How do I find someone to stay with my dog?

[jazz0007]

Hi all! Wondering if anyone has wonderful advice on how to find someone that would want to stay in my home with my german sheperd. He's a runner and we have him trained with a wireless collar in our own yard but it makes it really hard to take him to a friends house to be watched while we're on vacation. I would LOVE to find a college kid or the like that just wants to make our home theirs while we're gone. We usually go to Disney for 8-10 days and I hate to put him in a kennel that long....I think it just might kill him. He's super sensitive and has abandondment issues. We think he was abused before we found him as a stray. Anyway...I've asked around with no success....just wondering if anyone has any great avenues to search! I live in SE Wisconsin.

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[imthatgirl]

Personally I wouldn't want a stranger staying in my home for 10 days. I would ask family and close friends.

 

[NMAmy]

Tell everyone you know. Someone will know a trustworthy college kid who is good with animals.

When we moved here, I found a co-worker with college aged sons who fight over who gets to come stay with our dog. We became really good friends with the family over the years and recently attended one of the boys' wedding. He told me not to forget that he still liked to dog sit so he and his wife are coming to stay with our dog while we are gone for our upcoming vacation.

 

[disneylvrnMS]

We have 2 ShihTzus and we usually go to Disney for 7 to 10 days. We have one of the young girls at the Vet's office who will come over 3 to 4 times a day and play with our babies and take them out for walks. She usually spends 30 minutes to an hour each time she comes over.

 

[KristinU]

We just got back from a 10 day trip and used a pet sitter we found online from a search link posted here on the DIS: http://www.petsit.com/locate/

Our yellow lab is 14 and has always stayed in a wonderful boarding kennel, but now that she is geriatric and has had surgery for something called laryngeal paralysis, she just really needs someone to stay with her now. In fact, had we not found our wonderful sitter, we wouldn't have gone.

We started the process a while back, which included a meet and greet with the owner of the company/service and her colleague who does the overnight stays. Then we did a trial overnight that was a success. We couldn't be happier with the service we got and the love and care our dear pup got! Much more personal and specialized than the kennel, and our sitter texted with me every day of our vacation! (if anyone is in the eastern Hartford area, we used Zoo Crew pet sitting - awesome!)

Oh, the other place to check is your vet -many vet techs will stay with animals. Our sitter is hooked up with the humane society and knows techs at our vet that I think she said do sitting also.

I think it is a "trust your gut" sort of thing. For me, I like using a licensed, bonded, and insured company rather than put a burden on a friend's college student kid should anything happen, God-forbid, like they get hurt at your house or something.

 

[lovetheduck]

How about a teacher from your children's school? Are there any who are single? A few of the teachers near us have after school jobs to make some extra $.

 

[J'aime Paris]

I also live in SE Wis. I have 2 dogs, a cat and a fish. We love animals!
If you live close enough, I'd drive to your house and look after your dog. Unfortunately I couldn't stay at your home, or I'd have to get a sitter for my pets and DD. LOL!!

 

[magicwishes]

I would ask everyone you know for a recommendation. We have used family and friends mostly, but one person we know uses someone who has a pet sitting service. They have had an excellent experience with the pet sitting service, and I would trust them given how well they have taken care of her animals.

I personally would recommend checking in on your animals' sitter via phone after you leave. Once our animals were not fed or checked for ~48 hours as the person we asked forgot. We usually check in but after that ALWAYS check in.

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

I work for a pet sitting company. If you look in the yellow pages, or even do a search online, you can find some insured pet sitting companies in your area. Many do offer that service. I know my company is quite pricey (IMO) for staying over. I used this company before I started working for them, and I think we paid $75/night many years ago.

I also second the recommendation to contact your vet. I know I am always asking my vet to share my pet sitting info (I pet sit in my home, as well as work for the company).

I lucked out finding a wonderful pet sitter off of Craigslist. She was much more affordable, and not as strict with rules. I did contact her list of references and we tried her out for a day before leaving her here overnight.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I'm a petsitter and it's a wonderful option for many people. Is he ok being left alone for quite a few hours at a time? Even though I'm a petsitter myself, I have no one to watch my own pets when I go anywhere (consequently, I rarely go anywhere!) and even if there were another petsitter in my area, my dogs wouldn't do well. They are crated when I leave the house and I think it would be too hard for them to be cooped up in their crates when the petsitter wasn't here. Many dogs are used to being free in the house during the day, however, and petsitting works wonderfully for them!

I'm not sure I would trust Craigslist. I get most of my clients from other clients or the vets in the area. Call your local vets and they should be able to give you a good referral for a petsitter. Make sure they have a petsitting contract and referrals and you'll be all set! HTH!

 

[holden]

We have never done this (we have a cat and a friend who feeds her/plays with her while we are gone), but I know the employees at the vet's office pet sit. There is a disclaimer hanging in the vet's office that they are not responsible for any pet sitting done by employees, so it is not a vet "sponsored" thing - they do it as a side job.

 

[sshaw10060]

Hi all! Wondering if anyone has wonderful advice on how to find someone that would want to stay in my home with my german sheperd. He's a runner and we have him trained with a wireless collar in our own yard but it makes it really hard to take him to a friends house to be watched while we're on vacation. I would LOVE to find a college kid or the like that just wants to make our home theirs while we're gone. We usually go to Disney for 8-10 days and I hate to put him in a kennel that long....I think it just might kill him. He's super sensitive and has abandondment issues. We think he was abused before we found him as a stray. Anyway...I've asked around with no success....just wondering if anyone has any great avenues to search! I live in SE Wisconsin.

Thanks for any and all help!

Ask your vet for a recommendation. Also if there is a vet tech schoold nearby you might be able find someone there.

 

[kimkoz]

Check with your Vet

Check with Doggie Daycares in your area - Around here many do in house stays. We're more comfortable with them since they dog has meet the women many times.

Ask everyone, you never know who may need the extra cash.

Any friends with college kids at home. Thats who we use. A family friend has a college aged daughter that lives at home. She loves to dog sit, since its like living on her own for a bit.

 

[khgreen]

Oh I shouldn't Tell you this...but for our last WDW trip we had a college student stay in our home to pet sit. She came highly recommended. My friend knew her and her parents-they had been neighbors for years. The girl had baby sat for my friend for years. We met with her and she seemed awesome. But when we got home....and she knew when we were arriving....we found 6 kids-drinking and smoking pot. My dining room (which was to be off limits to dogs was filled with poo. There was poo on the curtains and even on the Xmas presents-and my dogs were traumatized. Plus other things-Over a year later it is a little funny to talk about but at the time it ruined the good memories of my trip and I spent my first hours home scrubbing and crying.

This fall I'm having my mom come stay at my place-she's retired -I just can't trust a stranger again. So please be careful when choosing a pet sitter.

 

[jazz0007]

Yikes!!! That is NOT good to hear!!! That would scare anyone from trying this again!

Thanks everyone....I'll keep asking around. I do not want to be tied home for the next 12 years! I do love my Bolt though. I will find someone.....eventually.......

 

[chmbnaut66]

I would talk to people at the Vets' and anywhere else that you might frequent.

It is funny, my 20 year old daughter animal sits now on weekends for families that she formerly babysat for! Their kids are all grown and the families do not need a baby sitter, but they need an animal sitter. Those families give her name out to others and she usually has one house sitting gig a month now.

In fact, for my upcoming trip to the kingdom, she could not stay all the time with my dog because she has committed to another family!

 

[jazz0007]

Would love to find someone just like that!!! He came to us as a stray...starving and full of mange. Now he's just a boy in need of constant love and attention......

Meet Bolt....

 

[MinnieVanMom]

He is a great dog! Just lovely and your dd is beautiful. I hope you find a good person to watch your dog. My mom watches our dog but she is starting to get up in years.

I am also trying to find a new person. I watched our friends dog, horses and cats each time they left which was every weekend mostly. When I asked her for help she said no. So I would never ask again.

 

[mrscramer]

Two years ago on our last trip to Disney I had a gal that was my assistant in my dress-up party business watch our grey hound. She was to stay at our house. I check on her here and there and thought things were okay.

We get home and I go into our bedroom and was over come by the smell of air freshener and carpet cleaner. There were a couple days where I guess she just didn't feel like coming over or even spending the night!!!! While she cleaned things up I felt so sorry for Sampson who probably didn't even know what to do when he finally had to go. Needless to say I have never spoken to her again. I am sorry I paid her the money up front that is for sure.

This is the only time I have had trouble but I just thought we could trust her. We are lucky that Sampson can go to the in-laws for most vacations but we will be with them in July so I have to find someone to watch him and I am scared.

Good Luck!

 

[KristinU]

Jazz0007 - your Bolt is a beautiful dog!

As for the horror stories, another reason why I just feel so much better with an actual pet-sitting business - licensed, bonded, insured, and with references and a Google-able name. Plus, if I were to need to go ballistic on someone I'd rather it be a business relationship rather than a family member or friend. Although, after the great experience we had with our sitter texting every day, I feel like we're friends now

I should also add that part of my detachment philosophy comes from my teenage years when my family went on vacation and left our dog with my aunt. She lost her...she had wandered off when she was outside unsupervised and unleashed and probably got lost and confused. We did end up finding her at animal control a few days later, but ugh. And what can you do when it is family? That's tough.