Housesitting in Switzerland

Housesitting in Switzerland. Housesitting at Lake Geneva.

More precisely, in the 1000 inhabitant village of Saint-George, located midway between Geneva and Lausanne at 1036 meters above sea level.

At TrustedHousesitters, we applied for our first housesit in Switzerland and were promptly invited to look after the 16 year old terrier mix Banjo and two unnamed female cats for a period of five weeks.

Since we were arriving with our own dogs, Tia and Sandy, we first arranged a walk in the fields with Banjo and his owners to avoid any territorial issues before entering the property.

The introduction of the dogs went smoothly.

They had no interest in each other.

Tia and Sandy sniffed Banjo’s bottom, but as an old loner, he barely acknowledged them and gave them the cold shoulder.

No fireworks of emotion, always a relief for us! We know the good manners of our own dogs, but experience showed we can’t always trust other dog owners to judge how friendly their pooches will react.

After a short tour of the house, the Canadian homeowners left for their home country, leaving us their house along with its three furry residents and a large vegetable garden, which we had to water twice daily and could harvest several times a week.

Since the July sun at over 1000 meters burned everything that wasn’t shaded on cloudless days, we were already out in the yard with the garden hose before sunrise.

Beautiful paths led straight from the property over meadows into the steep mountain forests of the Jura Vaudois Nature Park, with views over the entire Lake Geneva up to Mont Blanc.

Above the forest behind the house, extensive alpine pastures began, which we usually reached by car due to the age of our foster dog, sparing him the steep climb.

The dog we cared for, Banjo, was extremely easy to handle, friendly, calm, and at the same time very independent.

In the house, he completely ignored Tia and Sandy. The two were visibly irritated by this consistent indifference and regularly stared at him in disbelief whenever he once again walked past them without a word and without acknowledging them in any way.

However, on our daily walks, he showed a different side. Banjo did not seek direct communication, but he oriented himself strongly toward our bitches. Sandy in particular seemed to give him a sense of security, as he stuck closely to her side and copied her behavior without directly engaging with her.

Banjo had received very little training and did not respond to any common command. Since we walked in remote areas he was familiar with, and because he consistently followed Sandy, we were still able to let him off leash in agreement with his owners.

We were disappointed, as we were looking forward to extensive walks along Lake Geneva, but as it is with many centrally located lakes, most of the lakeshore is privatized, built up, or part of heavily frequented city promenades.

It was impossible for us to find a dog friendly and natural route, so the lake remained, apart from a few city visits, a beautiful, living canvas to admire from our terrace.

Visits to nearby cities like Geneva, Lausanne, and Montreux were delightful for human visitors, but only in Montreux were we able to let our dogs take a brief dip into the water, during a busy walk along the breathtaking promenade.

Was our housesit at Lake Geneva with our dogs ultimately worth it?

Absolutely!

But not exactly because of the lake, as our expectations for a rewarding experience are entirely based on the opportunities of being freely out and about with our dogs.

This free world appeared in the form of the Jura Vaudois Nature Park right behind our house. However, for the sake of the lake, we would not recommend the area due to limited access if the focus is on water based activities with four legged friends.

In the mountains however, we encountered nothing but the freedom we were looking for!

And indeed, one must admit, Lake Geneva is the most beautiful masterpiece we could have witnessed while roaming through the Swiss Jura, far away from all the gathering along its shores.

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