘About’, ‘Availability’, ‘Contact’ and ‘References’.
One of the great joys (of the many to be had) when you housesit is when you strike upon a winning formula with two new furry friends from the get-go.
I’m here in beautiful Capalaba, south east of Brisbane, a short drive from the coastline including Cleveland, Raby Bay and Redland Bay, with Wynnum and Manly a little to the north. It’s then a hop, skip and a jump to the ferry terminal down south for the islands: Stradbroke and Russell to name just two I can think of without consulting a map!
This is the blog section of the Bill The Housesitter site. See above tabs for ‘About’, ‘Availability’, ‘Contact’ and ‘References’.
Burleigh Heads is one of my new favourite places on the planet.
It’s also my new nominal “””home””” address, and my use of the three sets of inverted commas is to denote that I don’t really have a home address in any sense of the word!
However, it is the home of an old, old friend and former work colleague*, his wife, and their furry triumvirate: a very sweet little collie dog, and the actual, true house-owners, two Persian Himalayan cats. Continue reading
This is the blog section of the Bill The Housesitter site. See above tabs for ‘About’, ‘Availability’, ‘Contact’ and ‘References’.
It’s been a while since the last blog post and video here. So long that I’m currently under roof #12 for calendar year 2016.
This evening on Burleigh Beach, as I was trying to simultaneously drink in all the scenery and document it to within an inch of its life, I realised this was prime video material.
Et voilà!
I can’t tell you how much I adore drifting up and down the Burleigh promenade. Yeah, it’s tourist central, but this is mid-winter.
I adore it.
A hive of activity, people of all ages, nationalities, and descriptions. And I have more conversations and shared moments here on one evening’s walk than in some whole weeks elsewhere. Continue reading
This is the blog section of the Bill The Housesitter site. See above tabs for ‘About’, ‘Availability’, ‘Contact’ and ‘References’.
It always takes at least a few days and sometimes a week or more to really get the measure of my canine clients when house-sitting.
Sometimes that happens on the fly for short periods, like one of my absolute favourites this year, a little Jack Russell in West Wollongong who I just clicked with from the get-go.
But for others it’s really a case of me learning their rules.
Because I’m a visitor and a guest in THEIR home, and yet I’m their temporary pack leader at the same time, so it’s a paradoxical relationship.
In this current setting, I have two tricky breeds to deal with: Husky and Malamute.
But almost two weeks in, the solution is clear, pack leader. “Take me out to the dog park!”
Shot at The Vale Of Ah Reserve, Auld Avenue, Milperra.
This is the blog section of the Bill The Housesitter site. See above tabs for ‘About’, ‘Availability’, ‘Contact’ and ‘References’.
This is my fourth video, and it was shot close to my current housesit in the Bankstown region of Western Sydney.
I’ll add extra observations later, but suffice to say, I have my hands full but am loving it.
A little tech-challenged right now, a little handicapable in one arm, but am ODing on round ball football and siestas!
Roll tape.
Epilogue:
Welcome to a Day In The Life of “Colonel Klink” und “Sergeant Schultz” von Liverpool, New South Wales, Australie.
Those are not their real names and the location given is the area rather than the actual localité.
Today I want to show you what a typical day…. wait, scratch that. I do not have typical days and neither do the pets.
NOT having a routine is a good thing for almost all sentient mammalian beings. Unless that being has severe chemical or physical or mental issues, in which case, the more strict the regime the better.
That is not the case with these two. Sure, Klink has traditionally been extremely anxious, and Schultz has had some real challenges in his lifetime, on the whole those have been nurture issues related to their environment.
And let me make this plainer than plain: it is NOT to do with the house and the others in it. The two homo sapien friends of C & S have provided a loving, caring, diverse, well-looked-after-without-over-pampering household.
BUT, on all three sides, over all three boundary fences are extremely nervous dogs with some severe behavioural challenges. And haven’t really fully clapped eyes on them all yet, but sight is not a sense needed to come to that conclusion.
That is not a problem; it’s an opportunity. I have been in-house friends with these two Germans now for three weeks and 3.6 days roughly.
Even in that time, I have NOT taught them commands or tricks or behaviours inconsistent with how I found them. BUT they have both calmed down considerably. Bear in mind that this is THE first time they have both been separated from their significant others who have significantly less fur.
Let’s begin.
05:36 AEDST, Thor’s Day 29 Oktober (Festen?!) 2015 Continue reading
This is the blog section of the Bill The Housesitter site. See above tabs for ‘About’, ‘Availability’, ‘Contact’ and ‘References’.
People often ask me, Bill, what do you do?
You’ve got this Overheard Productions thing you say is a home-based operation mostly, and then there’s the house-siting. Can you provide salient examples and unpack the minutiae of your routinus caninus and entertainus (here we are now, entertain us).
Here within and thereto under, I pledge thee a trough. For the dogs’ water.
Here’s some moving pictures. (♪♪♪ What about me, it isn’t fair ♪♪♪ — True story. I house-sat next door to Gary the guitarist from Moving Pictures last year. Gave him some copies of my articles in Trad and Now magazine. He was rather impressed at my advice to artists article.)
Please press <PLAY>…
Here’s the result of the investment of about 20 minutes of my time in the wee small hours before this was shot:
Bill Quinn
Bill The Housesitter
23:36, Tuesday 20 October 2015
Holsworthy, New South Wales, Australia
This is the blog section of the Bill The Housesitter site. See above tabs for ‘About’, ‘Availability’, ‘Contact’ and ‘References’.
Some sites suggest that we, as housesitters, should add video content.
I’ve resisted.
Up until now.
Bill The Housesitter
(Currently) Sydney, Australia
Friday 16 October 2015
On a day when I was working hard yet hardly working
Bill The Housesitter (Australia) 