Forget Christmas baking. Here’s a simple two-step recipe for keeping busy over the holidays — take seven cats, five dogs, three horses and several houses and look after all of them.
That’s what this Christmas season is looking like for Michelle Gunderson. As the owner of Doodlebugs Pet Care, Gunderson looks after pets and homes for people who are away. She’s knee-deep in her busiest time of year.
“I’ve got four calendars on the go,” she said. “I don’t ever want to miss anything.”
People in Gunderson’s line of work will visit their clients’ pets up to three times a day and check on empty homes every day or two, depending on insurance requirements. Gunderson generally does three rounds of visits per day, starting first thing in the morning and running as late as 11 p.m.
“Sometimes I’ve done upwards of 17 house visits a day,” she said.
Christmas Day will be no exception.
“Every animal that I take on over Christmas still needs to be taken care of on Christmas Day,” Gunderson said.
Family time takes a back seat when you’re responsible for other people’s pets or property over the holidays. Last year Gunderson spent Boxing Day in an emergency vet clinic with a client’s ailing Australian shepherd while her husband and two children went to a family function.
“If I had a problem with it, I’d really be in the wrong business,” Gunderson said.
She doesn’t let the busy season get her down. After eight years in business, she knows not to take on more work than she can handle, but she still takes on a lot.
“I actually quite enjoy it. It’s my busy time so I’m used to it. My kids are used to it,” she said.
Because pet sitting is less structured than a regular job, it offers opportunities for quick mall runs for Christmas shopping, but family gatherings inevitably suffer, said Theresa Dacyshyn, owner of The Girl Next Door pet and home sitting service.
She described her own family’s Christmas as a streamlined and broken up holiday.
“Christmas Day we put in a turkey at 6 a.m., run around and take care of people’s homes and then we come home and eat it, go back out and make sure everyone’s had good pee breaks and a good walk, come back home, open some presents,” she said.
Only people with a true passion for animals can keep up the required pace, she said.
“There are some days that are really, really jam-packed that are sometimes overwhelming,” she said. “I still really enjoy the Christmas season even though it can be a little chaotic.”
This will be the first year of juggling Christmas and pet sitting for Michelle Anderson, who started Somebody’s Home Pet & Home Care Service in April. She has a game plan for the big day.
“We’re going to have to do the presents real quick in the morning and then I’m going to have to run out, probably with my son, to do some visits,” she said. “I’ll have to go out again after I put the turkey in.”
“I’m sad [for my family] that I have to go in and out on such a special day,” she said. “On the other hand I’m happy I can help other people.”
