[ilovemychihuahua]

Hiya Peeps! Having trouble here. You see, my family and I are raising money to go to Mexico during the summer, and we have no where to put our pets! Our Relatives will all be out of town! I know, right?! So peeps, i need your help, what should i do? Do i get a friend to look after them?

[twinfish82]

What we do is ask friends we can trust and our dogs know if they can house-sit for us and feed the aminals. We make it real easy. We write down how much and when, show them, and FILL the fridge with food and beer LOL! Like our pets, most of our friends are food motivated!! Our motto is "enjoy the cable, computer, and eat whatever you want." We have no problems finding people willing to do it. Good luck!

[sheltiemom]

How long are you going to be gone? Less than a week, I'd board them. More than a week, I'd take them with you. I had a very bad experience with a pet sitter, so I don't trust people to look after my pets anymore. I hired a teenage girl (age 14) who lived down the street to dog sit for six days while I went to Florida a couple of years back. I knew her and her mom. She was supposed to come over before school and feed/let the dog out, then come over after school and play with him or she said she might take him to her house for a couple of hours to play with her dogs, then come over again at night and feed/take out/crate him. I will never know exactly what went on, but when we got back, there was poop and pee all over the house and the dog was depressed and wouldn't eat for four days. This dog was five years old and never went in the house before. It looked like the food had been used, so she did come over sometime. *shrug* Sorry to jack your thread, but I wouldn't trust friends to care for your dogs. I do have neighbors look after my cat from time to time, but the cat is pretty low maintenance.

[paws4prayer]

I stopped boarding our dogs over 10 years ago, after discovering that what I pay in vet bills to get my pets healthy again after being boarded exceeded what I would pay a professional pet sitter to live-in with my pets when we are gone...not to mention the stress it created for them and the subsequent effect on their immune systems (I can relate to the depressed dog not wanting to eat for a few days). I'm sure MANY people board their pets without incident, but I've never had a good experience.

You can find professional pet sitters through organizations such as the National Assoc. of Professional Pet Sitters http://www.petsitters.org/ or ask the owner of a trusted small-town pet store or vet's office for a referral. Our last pet-sitter (about to have a baby and pet sitting no more ), was a vet tech who had a police officer for a husband. We were in pet-sitter heaven for 2 years.

No matter where you get your referral from, DO check personal references, have a conversation with one or two of their past clients, and make sure you see how that person interacts with your dogs before you hire them. More than once, I've discovered that my dogs are better judges of character than I am.

I've learned not to rely on friends and neighbors. Generally, I find that people who treat pet-sitting as a career are much more motivated to do a good job. You can pay by the visit, or some will live-in. It's a matter of what you can afford and what your dogs need to be comfortable.

Hope this helps.

[sillylilykitty]

Originally Posted by sheltiemom

How long are you going to be gone? Less than a week, I'd board them. More than a week, I'd take them with you. I had a very bad experience with a pet sitter, so I don't trust people to look after my pets anymore. I hired a teenage girl (age 14) who lived down the street to dog sit for six days while I went to Florida a couple of years back. I knew her and her mom. She was supposed to come over before school and feed/let the dog out, then come over after school and play with him or she said she might take him to her house for a couple of hours to play with her dogs, then come over again at night and feed/take out/crate him. I will never know exactly what went on, but when we got back, there was poop and pee all over the house and the dog was depressed and wouldn't eat for four days. This dog was five years old and never went in the house before. It looked like the food had been used, so she did come over sometime. *shrug* Sorry to jack your thread, but I wouldn't trust friends to care for your dogs. I do have neighbors look after my cat from time to time, but the cat is pretty low maintenance.

Well I think you had a very bad experience with this. But I have pet sitted many times for my friends, in fact I am pet sitting 7 cats, 2 birds and 2 fish for 2 weeks during the summer. I think it is a good idea that if you are gone for less than a week boarding is good but more than a week a pet-sitter. And be carful of who will be your pet-sitter, they should be someone responsible and someone you trust (IMO a 14 year old doesnt know much about responsibility, my 15 year old sister cant even take care of her own cat by herself, shes too interested in going out with friends 24/7 so my parents almost always have to feed the cat!)

[mom to lil buddy]

Our pet sitter is member of the National Organization, a bonded professional and is very good and very reliable. When I had a diabetic dog, getting him here on her shot/feeding schedule was sometimes a problem, but otherwise he was excellent. Virginia

[sheltiemom]

Yeah, I'm sure my case was not the norm. The ironic thing is that I myself dogsit frequently, though the dog I sit for comes to my house instead of me going there. I am sure that an adult/professional would be just fine. I guess the moral of my story should be to check the person you hire out carefully beforehand.

[nrhareiner]

I always have a friend come over and take care of all the amimals. Boarding them is not an option for many reason. First is it cost quite a bit to board a horse and I have 5 of them here at the house and then 6 cats and 6 dogs so I just have a friend who comes in and takes care of them. In the summer this happends quite a bit as I show and am a pro photographer so I am gone quite a bit. Sometime only for a day but still need someone to come in and feed and turn out.

That has alway worked well here.

Heidi

[twinfish82]

I only had a problem one time with a freind watching my pets, he worked to much and wasnt making it to my house enough to let the dogs out so they went a few times inside. Thats why we have people who will stay at our house while we are gone, they dont want to be in a house with a bunch of dog poop so they are very good about letting them out. My husband just told me the neightbors are watching a dog and its leg got broken...its a small dog and they have a very large dog and a few kids so who knows what happened!

The question is do you have people you can trust to care for your animals?!?

[Laurelin]

We send our dogs over to our breeder so she can watch them- it's a two hour drive but it is much better than boarding them. Or if she's showing that weekend, Beau's sister's owner will pet sit for us. Of course we bring the food and pay them and everything. But that way we know that they know what they're doing and know how to handle a couple of intact males around the house.

[Meghan&Pedro]

I would get a reputable pet sitter (WITH REFERENCES that you CHECK OVER very well!) to live-in and pet sit, or drop-by a few times a day to perform their tasks.

I am a pet sitter, and in my area the going rate is about $30.00 a day - so it's still cheaper than a kennel out here, plus you save the stress of the dog moving to a new location. It's also much cheaper if you have more than one dog


You must, however, lay out IN WRITING exactly what you want the pet sitter to do for you, what the pets eat, how often you would like them taken out etc.
That way there is no confusion

I, as a pet sitter, prefer it to be written down - that way theres no confusion.
Meghan