I love France. I love dogs. I was brought up with dogs.
Our sons were brought up with dogs.
These are our last two family dogs: Cassie, our beautiful Flatcoat Retriever and Brillo, our rescue lurcher.
However, we are currently dogless. This is for lots of reasons; we are virtually empty nesters, we spend a lot of time travelling between SW France and SE England and we are only too aware of the responsibility in taking on another dog…or two!
To fill the gap we decided to become #Trusted Housesitters. This is an organisation which ‘connects home and pet owners with trustworthy animal lovers who sit for free.’ I quote! I can thoroughly recommend Trusted Housesitters should you want to travel and look after animals. Equally, if you have pets and don’t want to put them in kennels, this could be ideal. Here’s the link to their website:
https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/how-it-works/
Our first sit was for two beautiful young Border Collies and our second! In fact we’ve stayed friends with the owners of the collies and we still meet up for walks and meals.
Next, we looked after a gorgeous labradoodle, two budgies and a geriatric rabbit!
We’ve also looked after my sister’s Blue Heeler puppy, a friend’s long haired, white, German Shepherd and the young cats which belong to my son and his girlfriend.
This has helped to fill the dog shaped hole in our lives…to some extent…!
However, I have discovered that there is a dog rescue centre, in Carcassonne, where I can volunteer:
http://dogrescuecarcassonne.co.uk/
I have volunteered at a rescue centre, previously. And, yes, we did end up with a rescue dog! He lived with us until he was sixteen.
This post was originally intended to be about breeds of dogs originating from France but I appear to have side-tracked myself!
Here are two other dog related posts I wrote earlier:
This one is about dog poo! Yes, really! Or rather the lack of picking up that is generally done in France:
https://fancyingfrance.wordpress.com/2016/05/27/i-need-to-talk-about-dog-poo/
And this one is about the naming of dogs in France:
https://fancyingfrance.wordpress.com/2016/04/23/naming-dogs-french-style/
I still like to think a dog(s) is out there for us somewhere!
Are you a dog lover? Do you travel with your dog?
This is a post I wrote some time ago and which I’m happy to be linking with the very entertaining #AnimalTales. Although I’m still dog less, I’m happy to report that I have been a volunteer dog walker for the SPA Carcassonne! We have also fostered one of their cats and had the pleasure of looking after a friend’s eighth month Border Collie puppy, at New Year.
Fancying France 
@”Are you a dog lover?” – we love all animals, but we’re cat-lovers… ❤ just like you, we travel quite often, so after we lost our 3rd cat last November, we decided to give up having another cat… even though, we had an electronic cat-flap, and kind neighbours(friends) to take care of our cat(s)… a pet involves responsibility and availability, and I'm sooo mad whenever I hear of irresponsible folks who have abandoned their pet(s) somewhere – especially during their vacation!!! 😦 to me, it's another form of animal cruelty and it should be punished by law… last but not least: I do believe that people who are mean or cruel towards animals can't be different towards human beings!!!
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Like you, I love all animals and, as you say, having any pet involves responsibility. I also get very annoyed with people to get a ‘cute’ puppy (or kitten) & then abandon them when they realise that they are actually very hard work. Absolutely worth it imo! As you say, when you consider what people can do to animals, is it any surprise when you read about the terrible things that can happen to children.
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I can understand that dog sitting helps fill the void that your dogs left, this is why I foster cats. Read your posts about dog poo in France (never seen free bags but then again, I’m not looking) and registering dog names…. how interesting!
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I think fostering cats and dogs is such a brilliant thing to do. Thanks for reading my other doggy related posts! Your cat toy post has inspired me to try to make one for my son’s cats and I don’t sew! 😂😂😂
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That’s a fantastic thing to do to fill the void for both you and the dogs. #animaltales
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We get so much pleasure from this and volunteering at a rescue centre. Thanks for visiting!
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I was brought up with dogs and we always had several when I was a child. I got my own when I moved to my own house but when she died I was pregnant with No 2 child, we had a year old toddler and I was ill so we didn’t feel it was right to add a dog into that equation. But we promised ourselves we would get another as soon as both children were walking. Since then we have had 3 dogs and are currently looking for a fourth to keep our remaining Husk y x Alsation happy. As a family it is rare we all go away together (we have farm animals and a gite to look after too) but the one week a year we do manage, a lovely local friend looks after all our animals. Were she not able to though I would certainly look for a professional sitter like yourself. And this sounds like a great way for you to have dogs in your life without being tied to them when you travel. A greatpost to add to #AnimalTales – thank you!
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Thanks for your comment, Rosie. I think it is so beneficial for children to be brought up with pets. I do appreciate that this may not always be possible in some cases. I’ve never thought of myself as a professional sitter! I really value that if one uses Trusted Housesitters there is no money involved. #AnimalTales
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