The Zoo - Part 1

In honour of my beloved wife, KJ

This is the first of many stories from my favourite place to pet sit. To be honest, it became my home away from home. Over the 4 years I was a full-time pet-sitter, I did 12 sits at “The Zoo,” totalling 368 days. Yep, more than a year's worth of days. Yet, it only took one day for the wonderful “four-legged hoomans” who dwelt there to captivate my heart forever.

Fyi, the owners call it “The Zoo,” primarily because of their four unforgettable dogs (including one who was blind), two very different cats, plus a constantly changing variety of fish in one or more aquariums.

It is also a very special place in my heart for another reason. It is where I was “sitting” when I first met the woman who would own my heart like no other has or can. It is also where I was based on the day I married that woman who was too good for this world. This was our “home” for the first 3 months we were married. That was where she almost died when the cancer became super-aggressive in 2023. Thankfully, she didn’t. 

Well, not that year.

Photo by @withlovefromchile on Unsplash

I still remember that first meeting with the owners of “The Zoo,” though, for the sake of anonymity, I’ll shorten their names to “C” and “C”.

The day before - precisely one month after my state’s Covid-19 border restrictions had ended in July 2020 - I had interviewed an “interesting” lady for a potential housesit. I knew before I left the interview that I would not accept that sit if offered to me. I had no interest in helping someone who thought everyone else existed to fund her lavish lifestyle.

A quick explainer re that owner: She was angry that people wanted their money back when Covid-19 lockdowns forced the cancellation of overseas tours they'd booked through this woman's business. I still remember her saying, "I can't believe how selfish people are. We have to eat too!"

The day I met “The Zoo,” I remember driving up a long driveway & through a secure gate that began closing almost as soon as I’d driven through.

Looking around, I was pretty impressed. The well-appointed home was set on an acre in a suburb with a bad reputation. It was apparent to me that most people - myself included - had never seen this hidden pocket of sprawling acreages only a five-minute drive from the normal, noisy suburban mania this suburb was renowned for.

By the time I climbed out of my car, one of the owners (“C,” not “C”) had appeared with a welcoming smile and two large dogs who proceeded to check out every inch they could sniff of me & my car.

Say gidday to “H” and “N”

After a quick “gidday,” C took me inside and introduced me to C who promptly made me the perfect cup of coffee as C introduced me to The Zoo.

To be consistent, I’m going to call them H (the black dog), N (the brown dog), B (the blind dog), J (the blind dog’s best buddy), C (the cat known as The Silent Assassin) and B (the cat who is nothing like The Silent Assassin & nothing like the dog B other than in size).

Thankfully, C and C were poles apart from the lady I’d met the day before. They were kind, hospitable and genuine. It didn’t take long to discover that we’d all experienced having to reinvent life after a significant & permanent change in health. Despite the pain they had both learned to live with, I don’t remember seeing either C or C very often without the biggest of smiles across their faces.

And I could see why. As I met the much-smaller B and J while H and N pranced around, it was hard not to laugh. The house was filled with incessant joy. And that was before either of the cats C or B appeared and all four dogs responded in their own unique way.

Even when (as I discovered later during my first sit … and most sits after that) one of them decided to wreak some havoc (generally N and/or H, though A would appear from my fourth sit and life was never the same once he arrived!), it was hard to stay upset for long at the furry ones who stole my heart that very first day.

Yes, H likes to sit on N when she’s lying down

However, those stories will have to wait for another day.

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If you want to read The Zoo - Part 2, it’s HERE