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Vacation: Board or hire a pet sitter?

3436 Views 36 Replies 23 Participants Last post by  Bonn1997
I have an upcoming vacation that will be almost two weeks and have travel plans. What would be a better option: Boarding them at a place where they'd stay in partially enclosed outdoor rooms that are about 10 x 15 or hiring a pet sitter who would come to my house 3 x a day? The boarding place has a few employees who all love animals and has a good reputation. The dogs would get more human interaction there and would get a chance periodically to roam around on their 5 acre property. However, they're both rescue dogs and I'm worried that they're going to think I abandoned them (or they'll at least be confused about where their home is). For a little more money, they could stay in my house and the pet sitting company would come 3 times a day: Once for 30 minutes (which includes a walk) and twice for 15 minutes. This doesn't sound like a lot of human interaction and usually I let them out to go to the bathroom much more than 3 times a day. They've never had accidents in the house though, including overnight or when I'm away for close to 8 hours.

I probably sound neurotic for bringing this up but do you guys feel guilty when you go away? I was invited to go on this cruise a year ago--before I had either dog. I'm really, really excited about the cruise but part of me feels like I'm putting the dogs through a confusing, scary period just so I can have fun.
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I would board. I think the dogs will be fine.
Honestly, I don't think dogs think that they've been abandoned. Other people on here will disagree with me, but that's just my cowboy hat. I seriously doubt either one of my dogs spends any time thinking about where they were before I got them.
Personally, I would never hire a pet sitter just because I am paranoid about people being in my house when I'm not around. I won't let anyone in my home if I can't monitor them. If it's someone I know really, really well (i.e. a relative) then I may make an exception. Otherwise, there's no chance. I won't let a very close friend come over if I'm not there. I'm very weird that way I know. That's the main reason why I would board.
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