Nigel and Sue arranged with the homeowners, David and Eli, to arrive the night before the sit officially starts. This will give them the opportunity to meet the owners and get to know their dog, Ruby, before the owners leave for their holiday. I admit I’m nervous because dogs have been known to think I’m some kind of chew toy! I mean … how can they possibly think I’m something that should be in their mouth???
As we head toward rural Surrey, the roads narrow into hedge-covered country lanes barely wider than a car’s width – I’ve been sitting on the dash but I can’t take the stress! I subtly roll off the dash into Sue’s hands. I feel safer in her lap. Nigel has been driving in America for thirty years and he’s obviously used to much, much wider American highways. From the way he’s driving, it’s hard to believe he learned to drive on narrow country roads like these!
Forest Green, Surrey
As we near our destination, Forest Green in Surrey, we turn our attention to locating the house. I’m back on the dash now. It turns out many of homes in the South of England don’t have house numbers, making it more difficult to locate a house on a road. Our destination doesn’t even have a road name! We’re using the postcode to guide us (UK post codes will often direct you to the exact house you’re looking for). Nigel turns down a dirt track and I’m convinced he’s lost! I’m looking for the house name or a house which looks like the one we’ve seen in a photo on TrustedHousesitters. There are two possibilities – the second one looks like the one!
Ruby
Eli and David are outside waiting for us along with Ruby!
There follows some quick introductions and time saying hello to Ruby, while I stay safely in the car.
The house is located on the edge of the village green at the foot of the Leith Hill in Surrey (the highest point in the south east). We’ll discover later that on a clear day we can see the towers of the London skyline from the top of the hill.
Just across the green is The Parrot, serving excellent ale and pies!
After a short evening walk with Ruby, Eli serves up a lovely roast chicken dinner! I’m not sure how she found the time to prepare a full dinner while also packing for their holidays but it was a welcome surprise. (I enjoyed the presentation – being a sheep, I don’t actually eat chicken).
The family left in the wee hours of the morning without waking us.
Ruby sleeps in a crate in the bedroom and she was always an angel when it came to going to bed. Maybe it’s because we tired her out with walking, but she seemed eager to get to bed and sleep. And she would sleep in until we woke in the morning, with no worries if Nigel had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Ruby was a little down on our first day together as she was missing David and Eli a lot. She found one of David’s slippers and brought it downstairs to cuddle with. She also found me in the bedroom and carried me downstairs to cuddle up with. Fortunately she didn’t see me as a chew toy.
Ruby took a couple of days to get used to us all. After that she was very happy to be going everywhere with us. She was great just sitting in the back seat of the car inside her car crate.
We had ten days with Ruby, walking her around many places nearby. By the end of our sit we were thoroughly attached to each other and sad to see her go. That said, Ruby was very happy to see David and Eli when they returned!
Our first sit was successful! On to our second sit in East Sussex!