About Us · How Pawps really started

Animals have always been part of our life.

We both grew up surrounded by animals, part of our homes and everyday family life.

Moving to Australia meant leaving our dogs and cats with family. We learnt how much trust it takes to place their care in someone else’s hands. Not long after arriving, we realised how much we missed having them as part of our everyday life.

So we started pet sitting.

Over time, the furry friends we cared for became a little bit ours too. And we wanted every pet parent to feel the same peace we hoped for when we left ours back home.

That feeling became Pawps.

Yen running across a sunny park with a small dog carrying a yellow ball

Yen kissing a black and white border collie at an indoor climbing gym

Yen and Nico taking a selfie with a brown curly dog and an apricot curly dog

Yen and Nico taking a selfie with a yawning apricot cavoodle

Yen and Nico celebrating on a backyard deck with two cream poodles, one wearing a party hat

Nico sitting on a pier at sunset with a golden retriever, the city skyline across the water

Nico smiling in a dirt riding paddock in a sage green quarter-zip fleece and a cap, a chestnut horse with a wide white blaze leaning its head down beside his waist

Yen laughing between two curly dogs against a clear blue sky

Yen and Nico with a red cavoodle in front of Christmas wrapping paper

Yen and Nico sitting on a sofa with a boston terrier and a fawn french bulldog

Yen and Nico in caps and sunglasses with a cavoodle in a sunny park

Every animal is different

What they taught us

They all have their own way of moving through the world.

No single way of caring worked for them all. Different breeds, ages and personalities came with different energy levels, needs and ways of communicating. Some loved to run, play and explore, while others preferred slower routines, more rest or extra space. So we learnt to observe, respect their rhythms and adapt to them.

Good care starts with something simple:

getting to know and understand them.

The humans behind Pawps

Meet Yen & Nico

A childhood photo of Yen as a young girl with dark hair, sitting on a bed with a fluffy cream dog lying beside her and her hand resting on the dog's head

A festive family photograph: four people sitting on a tiled floor with four dogs in front of a decorated Christmas tree topped with a gold star

Yen

For my first birthday, I was given my first dog, Pirulo. He stayed by my side through my first ten years.

Then came Zali, a rescue, and years later her daughters, Princesa and Chiqui. After them came Luna, then Yorkie, another rescue. Just before I moved to Australia, my parents adopted Charlotte.

My grandparents lived in the countryside, and I spent around three months there every year, surrounded by horses, cows, sheep and farm life.

Animals were never a phase of childhood. They were friends, family and home.

Nico

When I was five, Vanessa, my first dog, came into my life. At thirteen, Violeta joined the family and stayed with me until I moved to Argentina at eighteen.

My family comes from the same town as Yen’s, so growing up also meant time in the countryside around farm animals.

Animals were never separate from everyday life. They were simply part of it.

Yen and Nico standing on a dirt track in a forested mountain valley with a dog on a lead between them

On the move

Our nomad lifestyle

Pawps keeps us moving around Melbourne. With our own car, we organise bookings around each home and routine. As students in Australia, our visas allow us to work 24 hours a week, which gives us the flexibility to spend more of our time being present with the furry friends in our care and adapting our days around what they need.

Every home becomes part of the story

We see every house as if it were our own home.

We care for it with respect: the spaces, the furniture, the details, the plants and the rhythm of the home. For a little while, it becomes part of our story too.

A hand reaching out to a fluffy white and grey dog running across a sunny concrete patio, while another person mows the lawn in the background

The friendships we find along the way

One of the most unexpected gifts has been the pet parents we’ve met. Some bookings have become friendships: staying in touch, sharing dinners, feeling genuinely close.

Trust grows when someone welcomes you into their home and their animal’s life. Sometimes the friendship stays after the booking ends.

Four people seated around a wooden table on a covered pub patio, raising glasses of red wine in a toast, plates of food between them and string lights overhead

Four people gathered around a home dining table with open pizza boxes and glasses of red wine, a small curly dog standing at their feet

A group of four people posing closely together for a photo inside a home, one holding up a small dark shaggy dog and another raising a glass of red wine

Four people gathered around a home dining table at night, a cast-iron dish of baked food with a golden crust in the centre, plates of salad and glasses of wine in front of them

For the life they love

They already have their own people, places and way of moving through the world. Pawps is about stepping into that life with care and respect.

We’re not here to change their world.We’re here to care for it.

Tell us about your little ones