A Room of Her Own

Finding just the right place for Siena-girl while we're away

It was a big deal getting Siena over to Moscow, and it continues to be an equally big deal finding the right care facilities and people to look after her when we're not home. Since I'm leaving Moscow imminently to deliver our baby in the U.S. (!!!!), it has been a serious priority to find someone who can:

1. Walk Siena twice a day on weekdays;
2. Stay overnight at our apartment when Scott travels for work. 

As is probably obvious, I am very protective of our "baby" dog Siena. She really is like my first born child. :) Here are some photos of our Siena as a tiny pup (<10 lbs!!):

For a while I thought I had it all worked out because I'd gotten a personal referral from a woman in the AWO whose cleaning lady, J, also used to dog sit and walk her dogs. And those dogs were Goldens! Score!  I made arrangements for J to stay at our place when we went to NC and OR in April.

In the end, J turned out to be just okay...when we returned Siena seemed pretty wound up and not all that well-exercised but she and the apartment were in one piece so I didn't think too much of it. However, after sitting down with J to review the week she confessed that the dogs she's primarily worked with have all been very calm and OLD or SMALL (ie  >10 years old and <40 lbs). :( So my search continued and time marched on.

I posted an ad online and got a load of responses from Filipinos looking for extra work. 

Have I mentioned that there is a huge contingency of Filipino domestic help (nannies, housekeepers, babysitters, etc) in Moscow? I mean, HUGE. Our cleaning lady is Filipina and she often brings her niece and/or her cousin to help her at our place. She has also said that her brother and brother-in-law are here too. So the whole family has emigrated to Russia!!? And this is not unique; many, many other expats have mentioned that their housekeepers and nannies are Filipino  and that those folks have relatives who've joined them. Apparently the pay and the opportunities are much, much better in Moscow (even though the weather is not!). Go figure.

But honestly, nannies and cleaning ladies looking for extra work are not what I want. I want a true dog person, and preferably someone who already has experience walking dogs for money. I didn't rule the Filipinos out; I just kept talking to other friends etc and hoping something else would turn up.

Here are some current photos of our sweet 4-year old dogalini:

 

One response to my online ad was from a Malaysian student studying medicine at Moscow State University, T. He had his own dog in Moscow and was truly a dog-lover. Not only that, he was free and flexible in the afternoons everyday after class. Good potential!!

And T did indeed turn out to be great! He stayed at our apartment when we went to Amsterdam for the weekend, he started taking Siena on walks regularly and for a few weeks everything was going swimmingly. :) Until I asked T to start doing 2 walks / day for the rest of the summer and to stay at our place for some future overnight dogsitting. He couldn't help us at all because his classes end late this month and he is LEAVING Moscow for the entire summer for vacation! So back to the drawing board AGAIN.


Next I interviewed and test-walked with a Filipino (this time a young man) who responded to my ad. He seemed okay, but my instincts told me to keep looking; something about him just didn't sit right with me. However, the clock was ticking and my stress level was rising...

About 5 days before my departure, I was referred to another Filipino guy, M, who is the Dogwalker for the neighbor of a good friend. Cautiously optimistic (yet again!), I contacted M and went through my usual battery of questions and test walks, and he passed! Unfortunately M was only available for one walk per day but at this point, I was feeling desperate so made arrangements for him to walk Siena once/day until his other job ended late June, and then he would start coming twice a day. And he could do overnights too. Fan-freaking-tastic.

During our myriad discussions with our friends about the sad state of the Moscow Petsitting Industry, we received a recommendation for a dog boarding facility that was about 2 hours outside the city. This friend has an 11-year old Golden on whom he dotes (much like us with Siena, we think!), and since HE felt comfortable taking his dog to this place, we thought it would be worth considering. 

So 4 days before my flight back to the US, Siena and I took a ride out to the country to check the place out. The "facility" was really just a large house and yard owned by a very nice, animal-loving, married couple. They have a guest cottage that's been turned into little rooms for overnight stays and there is a big, fun securely fenced space outside for running and exploring (critical for our little escape artist). I felt great about the couple within minutes of meeting them, so now the plan is for Siena to go there during Scott's business trips etc. 

Last but not least, the DAY BEFORE I left, a friend mentioned that she'd heard about a family who's 19-year old daughter S would be spending the month of June in Moscow and that she was looking to earn a little extra pocket money. This family had a Standard Poodle and lived about 4 blocks from us. Stop the presses: an American college student was available to walk our dog twice per day AND she lived within walking distance?! Another score!! We quickly arranged for S to come and meet Siena and do a test walk, which went totally smoothly and now instead of M walking Siena only once/day in June, we'll have S do it twice per day, as we originally wanted. Then when S leaves Moscow, M will be free to do twice per day, just like we wanted. And for overnights, she'll stay with the couple out in the country. Done and done.

Hallelujah! What a weight off my shoulders. But man, what a huge ordeal.