Pet sitting - earliest cite?

[Kathleen E. Miller]

At 04:30 PM 6/5/02 -0400, you wrote:
>Pet sitting -- defined in the Random House Webster's College Dictionary as
>"the act of caring for a pet in its own home while the owner is away" --
>dates to 1978 in Lexis-Nexis, but I have a feeling it's much older. Does
>anyone have a sense of when this term first appeared (or, better yet, a
>citation)?
>
>Thanks.
>
>Paul


Earliest in The Times "Pet-Sitters Are Guided By Habits of Creatures"
New York Times (1857-Current File); New York, N.Y.; Aug 7, 1961; By
CHARLOTTE CURTIS
...
"She said she would not want an alligator running around her own apartment,
but this would never happen because instead of boarding animals her
pet-sitting service goes into the animal's own homes to do its work." ...

Kathleen E. Miller
Research Assistant to William Safire
The New York Times