Anne & Bill

Hello, we're Anne and Bill Ostrom, a semi-retired couple originally from Northwestern Ontario, Canada. We are very responsible, and take a professional and fastidious approach to everything we do. We are experienced house and pet sitters and your home and animal family will be well taken care of. Adventurous by nature, we both love the outdoors and travel, including hiking, canoe camping, snorkelling, cycling and skiing. So far, we've house sit in suburban settings in all seasons in Canada, including the dead of winter. We are looking to house-sit world-wide.

We both love dogs and have babysat numerous times for friends, both in our own home and in theirs. We take the time to get to know your rules and commands, their routine and preferences. Then give them lots of snuggles and love while in our care. We both love to walk, and your dogs will get plenty of exercise. Anne also enjoys grooming/brushing big fuzzy dogs, like the ones in the photos. We've also looked after fish, feeding them daily.

We lived in a rural area for 20 years and also own a cottage on a lake. So we are familiar with pumps, wells, composting toilets, and dealing with house maintenance and emergencies in the dead of a snowy winter. As well, we lived in a rustic cabin with propane lights/stove and no running water in the early years of our marriage and currently travel off the grid with a camper van. This gives us lots of experience with propane, wood heat, trail maintenance etc. We've always had a vegetable garden, and enjoy being outside weeding and harvesting.

We believe in leaving your house in as good a condition as when you left, if not better. We're willing to help with the upkeep while you're gone, and have experience supervising staff.

We're interested in house and pet sitting because it gives us the chance to spend time in new places and meet new people. Spending time in a community instead of a hotel means that we can get to know the locals and the culture. We've no dogs of our own anymore, and we miss them. The opportunity to dog sit fills that void.

We've done a variety of suburban house sits for friends in our home town in Ontario. In one house we made sure we followed instructions around keeping their home "peanut-free" because their grandson is deathly allergic. One notable 2-month house and dog sit was in a mountain town in Alberta Canada. We were responsible for keeping the house clean and "lived in", and looking after two 90 pound husky dogs. We took them on daily walks of 45-90 minutes in all winter weather and brushed them frequently to ensure their fur didn't mat.

Prior to this, we looked after some of our friends' dogs in our home in Thunder Bay Ontario. We babysat Molly, an energetic husky, for 2 weeks and made sure we got out for 2 walks a day, despite the 10 below (Fahrenheit) temperatures and wind chill.

We also looked after Doby for a few days and helped her get over her anxiety of being away from her human family with lots of attention, playing with a ball, and walks. We love dogs, and dogs love us. They are always bouncing around, happy to see us when we come back for a visit.