It was sort of by accident that I stumbled on this housesitting gig. As a new transplant to the area, I was still getting settled, debating which business idea to pursue, and my haphazard travel schedule only allowed occasional part-time work. In addition to starting a local travel group, I signed up on a dog sitting website after seeing an advert taunting me ‘get paid to walk dogs’. Well, I love walking, especially hiking, and kept seeing all these people in Boulder hiking with their dogs, and thought it looked like a lot of fun. I wanted to go hiking with dogs! My boyfriend had also started a job working out of town for days at a time, and while I love hiking alone, I thought hiking with a dog would be a lot more enjoyable.
I came to ‘meet and greet’ my second 4-legged client, Hobbie, in a well to-do neighbourhood in Boulder a few meters away from the best hiking trails in the city. Hobbie is old, and adorable, and lives in a huge house, and her mom sort of assumed I would take her home with me to Nederland, a tiny, somewhat secluded town in the mountains which I think of as an ‘outpost’ more than a town. But then I threw it out there, ‘would you like me to stay here instead?’ and she jumped at the offer, since Hobbie would much prefer staying in a familiar environment.
So that’s how I ended up housesitting in Boulder. My boyfriend laughs because he says I am the most overqualified dogsitter in Boulder. With a Bachelor’s degree from an Ivy League school and a PhD in Neuroscience.
I thought about starting a new business in Boulder running outdoor, educational camps for autistic kids, but that has proven to be a bigger challenge than I thought. After I quit my job as a scientist in Switzerland, I started my own outdoor recreation company in the French Alps. After 9 months of hard work, I was up and running and successfully running women’s retreats and turning a profit. So I thought doing something similar here would be feasible. Sadly, this is not an easy demographic to work with, and endless operational challenges and misconceptions about what autistic kids are capable of doing and learning have left me pondering whether I should start another type of business or just start writing for a living.
We have a 7 week trip to Europe coming up in a few weeks, which means the new venture will have to wait a few months. Fortuitously, I keep getting dog sitting gigs, which happen to pay well in this town, because surprisingly, all my 4-legged clients love spending time with me. Hobbie waited for me by the door for 2 day days after I left the first time I looked after her. Now her mom calls me every time they go out of town. I decided I liked these dogs so much that I often come pick them up to take them on small walks or big hikes during the day, while their owners at work, at no cost to them. I just enjoy their company. One client/friend decided to give me a spare key so I could go pick up his dog anytime I wanted.
They say having pets is good for your health, it reduces stress levels and actually makes you happier, so instead of feeling awkward for being too overqualified to look after someone’s dog, I see it as a win-win for me, I get to do something I love and get paid for it, i.e. hiking, I get to have awesome company from my 4-legged friends, and I get to make someone’s pet happy.
When I stay at Hobbie’s house, I end up doing leftover dirty laundry, picking up mail, watering plants, taking out the trash, and cleaning the fridge. And I think to myself, am I above doing this stuff? But I realise no one is judging me but myself. Coming to Hobbie’s house is like a small holiday. I stay in the most amazing location in terms of hiking trails, local shops, and restaurants. I get to discover new neighbourhoods and places, like Lucky’s Market and the Walnut Café, the Southern Sun pub, the Sweet Cow ice cream shop, the South Boulder recreation centre and pool, the vast network of walking paths on the Devil’s Thumb foothills area – things I would have probably never been exposed to if I hadn’t humbly offered to stay here and do what some would see as a ‘downgrade’ from neuroscientist to dogsitter.
…and I get to watch non-stop HGTV on cable (which I don’t have at home) and write my blogs with an awesome view 🙂
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