2 Acre Retreat Near Washington, DC - Sitter needed ASAP

Introduction

We are looking for someone to keep our sweet 8 year old dog, Scout, company.

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Home & location

Come relax at our little urban oasis just minutes from the nation's capital.  Our home sits on 2 acres and backs to a creek and county parkland.   Housesitters will have their own bedroom, with a king-sized bed and private balcony, and a bathroom with shower/tub combo (2nd floor).  They will also have access to the living room (large leather sectional, Lay-Z-Boy recliner, smart TV), dining room, a large kitchen that opens to the family room and overlooks our private treed backyard, and a laundry room with a full-sized washer and dryer (main floor).  We also have super fast gigabit internet. If you want a little fresh air, you can hang out on our back deck.  It has comfy patio furniture, a large dining table, and a Weber grill.  If you are feeling especially spunky, you can make your way down the path in the backyard to Accotink Creek.  Important, the path down to the creek is steep and slippery after it rains. The walk takes about 5 minutes. Once you make it down, you can enjoy a short walk along the path, swim, rock scramble, or just relax on one of the giant boulders or small sandy banks. You can even try your hand at fishing, though we haven't had the best luck actually "catching." We are less than 10 minutes to a wide variety of shopping, dining, and entertainment opportunities. Additionally, we are located about 10 minutes from the Springfield-Franconia Metro (which offers weekday parking for $5 and free on weekends and federal holidays) and as little as a 20 minutes to the Pentagon and Washington, DC.   If you are a lover of the outdoors, there are also tons of great parks to visit nearby. Pohick Bay Regional Park and Mason Neck State Park are less than 20 mins away in Lorton, Great Falls in MD and VA is about 45 mins, and Sky Meadows State Park is about an hour away on the eastern side of the Blueridge Mountains - to name just a few of our favorites.

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Responsibilities

***DOG*** Scout is a happy, energetic, and very well behaved 8 year old Mexican Hairless (aka Xoloitzcuintli). She has been trained to stay, sit, lay down, heel, wait, and do some other fun tricks on command. She sleeps most of the day but will jump at the chance to play whenever you are ready. Play fetch with her or take her for a hike and she will love you forever! Responsibilities: *Provide food and water to Scout as needed. She free feeds and drinks from a self-feeder and waterer that needs to be refilled about once per week *Let her out at least 4 times per day (min once every 10 hours though we try to let her out about every 4-6). * Active play ~20 minutes per day (throw ball, play tug, go for a run, take a walk to the creek, etc. It's up to you). * Let her hang out near you for at least a couple of hours each day. She is a people dog and gets sad when left by herself too much. This is a major reason we don't want to kennel her. She can sleep with you or downstairs on the couch. She is perfectly happy with either option. ***PLANTS*** Water roughly a half-dozen houseplants. ***TRASH/RECYCLES*** Take trash and recycles out to the curb and bring the empty bins back to the house. ***SNOW REMOVAL*** We rarely get enough snow to require walkways to be cleared. However, if we do, the housesitter will be responsible for clearing it. ***HOSTING*** There is a two-bedroom furnished apartment in the basement with it's own private entrance that we rent out. Rarely, guests will need help with things like re-starting the router, flipping a blown fuse back on, adjusting the temperature, extra linens, etc. If this happens, the housesitter will be responsible for assisting them. The housesitter will not be responsible for any cleaning. We have professional cleaners who we've worked with for years who clean the apartment between guests. They do not enter the main portion of the house. There is a locked door between the apartment and storage area in the basement that only the cleaners have the code for. Additionally, there is a lock on the door at the top of the stairs to the basement that housesitters can lock if they want extra security. The same family will likely occupy the basement throughout the entire time we are away for this sit. OTHER INFO We don't expect you to do any other house chores, just sit back and relax in our peaceful setting.

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Meet the pets

Photo of Scout

Scout

9 years

Sitter Reviews (14)

Homeowner Reviews (0)

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Stayed: 10 Sep 2019 - 17 Sep 2019
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Such a sweet house and SCOUT is SMART!!! There is something about the peace in the home that is so inviting. Perfect sit... hosts are friendly and gave great instructions. My bad that I forgot on eastern time ( I drove in from Nashville ...central time). Highly recommend!

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Stayed: 11 Jan 2019 - 15 Jan 2019
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Amy and Owen have a beautiful home in a country setting -- and an adorable dog named Scout. We had a ball playing with Scout and taking her for walks! Thanks to the detailed instructions for house sitters that Amy and Owen provided in advance of the sit, we were able to review the document and also schedule a call to discuss further what was needed to care for their home, Scout, and the rabbits. Overall, they made the house sit easy for sitters as everything is well-maintained and well-documented. And Scout is everyone's dream dog -- highly-trained and a joy to spend time with. Thanks so much for the opportunity!

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Stayed: 20 Dec 2018 - 29 Dec 2018
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Scout is a very sweet and well-trained dog. The house is lovely, the rabbits are easy to take care of, and if you're there in the summer the garden veggies are a very nice perk!

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Stayed: 03 Jul 2018 - 08 Jul 2018
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Stayed: 29 Nov 2017 - 02 Dec 2017

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Amy
Last time sitter needed: 11 months 7 days ago