I was looking over other pet sitting companies sites in my area.  When I found one company that was written exactly as one of my older sites ... word per word!  I really do not know what if anything I could do about that ... I suppose I could look at this as a compliment.  What bugs me is if the sites wording is exactly as one of my oldies - are they trying to copy my service?  They are in the same service area, are they trying to give the impression that their company is my company to unknowing clients??

It involved  a lab/chow mix who had broken loose of his owner and was having a good ol time running and playing can't catch me ... and lets get the geese ... he decided accross the road was more interesting ... and on his way back from there he was struck by a pick-up. 

Now, I do know CPR and pet first aid so I ran up to where he was to see if I could help ... but before I got there he had 3 violent convulsive movements with is neck/head and he was gone.  There was no breathing, no heartbeat ... only stillness.

Yes, I say it was lucky I was there. I am the pet au pair. People pay me to stay with their dogs, cats, birds, pigs or whatever beast they have integrated into their lives. I got the job idea from all the complaints I heard from neighbors and friends about how hard it is to find a good pet sitter. The two so-called professional pet care agencies in the community are both notorious for leaving messes, even forgetting the poor animals altogether. "I have to call her (the sitter) every single day that I am gone so she won't forget," complains one dog owner. Another adds that her dog had a raw nose from rubbing it on the bars at the kennel when her English setter lived in a cage for a week while she vacationed.

You wouldn't put up with that from a nanny, so why take it from the pet caregiver? Finding someone who cares properly for your beloved pet is not rocket science, and local inquiries hopefully will bring a trustworthy helper to you. But if you go out of town, you want to trust that the person you are paying to sit your fuzzy child is actually doing what they say they are doing, especially providing exercise and sufficient meals. After all, no one wants to come home to a neglected, maybe even dead, pet.

A good spot to try is the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters, at www.petsitters.org. These days, even pet sitters need to show their worthiness, and these are certified.

With busy work schedules and the choice of where they leave their "best friend", more pet owners are hiring the services of a pet sitter to walk the dog and provide companionship while they are at work.

Many dog owners today like the idea of hiring a pet sitter to take care of their dog while they go away, but then you'll have to decide - is pet sitting San Diego right for you? The pet gets to stay home in their natural environment, and the owner doesn't have to travel back and forth to the kennel. However, having a stranger in your house can be a little weird for both you and your dog. So be sure to choose your pet sitter wisely.

If surrounding yourself with dogs, cats, hamsters, fish, and more is your idea of the high life, then discover your dream of being your own boss by exploring the best home based businesses for pet lovers. There are a multitude of options out there if you like working with animals, and checking out the best home based businesses for pet lovers can help you discover a new way to make a living doing what you love.

As you know, millions of American families go on vacation every year. It's the great American Summer tradition. And now, with travel prices going down, many more families are expected to travel this year. This is why now is the perfect time to start a pet-sitting, dog walking, or doggie day care business. With families on the move, demand is going nowhere but up.

Choosing the right pet sitter to care for your animals while you're away can be a very difficult decision. Reining Cats and Dogs, a Raleigh pet sitter gives you these guidelines to find a dependable pet sitter.

As plantas que embelezam o espaço e levam o seu olhar sonhador a repousar nelas... A beleza.

Os animais que aguardam ansiosamente a sua chegada e lhe oferecem aquele delicioso cumprimento como mais ninguém o faz. A fidelidade.

A ideia é proporcionar-lhe estas sensações de chegada, mesmo que tenha estado 15 dias fora de casa. A felicidade do retorno.

There was a moment where I was a bit freaked out while staying at my friends' place, though. Thursday I went over there to pick up the keys and my friend Z was showing me where everything was - frozen pizza in the freezer, beer in the garage fridge, oreos in the cabinet, dog food next to the microwave, sword and bat next to the front door... wait, what??

They live about a mile from me, and we both live in not the best part of town. It's getting better, but apparently Z likes to take some extra precautions... like keeping a sword disguised as a walking cane. AWESOME.

Friday night I'm minding my own business, playing fetch with the pup (Jack), eating oreos, watching TV when all of sudden Jack starts barking. And he doesn't stop. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what he was barking at, and I started to get a bit uneasy because normally they live in a gated community, but tonight the gate was broken and left open. And we're in the shady part of town.

So here I am, dog in lap, blanket over my head, bat in one hand, sword sitting next to me... I finally just decided to call a friend to come hang out for a while so I didn't feel completely stupid all by myself. I never did figure out what Jack was barking at, but everything was fine. Probably a cat. But I was ready for it.

I wish I had a mom who would travel 750 miles to stay at my house for a couple of weeks and take care of my cats in a loving manner as though they were....well, her grandcats!  My nextdoor neighbor's mom came up from Indiana for several weeks in June to stay at their house and take care of their dog and three cats while they took a vacation overseas.

I wish I had a sister nearby who would come over as long as she was in town herself to take care of my cats and water my plants, like my sister does for her daughter in Pennsylvania.

I wish I had a mom like my friend at work who loves to take care of her "granddog," encouraging her son and daughter-in-law to just drop the dog off and go away for a long weekend, a week, two weeks.

There are so many people who have moms or sisters or grown sons or daughters nearby who wouldn't give it a thought to take care of a family member's pets while they're gone on a trip.

I don't have anyone like that.  Hell, I'm lucky if I can get a neighbor to come in and feed the cats for a day or two.

There are times I miss those close family connections, and this is one of those times!

Crocheting - I learned how to crochet in a circle and made an amigurumi Octopus! His name is Augie. He doesn't have eyes yet, but he will.

Also working a lot, but I don't have any pictures of that - picture a desk, with a computer on it and a very full email inbox and you've pretty much got the idea. And when I get home from work, I do this:

*headbutt* That's Sam, the cat I took care of for a week, during which I introduced him to Battlestar Galactica, my new obsession, and he introduced me to working on two hours of sleep. Not really a fair trade off. Buy stock in Tylenol PM if I ever decide to pet-sit in a studio apartment again. Thankfully, his owners just picked him up, so I'm going to go watch another disc of BSG and knit - without a cat on my lap!

Currently I am house-sitting for a week and they have some animals that I have to take care of.  On the animal list is a gigantic dog.  He has a tendency to break wind and the smell sometimes wakes me up in the middle of the night.  It's lovely. 

This morning I wake up earlier than normal for a dentist appointment and I start smelling something a little too strong so early in the morning.  I assumed that the ogre had just passed gas, but I realized that the stench was getting stronger as I walked throughout the house.  I walk into a room and it's so bad that I'm gagging.  I see piles of dog droppings so I follow them.  What I find is a tremendous pile of dog diarrhea that was seriously the size of my head.  No joke.  The dog had the runs all over the house.  Splatters of fecal matter everywhere with liquid seeping into the the light wood floors.  This wasn't something that I could wipe up.  I had to use a shovel.  It took me three hours to clean it up.  I had to use a plastic knife to get as much as I could out of the wood floor seams and cracks.  There are now huge stains all over their floor.  

Needless to say, I had to cancel my dentist appointment.  

One more reason to stick with cats.

The other dog he's watching is actually a litter mate of the mean dog he's watching at the other house.  This dog is totally different.  It's a sweetie and gets very excited when Youngest Son visits.  In fact, it gets so excited it shakes and wiggles and licks him.  And it makes this sound, that Youngest Son mimics, like an asthmatic pig!  That's the best way I can describe the noise.  He sounds so funny that Middle Son J actually went down there one day with Youngest Son to hear it and they both came home cracking up.

But this morning when Youngest Son came home from the noisy dog's house, he was a little concerned.  He said last night he was very careful to make sure the house was locked up, but when he got there this morning the garage door was open and the dog dishes were moved.  He went upstairs to the living area but saw nothing, and nothing seemed to be missing.  He didn't go upstairs to the bedroom areas but then he worried that maybe someone was hiding up there.  He texted his friend to see if maybe they had asked someone else to also check on the dog, but she said they hadn't.  I think it must be a friend or relative that knows how to get in that may have decided to check on things, because why would a crook stack the dog dishes?  And the house is in a nice upscale neighborhood, off the beaten path, but with plenty of neighbors nearby.  And it was broad daylight so if they hadn't already taken off with the valuables, I don't think they would be hiding upstairs to haul off the goods in the light of day.  But we'll be glad when the mystery is solved.

Yesterday was Family Day at Steelers Camp.  The players' families were there and the owners had food there catered by the best BBQ place around.  They invited the workers to eat also and Youngest Son made me hungry describing how the meat fell off the ribs.  He tells us funny stories every day about camp, but yesterday was really funny.  The security staff all have radios to keep in touch with each other, and in addition to official business, they often crack each other up with jokes or stories about what's going on.  One story going around yesterday was how one lady got Youngest Son to autograph her shirt.  She knew he wasn't a player, but she said, "Well, since I don't think I'm gonna get a player to sign this, I might as well have you sign it".  Knowing Youngest Son like I do, that autograph may be worth thousands of dollars someday!

http://www.doggyspace.com/accounts/eProfile?id=467

and don't forget us chickens... lemme assist you in writing that funraising letter, press release, article, newsletter or doggone web copy... we dogs just wanna write and have fun!

http://thewritingwiz.googlepages.com/cuppawritingforthesoul

cody bear and i have known hazel since she was a puppy and they have always played very rough.  when pickles met hazel last weekend she was very scared at first. but last night she just tritty trotted up to her like "hey girl! how are ya?" and they instantly started playing.

one of hazel's favorite games is playing peek-a-boo with pickles UNDER cody bear's tummy!  he's getting used to it.

here they are in the lawn befooorrre the sprinkler head was sacrificed to the gods of dog play.

and here they are at night, kicking up dust!

don't worry, pickles still had a few windows in her busy play schedule to look for bugs...

the only problem i had was i didn't want to lug pickles' metal crate around, so she stayed in cb's agility soft crate last night.  i kept waking up to her chewing sounds....

She said she would love to do that and she and her husband have been planning one forever but she had no one to take care of her house and look after her dog. Her neighbors were not very friendly and she did not want to impose on anyone. I told her about Life Made Easy, a concierge and errand service in Portland, Oregon, and asked her to take advantage of their house sitting and pet sitting services. I also told her about their errand service, which would make life easier for her.

I use their services regularly and it gives me so much time for other things. I gave her their number and asked her to get in touch with them. She met with their consultant yesterday and has arranged with them to do her weekly errands and projects. She and her husband have also decided to go for a Caribbean cruise and Dave her husband is busy planning their trip. She sounds so much happier now and I am so glad for her. So contact Life Made Easy at 503-724-2066 or e-mail them at info@LMEConcierge.com to take advantage of their services.

2. Shades of Blue. When we moved into our new house, the hallway was painted an awful shade of dark brown. Now, I have no eye whatsoever for interior design, but it seems stupid to me to paint a space with no windows a dark color. So, last month, with help from C’s sister, I painted the hallway a vibrant blue color. Then my nieces came out and decided they wanted to help fix up the white paint on the door-frames, and managed to get grubby handprints all over the wall. There were also some places on the wall that hadn’t been covered well enough with paint, so I decided I’d go over these areas with the same blue paint. I did just that two days ago and, despite vigorous mixing of the paint, it seems that the paint left in the can had changed color and now our wall is a patchwork of two different shades of blue. I’m irritated, because I really didn’t want to repaint the entire wall, and I still don’t want to.

3. Easy Money? Neither C nor I makes a whole lot of money, and our mortgage payment eats up a significant chunk of our income. We are certainly staying afloat and in no danger of losing our house or being unable to eat, but we can't really afford to put any money away in savings, or towards retirement. So I've been trying to come up with ways that we can supplement our income. I've been trying to convince C that we should rent out our lower level, which we hardly use because this house is too big for the two of us, to a graduate student, but he is completely uninterested in this prospect and refuses to even try it for a short-term lease. So, racking my brain, I put up an advertisement on Craigslist for pet-sitting at my home. We have a friendly dog, a dog door, and a fenced in yard, so we're well set up for this type of thing. Already I have three customers lined up for the month of August, and will hopefully be raking in close to $800 for the month. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself! (We'll see if I still feel that way after a month of a houseful of dogs.)

Since I don't update RockstarVanity.com every single time I shoot something new, I figured I ought to have something that I do update every time I shoot something new. So it's new photo blog time.

You can bookmark it, blogroll it or subscribe to the RSS. I've set it so that anyone can comment, which is how things shall remain unless I start getting tonnes of spam.

I am so looking forward to next week. D and I are house sitting for a friend in England while she's on holiday, and looking after her two persian cats and little chihuahua. It'll be nice to have a change of scenery for a while and a garden to lounge about in.

If you're in Edinburgh and heading elsewhere on your hols, check out Scottish Dog Walkers for a brilliant pet sitting service. No-one's paying me to say that - they genuinely are brilliant and will come to visit, feed and play with your animals every day while you're away. Much better than boarding!