What do you do with your dog?

[tzolkin]

So, when you are looking for your new doggie friend, you might consider their personality and temperament.
.

This is true.

I'm sure our dog would rather be at home with a sitter than at a boarding facility, but I cannot trust anyone to walk her safely around my neighborhood due to her dog fear/aggression. DH and I have made great progress with her since we adopted her last spring, but we've been working with her a few hours each day. Anyone else is not going to be as sensitive to her needs/triggers. So even if it's just one day, she boards with a dog trainer.

In every other aspect she is a perfect pet: super trainable/obedient, travels well, never barks, never chews/gets into anything, never one potty accident, and very sweet/affectionate with people (a favorite at the shelter where we got her and at the boarding facility we use). We have found it's worth the trade-off for this one issue.

 

[pixarmom]

We haven't been away more than 10 nights since our dog joined our family (and that seemed long.) We say she's "at the spa" because the boarding facility is called a "pet resort and spa." They each have their own rooms with huge glass windows and their own beds from home. They play together in the play area each day for 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the afternoon, and then walks outside, spa and grooming services, ice cream treats, hamburger/rice meals and movie lounge time are available at an extra cost. (We may or may not have added things like berry facials and pumpkin spice baths.) The smaller rooms are $37 night, medium are $44 and then large (with webcam) are available at a higher rate. They post photos and video on facebook of playtime several times per week, so we always see our puppy even if she's not in a room with a webcam (most of the fun is out in the play areas anyway.) It's really an amazing facility and she goes occasionally for daycare if we're going to be out long (I work part time, so she's not usually home on her own for long.) I was a little worried the first time, but she loves it - always goes in tail wagging and running toward the play area. It's really amazing what a difference it makes to find a trusted facility!

 

[herewegoga]

I wasn't sure where to put this, so feel free to move it to it's proper place admins.

But, for those of you who have a dog, what do you do with them while you're gone?

We are toying with the idea of getting a family dog (large breed), but the one thing that has held us back is knowing that in another 18 months we plan on going back to Disney, and well be gone 2-3 weeks.

What do you do with a dog for that long? I really don't know if we have any family/friends that would be willing/able to care for a dog for that long.

We board our two with our vet. It's about 200.00 for them
To stay for the week we are gone. They love my puppies and my puppies love them. I'm never nervous about leaving them there. Although I miss them, I enjoy the trip so much more knowing that they are in good hands.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I have 2 cats and we boarded them with the vet.

 

[butterfly71076]

We have done both, pet/house sitter and stay with relatives. The pet/house sitter we hired was wonderful! She stayed at our home with our dogs. They were in their space and very comfortable. She would send me pics and we would FaceTime. I really liked having someone in the house while I was away too. The most recent trip, they stayed with my mom. She had just gotten a new puppy and my younger dog and the puppy got along so well.

 

[dsdeleon]

This was a huge concern for me since we travel a few times a year. We boarded once but now my MIL comes over and just sleeps at her house. It's awesome!!

 

[kittyab]

Our breeder puppy sits So my dogs get to spend the time with a bunch of other doggies to play with, lots of room to run, etc. Much better than flying them with us.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

When we had a dog, we boarded her at the kennel until she got cancer and then she had to be boarded at the vets because of her meds. We have cats and they now board at the vets since one of them is diabetic.
It costs more but it's better than hiring someone to come to the house to feed them and give the diabetic one his shot twice a day since the person we hired originally didn't show up a couple of times which was a huge issue with the diabetic cat.

 

[ElizabethG]

We are lucky that my parents LOVE our dogs. I was going to board them on our first trip after getting them, but my dad said, 'No Way!' They get spoiled when we are gone. (Usually about 2 weeks)

I would have felt comfortable boarding them, though. My vet clinic has an attached boarding and doggy daycare facility. My dogs go for daycare 3 days per week. They walk in like they own the place they love the staff. For boarding, they have a 'rest and relaxation' or 'stay and play' package. The 'stay and play' go down for daycare everyday, so they get a ton of exercise.

If you have a facility that offers both daycare and boarding, you can always bring them once or twice per month. You and the dog would get a feel for the place and the dog would be more comfortable staying there.

We had great danes for over 30 years. For a while we had two. For many years we didn't travel very much. When we started our trips to Disney they were usually for 1 week at a time. Once for 10 days. We would board at a kennel. We did have difficulty finding a kennel who could properly handle a great dane.

My 50 pound dog is best buddies with a dane that goes to our daycare place. They are inseparable. The dane has been boarded there a couple of times. She gets excited when she hears my dogs name. He ends up looking like she put him in her mouth, chewed him up, and spit him back out.
My two dogs plus a dane:

 

[Napria]

Also, our main reason for getting a dog (well, we do enjoy animals) but is basically as a therapy dog for DD who has ASD (Aspergers). So, I'm not sure that's something I want to put off.

Our son is autistic. We travel in an RV because of this. We started in a popup an then got a trailer. He loves having his familiar "home on wheels" no matter where we travel. Another bonus is we can bring our dog where ever we go. Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground is beautiful, laid back and a great antidote for a busy day at the park. And the people who stay there are for the most part friendly & laid back too. Just something to consider

 

[mshanson3121]

Our son is autistic. We travel in an RV because of this. We started in a popup an then got a trailer. He loves having his familiar "home on wheels" no matter where we travel. Another bonus is we can bring our dog where ever we go. Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground is beautiful, laid back and a great antidote for a busy day at the park. And the people who stay there are for the most part friendly & laid back too. Just something to consider

How often do you have to go back and let them out to use the bathroom?

 

[kathy884]

We board our dog at a nearby Kennel and sing him up for doggy day camp each day. We also sign him up for a busy bone veggy treat. We have him groomed before he comes home too and for a 7/8 night stay in the St. Louis area this runs about $400 - $500, so for me it is an line item vacation budget item. They take good care of the dogs and he doesn't mind going there. // Our neighbor -- Our dog goes over and plays there three days a week while we are at work has offered to take him. But as much as our dog likes going over there, he is so ready to go home (neighbor's dog kind of treats him like her little brother and he likes her for just so long). // Anyway, at least for now we have the budget to board him and go ahead and do that.

 

[kmb584]

I have a Rottie and when my daughter and I are away she stays with my parents. If they'll be out of town at the same time, I board her.

 

[mmafan]

I wasn't sure where to put this, so feel free to move it to it's proper place admins.

But, for those of you who have a dog, what do you do with them while you're gone?

We are toying with the idea of getting a family dog (large breed), but the one thing that has held us back is knowing that in another 18 months we plan on going back to Disney, and well be gone 2-3 weeks.

What do you do with a dog for that long? I really don't know if we have any family/friends that would be willing/able to care for a dog for that long.

my VET does boarding so we leave her there......and it is a pretty big expense

 

[niffer5150]

2 great danes here. we have a pet sitter come watch them. if he couldn't watch them, we'd take them to an in home sitter or a kennel. we just consider it part of the vacation expense.

 

[wilkeliza]

How often do you have to go back and let them out to use the bathroom?

Just as a heads up a well trained dog can serve as a ASD service dog. Look up what kind of training an ASD service dog should have but if you go that route the dog can go with you. I know they are notmally trained to guide their handlers and prevent them from bolting etc. they also can be trained to sense triggers and help move the person out of the atea of the trigger.

For an older dog left alone they need to be taken on a walk every 8-10 hours unless you also wee wee pad train them.

 

[cgattis]

Could those of you who've used Best Friends at WDW give some details of the facility and how hard it is to get a reservation?

Also, for those who've stayed at "pet friendly" hotels, do you just crate your dog when you leave the room? Like one of those big wire mesh ones?

We never traveled with our previous dog, but might consider it with our new one.

 

[wilkeliza]

Could those of you who've used Best Friends at WDW give some details of the facility and how hard it is to get a reservation?

Also, for those who've stayed at "pet friendly" hotels, do you just crate your dog when you leave the room? Like one of those big wire mesh ones?

We never traveled with our previous dog, but might consider it with our new one.

Best Friends can be hard but you can prebook. They do require a temperment test but from my understanding if your dog fails they just can't go to open play time and will have private play time as well.

Pet frieendly hotels we bring the kennel they use at home if driving or our soft sided travel kennel when flying. You just need to let housekeeping know there is a dog and since ours may bark when someone enters the room at first we tell them to ignore them. Our pup is use to being kenneled at home but we don't usually take them to pet friendly hotels unless we can drive to them.

 

[tsme]

We use to board our dogs at a doggie hotel. But as they got older, one started not doing well there. So now, we pay my parents to puppy sit them. It works well since they are use to them and their house. Plus, I worry a lot less.

 

[kiford]

We have cats, not dogs, but it's the same problem. I used to board them at my vet (there's 3) but one of them got really stressed when I tried to get him into the cage so I stopped doing that. I have a friend who lives close who has been able to come in (I do the same for her 3 cats) at least once at day to feed and pet them. However, she got sick (44 days in hospital) just before we went away in July for 3 weeks so I started looking for pet sitting services locally. Eventually, her husband and son said that they would take over for her so I didn't need to bring someone in but it's been comforting to know that there are several services who take care of cats and dogs (some will also take care of birds and other animals) who are bonded, have references, can provide different types of services including giving medication/shots, clean up litter, etc. - some will combine it with other homesitting services such as picking up mail. They were actually less expensive than boarding at my vet.

Do an internet search for your area for pet sitting or home sitting services. You might be surprised at what you find.