Life in Dörröd: Summer stay.

August 09, 2018

Life in Dörröd: Summer stay.

Life in the Swedish countryside // House and animal-sitter in Skåne.

(Hus- och djurpasserska I Skåne.)

The long waited summer in Swedish countryside suddenly came as a surprise. I knew since winter I will be these days here with dogs and sheep, and lots of nature surrounded, but meanwhile, life was happening and it felt so far away...these days. And yet suddenly I was here.

This was different than when we were the first time in this house during autumn. Now we had 3 dogs not only a little Chai, and it was way too much warmer than in October-sitting. In fact, the heat was abnormal as we will now remember the summer of 2018. I got heat stroke, animals had dry land, and trouble getting farm animal winter food. Everything dry, hot and just brown. Skåne scenery reminded me of my summer 2010 in the South of France. The same colours and heat.

This was a short sitting but fulfilled with more chores. I went twice a day with all three dogs for a walk. To escape the heat it was in the mornings, and my favourite part of this summer - in the evenings. One evening we went quite late. It was the forest animal time to take the charge in the forest than us, the humans and pet animals. So, it was a very short evening walk due to meeting a badger who got so scared of us that run faster than any top 3 runners in the world. I had 2 hunter dogs on the leash, so, to not disturb the peaceful forest life, we turned back home, but, oh, gosh how beautiful was this evening. The perfect temperature, nature sounds and the explosion of sky colours! That was a reason I enjoyed the evening walks even when I felt lazy and wanted to watch Netflix... A thought of feeling this peace drown me out from the coach. It made doggies happy too. Now when Moriss and Messa (2 big ones) see me, they always expect we are off for a walk.

Daily I had to make sure the sheep, horses and llamas have water. Water the garden and just take care of small details at home. I finally was alone for longer hours than comparing to my summer in Latvia, that my mind&body went into a relaxing mode. I had a plan to be more active, but since I felt so calm and also terribly were affected by the heat, I was the more slow-living kind person during these days in Dörröd.

You know, when you get summers like this, it's a nightmare to farmers and a paradise to city people or people without responsibilities with farm and land. My Instagram was overflown with appreciation to this heat. Only a few others were in opinion and feelings like me, but due to our words, we were put down as pessimists, just because we did not enjoy the heat and worried about all the animals... Or just have a body type which also prefers the seldom summer temperatures in Nordic countries. Contrast. Huge contrast in the society. Anyway, that's life, right, but I wish we were more aware of others than our own skin. let's hope this was a special summer in Nordic countries.

So, as usually.. lets the images speak more!

Dog-sitting // pet-sitting.

So, far I have done more dog-sitting than cat-sitting, and a bit of farm animal care too. But mainly a dog-sitting. Why people choose to leave their pets with a person who could also "house-sit" than take their pets to animal hostels? Because it's a stressful emotional experience for pets to go to a hostel. Or simply when travelling for vacations, people prefer to leave their pets in familiar surroundings, cared for by other pet lovers and getting one to one attention just like being at home. I take care of them as they would be my own and they get love and full attention!

It is not easy to find a pet-sitter (or a family member, a friend) for a long period or even a house-sitter, so, my friends/strangers have been lucky finding me through their friends, because I enjoy this job, and I love to help out others. Helping out others makes me happy.

Pet-sitting is my most loved job as I don't have my own pets yet. Only I fell in love with each cat/dog I take care, I observe their personalities and learn about them that they become close to me. The best is if I get to dog-sit the same dog I already have met, like my little friend Chai has been with me several times, and she is my sweetheart! My granny-spirit-animal. When I am with dogs, they get long walks every day. It's a win-win for me and them because I am so used to cycle everywhere... Need to walk more! :)

Edible garden.

Sometimes I and Chai had our own short walks without the big dogs.

And then there were +30C days...

Love her so much!

The evening fun times in the yard.

When you have 3 dogs, definitely your sneaky selfie will be ruined or improved extra by at least one dog cuddle!

Every evening he picked up weed for two of his friends - Godzilla and Einstein, the sheep.

One morning I woke up in my hammock.

Such a cutie. Never wanted to leave the bed, lazypants.

In truth, she is a big cuddle-lover dog.

Farm animal care

Farm animal care service is usually attached to house sitting service. It's not my most often duty, but to some clients, I have helped out taking care of their farm animals: sheep, llamas, pigs and chickens, and horses while house-sitting. I take care of the basic needs - feeding, water, checking fence and gates, let them in the stable and out in the mornings/evenings. I am not a doctor. I only help out to cover the basic needs, to be permanently at a farm that clients can feel relaxed on their vacation. For this service, I always insist on an obligatory written to-do note list and to plan a meeting when I can visit animals and learn/see how it is done by THEM. I don't want animals to feel afraid of sudden changes, and I try to keep everything running the same way as they do. I have covered this up many times, and as long as I have a good communication before they go off on a travel, it's all good then! So far so good, as I have had experience with farm animals before, I can come up with fast solutions what to do if something goes slightly wrong.

Also visiting my friends on their farms, I watch how and what they do, I ask and I learn from them. Like, once I and Viktor happened to pass by our friend's farm when we noticed that one of their sheep had escaped and was happily eating grass outside the fence, and the rest of the gang inside the field looking on that one rebel. What happened? Well, first I was afraid it's gonna be super crazy, that she will run away and etc. I run to our friends who were having a calm, nice Sunday morning baking waffles... Oops! I disturbed by the sheep escape! We all run to the field, they calmly reacted, and we helped them to get her back into the field. Turns out it's the one who simply knows how to go under the fence and get out and also... how to get back in! :) She did not run away anywhere! So, from being around farm-friends, I simply observe and learn.

Their happy time - GOING FOR A WALK!! YES, YES, YES!!!

And then there is this... Pet photography

I love animals and I love taking photos of them! Since I remember myself my most photographed "object" was my cat in childhood. Or all my pets... As I enjoy observing what kind of personality is each pet, I try to then capture their character, their essence, their nature! Family album photography can't be imagined without the photos of family pets, in my opinion.
As with animals, it might take longer to be photographed than people, then I take my time to get to know them a bit before, and find the way how they feel comfortable and safe each other.

And now in today's society we even create Instagram profiles for our dear pets, so, why not?