Hi Aurelie,

Have you thought about housesitters? Some friends recommended a website to us and since then, every time we go away for an extended period, we've had housesitters come and it's been great. You offer free accomodation in exchange for taking care of your pets and we've always returned home to a clean house with happy animals. I'll be happy to share the site and our experiences if you're interested.

We are interested.  Please share your site and experience.  Thanks.

Hi Matthew and thanks for your reply.

I was more looking for an exchange service with another family but could be something to look into if we don't find a match. Can you please send me the link to this site?

Here's the site we've been using: http://www.trustedhousesitters.com/

Besides the kitschy name, the system is great as there is a profile as well as feedback system. We've used the site 5 or 6 times. Each time we've posted an availability and within 48 hours we've always had 10-15 applicants to choose from. Each applicant has feedback in their profile from previous house sits and most made the effort to have a very complete profile, so we were able to get a good feeling about him or her. The 2 or 3 people who didn't take the time to personalize the message, complete their profile, etc... we could discard right away. Since we live a little outside of GVA, we chose couples to house sit so they at least had each other for companionship. Couples worked great and we had sitters from the U.K., Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. We'd have all of them back and never had any issues with security or damage. The bonus is our animals weren't displaced and they could enjoy familiar surroundings. There's a nominal membership fee, but we found it a great investment when compared to kennels and/or paying someone to come in and feed the animals. We considered service exchange with locals, but we have cats and dogs, so it's hard to introduce new animals if they haven't had experience with both. 

merci!

I do not understand. You are saying that people from Australia and even New Zealand came all the way to GVA to dog/housesit?  How does that work? Sounds like a expensive trip to me...?
I searched on the website for dogsitter from Geneva and I had no matches. 

Hi Bella,

The people we had from Australia and New Zealand didn't come to Europe specifically to house sit for us. They all were in Europe already... 3 couples were late 40's to mid 50's and owned property in Australia or NZ that they rented out. This small income paid living expenses and they travel around house sittig for people, thus not paying rent and only have to cover food and transportation every few weeks as they move on from house sits. We had 2 younger couples, both of who had saved up and were taking a year or so off, kind of like a gap year, and preferred house sitting to save a little money on accomodation.

We've never used the search engine on the site to find a (local) dog-sitter. We've registered, created a profile and then posted an opening with the dates that we were away and the people contacted us. If you're looking for someone to pop in every once in a while to dog sit, it might not be the site for you... It's best for people going away for almost a week or more and don't mind live-in sitters. Because the site is in English, most of the active population will be from the U.K, Australia, N.Z., U.S., etc...

ok thanks. i understand.
true, i am more the spontanious kinda girl and need some people that are available on short notice. 

Hi Aurelie and all, have you had any luck finding others to dog sit for you/ participate in the barter dog sitting service? Im also looking for something similar. Ideally looking for someone else with a small to medium dog as my dog is 1.7 kg and I live in an apartment in eaux vives so no outdoor space. If anyone  is interested or has any good dog sitter recommendations, please let me know!

Hi, Charlotte.

I love your idea! We used to have another family we would switch dog sitting with just for the reasons you state. Our pup is like our 3rd kid and we hate the idea of leaving him in a kennel. We would be happy to switch petsitting with another family!

In the meantime, did you find a dogsitter you could recommend because we are looking for someone to petsit for us last minute between 19-27 July. We had someone but it turned out they cannot now and our trip is planned. 

Thanks!

"Charlotte", two quick questions:

1) Are you a porn actress?

- If it's the case, kudos for your great work.

- If not, why would you use the pic of one as your avatar (just curious)?

2) Do you like it doggie style?

Wow, well spotted Casistik!  I daren't ask how on earth you recognised the photo but indeed google image search is your friend...

hey Causiskik,

I am a porn star and no one every recognized me :(

oh, I like to doggy skype, ops 'style'.

Kamasutra is an excellent book to read for wholesome education and good for physical fitness. also keeps me limber and keep me from going blind from porno stuff.

As I am a giver to all animals and not a taker/receiver, and dont mistake that for a retriever 'dog'.

Er... aaaanyway... I'm an Australian, have had dogs of my own and used to work in an animal shelter. I now live in a studio in Geneva and unfortunately can't have pets here. While I can't pet-sit at my place, if anyone in the vague vicinity of Paquis wants someone to help walk their dog or feed their cats (or ferrets, rabbits, rats, birds, snakes, whatever), let me know :)

Hi everyone! 

We (me and two daughters age 11 and 13) love dogs but have not yet decided on owning one. 

We have dog-sitted a large dog (just like the one Aurelie posted a photo of) for awhile. We loved it! 

If you are looking for a dog-sitter, please, can we take care of your dog? We'd treat him like family. It is absolutely not for the money, just for the joy and company. 

Charlotte, unfortunately cannot take the dog for the time you ask, my daughters are not here and instead I am here with my parents, and my mum is afraid of dogs. Sorry, but do not hesitate to ask for another time!