A month in Sandgate
Trompa and Osito – Our Airedale Experience
Petsitting and housesitting is a unique experience in each home we encounter.
On the night before we were due to start the house sit at Sandgate, we had a chance to meet our new charge, the 6-month-old puppy Osito, which means little bear in Spanish. We had met Trompa, the older Airedale terrier female, some months earlier and she was gentle and beautiful. But young and exuberant Osito was going to be a handful.
The next morning we were on duty arriving mid-morning. The dogs were pretty subdued when we arrived but within a day the mayhem had begun. Osito broke the harness that we used to take him for a walk, he was constantly annoying (biting, jumping on Trompa and generally acting like a puppy) and when it rained the dogs tracked sand and dirt throughout the house and across the bed!
We loved the area of Sandgate with a bit of history around the Wharf, lovely little cafes and eateries. We were there for Christmas. the weather was great and walks by the ocean, even the odd dip with the dogs were so enjoyable.
We did get a bit of a shock one day when we took the two to the local dog park, as a male dog was constantly chasing Trompa around looking very interested in a certain area of her anatomy. The owner informed us that his dog was an extremely good judge of when a dog was in heat. He said that the dogs usually had a tattoo in their ear when they were spayed so we had a check and couldn’t find anything. So we had to assume that she wasn’t and left the dog park before any possible dog population increase in the area could take place!
On the windy days, it is quite a sight in the bay as the kite surfers are out in force and put on a spectacular display of colour, speed and jumps. We spent New Year’s Eve with a little hamper sitting on the sea wall waiting to watch the fireworks being put on at Redcliffe. Didn’t quite work out as we had to search the skyline to see a few little flickering lights and the sound of little pops occasionally as the site was nearly 15 kilometres away. We loved Sandgate, but it was full on with the doggies providing one of our biggest challenges so far.
