5.0

Hello there! We are Kazu and Akemi, and we are a married couple that both work from home. After we took care of our yellow lab for 14 years together and loved every minute of it, we started dog-sitting instead of having our own. I grew up in a small town in the mountain area of Japan. My family owned a big farm for rice and dairy farming. We always had dogs in our home from as far back as I can remember. My father loved female Beagles, and by the time I went to college, we had a total of three generations of Beagles. They were all named Mary. None of the dogs were ever chained; they were always allowed to roam freely. My major in the college is veterinary medicine. One day while walking in a residential area in Tokyo, I saw newborn Saint Bernard puppies (eight of them). I really wanted one and asked the owner if they would sell one to me. "How about two thousand dollars?" he said. But as a student at the time, I didn't have that kind of money. "I'm a Vet school student, and I love large dogs. I promise to let this dog grow up freely on my parents' farm," I said. The breeder smiled and said, "Six hundred dollars will do." They allowed me to choose the one I liked the most, and I picked one male. He chuckled and said, "You got me. I thought this one would sell for the highest price." This male dog was named Bass. He roamed freely on my parents' farm and lived a full and happy life. Twenty years later, we finally started raising a large Labrador (Momo) here in America. We took her for walks three times a day (a total of one and a half hours). We frequently took her to the dog beach by Lake Michigan, where she could play as much as she liked, even on extremely cold winter mornings. Watching her run around the beach and play with other dogs brought great peace to our hearts. And when we saw Momo return home, ate her meal, and slept soundly, we felt immensely happy. Four years ago, at the age of 14, Momo passed away in my wife's arms, peacefully in the ideal state we had wished for. Since then, we have stopped having our own dogs and started caring for others' dogs, trying to provide the same level of care we gave to Momo. Our dogs are walked twice daily (a total of one hour). Seeing them walk and play in the backyard brings us the same sense of peace as when Momo was with us. And seeing them sleep soundly, exhausted from their activities, truly fills us with happiness. We frequently send videos and photos of their happy moments to the owners. "Owners enjoy a vacation in tourist spots, while their dog has a vacation in Wilmette." Our joy comes from seeing the dogs enjoy themselves and sleep peacefully.