The House Sitting Family

With years of experience and over 25 housesits completed in 6 different countries, you can trust us to take the absolute best care of your home, belongings and, of course, your furry friends!

Learn More

Looking for someone to play with, care for and enjoy your pet/s while you are away? We'd love to be the perfect temporary family for your pets!

We have been happily housesitting as a family since May 2022 with 25 housesits completed in New Zealand, Australia, The Netherlands, Germany, England and Scotland.

So far, pet owners have trusted us to look after their homes, belongings and over 45+ furry friends while they have been away...

Here is what they have to say about us:

Testimonials

House and pet sitting

What we offer:

While you are away, we will show your pets the love and attention they deserve.

We also aim to stick closely to your pet's normal daily routines to make them feel comfortable and secure in your absence.

We are experienced in winning pets over and will take the time to play your dog's favourite game, snuggle your cat in the evening, comfort an upset animal in a storm, and, most importantly, recognise when a pet needs space and will wait patiently until your pet is ready to approach us for some love and attention on their terms.

As a family, we will spend lots of time in your home and with your pets. We are naturally homebodies and love the comfort of being 'home'... During the week, we homeschool our 5 and 9 year old and dad works as a software developer remotely (a must for all our housesits is reliable internet).

During the housesit we will send you regular pet updates and photos as often as you would like.

We have experience with; older pets, dogs with leash aggression, dogs with leg braces, big dogs (40+kgs), deaf cats and dogs, and pets on weight management diets. We also have experience with giving medication to both cats and dogs; including ear and eye drops, antibiotics and treating skin conditions. And also deer, a bottle-fed fawn, fish and house plants!

Sophie can easily manage dog walks every day - up to 6kms a day, if that’s what they are used to.

During our stay we also take great care to respect your personal belongings and privacy plus keep your home secure, clean and tidy while your away.

We have cared for...

25

Houses

26

Dogs

20

Cats

8

Chickens

2

Deer

...in New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK.

Get in touch!

Contact us and we can email further or organise a video call (or if possible, an in person visit).

We would love to have a chat about how we might be the right family to keep your pets happy and your home secure during your time away.

Other important things to note:

We do not charge for our services - this is a money-free exchange on both sides.

We are non-smokers.

Happy pets

About us

We are Sophie, Oliver, Tabitha (9) and Roman (5) Armstrong. We are a full-time travelling family who have been living on the road since December 2020. And we love it!

We started travelling in NZ and travelled from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island in a caravan over 15 months.

We ended this trip in Auckland, during winter, and, in desperation to escape a caravan in a muddy field with 2 small children plus endless rain, we reached out on Facebook to see if anyone needed a housesitter... Luckily, we found our first awesome 9 week housesit then immediately after found another great housesit in the same suburb for 7 weeks.

We realised we love house and pet sitting!

We have been housesitting on and off ever since. Both kids have experience with over 45 different and unique pets and it has been wonderful so see their confidence and love for animals grow with every sit.

We consider housesitting to be kind of like having a job (the money we save on accommodation allows us the freedom to be a single-income family with one parent homeschooling and looking after the home and pets).

This means you can be assured we take the responsibilities of pet and housesitting seriously. We realise the level of trust homeowners have to have in their sitters and aim to ensure you feel comfortable with us as your housesitters the whole time. The care of your home and pets is our highest priority while we housesit for you.

We feel extremely lucky that over our 25 housesits we have met and housesat for some amazing owners, from empty-nesters (the majority of our pet owners) to families with young children. We are always blown away by the kindness, generosity and warmth of the pet owners who have welcomed us into their homes.