Dog care and housesitting in Rathmale, Sri Lanka

Details

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  Description

  My husband and I own a 7-acre cinnamon farm on the south coast of Sri Lanka near the tourist beach Hiriketiya. We have a little house, 5 dogs and many potential projects having to do with gardening and construction, but our main focus is dog care, as we love our pups and all the neighborhood village dogs.
  
  Rob and I work on sailing yachts as a Captain/Mate team and are away a lot while we are saving up to build our villa. We are from the United States, but have both travelled the world extensively through work and on our own adventures. Out of all places on this wonderful planet, we have chosen Sri Lanka to be our home. We bought the property 4 years ago and have done many projects to cultivate that land. Over that time we have inevitably collected 5 dogs, the first 3 were born on the property, the next was abandoned at a temple near the the house and the final one was brought in to treat for cancer.
  
  We employ one property manager who keeps an eye on ongoing projects and one gardener whose main job is to keep things fertilized, tidy, and to eradicate on ongoing guinea grass problem. We are located in the jungle in a small village in which we are the only foreigners. It is a lovely, quiet, and friendly place to be. The tourist town is 15 minutes drive by scooter or tuktuk and hosts a great surfing beach, lovely restaurants, yoga and fun.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Light gardening

  Creative DIY projects

  Animal Care

  House & pet sitting
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  Interests

  

  Sustainability

  

  Self development

  

  Pets

  

  Farming

  

  Events & social

  

  Culture

  

  Charity work

  

  Plant care

  

  Music

  

  Gardening

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Carpentry

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Books

  

  Animals

  

  Yoga / Wellness

  

  Outdoor activities

  

  Nature

  

  Hiking

  

  Fitness

  

  Dancing

  

  Beach

  

  Adventure sports
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We are surrounded by local neighbors who love to meet new people and practice their English. You’ll be invited to neighbor’s homes to share a meal if you like.
  Doing any dog care outreach will require interaction with local people.
  
  Rob and I will not be at the property, so you will share the house with one other person, a lovely vet nurse from Ireland. She has lived in Sri Lanka for 2 years and works for the dog charity, WeCare. You can learn from the gardener working on the property, from the neighbors, and from any other workers on site.

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  Help

  We are looking for dog lovers to house sit and take care of the pups.
  
  Any additional projects are optional, but include creating an apiary, building a chicken coop and chicken yard, learning to tend Ceylon cinnamon and bananas, building a greenhouse and creating an herb garden, cultivating coconuts and fruit trees, and creating a mushroom shed.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Sinhalese: Beginner

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  Accommodation

  One room in a two room house with a shared bathroom. The house has a fully outfitted kitchen and a living room with a tv and Xbox. Each room has a king sized bed with a mosquito net. There is hot water in the shower and a washing machine with line drying.
  No A/C, but ceiling fans keep things cool enough. WiFi and cctv provided.
  Because this is essentially a house-sitting gig, where the only requirement is feeding dogs twice a day and basic house-keeping, there is no per diem for food provided. It is possible in our area to have a filling, healthy diet on around $10/day.

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  What else ...

  Main job is to take care of the dogs and keep the house clean:
  We have 5 dogs that need to be fed twice a day and need to have their food cooked for them every other week. As they are free-roaming dogs it may be necessary to go find them. The wandering ones have trackers. Taking them to the vet and keeping us updated on their wellbeing is a must.
  
  We have 1 scooter and helmets available for rent at 18,000lkr/month. Otherwise you can rent your own personally or hire tuktuks and use busses to get where you want to go. To use the scooter, you must have the proper license.
  
  Use the house as your own, while keeping it tidy and informing the owners and manager about any damage so that issues can be addressed in a timely manner.
  
  Other than caring for the dogs, the time is your own. Enjoy Sri Lanka!

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  Hercules

  

  Persues (1 year)

  Perseus is a free-roaming, friendly Sinhala Hound. He loves to go on adventures with people. He was raised with his brothers Hercules and Ajax

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