Boarding our Dog

[DVC Jen]

I cry like a baby when I have to leave our two babies (dogs) behind at the vet. They are wonderful to them.. they play with them, take them outside, give them treats. I know they are well taken care of, yet the guilt is there.

I can not however leave them at home even with someone coming in a few times a day to watch them. They would tear the place up... and we are always gone for just over 2 weeks.

The guilt does stick with me.. just about the time it begins to wear off from the previous trip..it start for the upcoming trip. Maybe that is why they sleep on the bed, nap on the couch and go with me in the car whenever it is possible.

 

[goldilocks_63]

I have a dog, and a cat.

Live in Naperville, IL if anyone wants to trade petsitting services.

goldilocks_63@yahoo.com

 

[lesroi]

I haven't found a national register for pet sitters - I am still looking. Make sure that whoever you hire is bonded and insuranced.

There are 2 national registries for pet sitters:

Pet Sitters International: (where we found ours) http://www.petsit.com/

National Association of Professional Pet Sitters http://www.petsitters.org/


We had several horrific experiences with friends (well, not friends anymore!) staying over to watch the dogs. Last time I decided to try a pet sitter. She is licensed, bonded, insured, etc., and does this full-time. She came 4 times per day and called me every night with an update. (We have 4 dogs and a cat so she was kept busy!)

When we got back she had a little "newsletter" prepared of the happenings each day we were gone. I have already recommended her to several people.

While I always preferred someone coming and "living" at our house, I have been very pleased with our pet sitter. By the way, it cost us $53 a day which was much less than kenneling the "kids."


Tracy

 

[married@wdw]

Didn't read all the responses so someone might have suggested this, but we use a pet sitting service. A local woman comes by the house for about 20 minutes each day, feeds our cats, cleans the litter and gives them a little play time. She frequently brings them a new toy and the cats seem to really like her now.

The first time we used her, it was only for a weekend and we had a friend check-in once or twice to make sure everything was being done. Now, our catsitter is a friend -- we have a lot in common (though thankfully, she doesn't travel three or four times per year to Disney!).

Just make sure the sitter is bonded, insured and has a back-up plan in place if anything should happen to them (our sitter, who only does cats, keeps records of the cats she's watching on an off-site server and her whole family knows how to access the records if anything should happen to her and her husband). It's peace of mind to know our pets are taken care of by someone they really like!

 

[MouseDogMom]

We have a 3 yr old lab-chow mix who has to board when we travel. We left her at home with friends coming in just for a weekend, and she was so traumatized it took two weeks to get her back to normal. She's much happier at the kennel at the vet, which costs us $19/nite (they charge by weight -she's 50lbs).

We were brainstorming on the way to WDW that Disney should really investigate what we pet lovers would be willing to pay extra for a wing in the resort to keep our pets with us and an on-site kennel staffed by real animal people who actually took care of the animals and walked them during them day. Seems to me a great way for them to get even more of our money!

 

[Disneylovers]

We have two dogs, a 15 year old beagle, and a 5 year old mix of retriever and rhodesian ridgeback (big girl). We board both now, (yes, it gets expensive, but we feel it's the best for them) Our vet has a boarding service, so espeically for the beagle (who suffers from kidney disease) it's the best. We tried having friends or our next door neighbor look after the dogs, but it's too difficult (especially now that the beagle has this kidney disease, she needs to go out during the night, and I don't want to have to ask someone to come over at night). Last summer, we did ask the son of friends of ours who is studying to be a vet to live here while we did a quick trip "home", but I can only ask him when he's home from college, and the dogs gave him a run for his money (at least he didn't go back to school and switch his major!). Our "big girl" is a "rescued" dog, she was removed from a person who kept her caged 24/7, and she still does fine at the boarders. We had a dog before the "big girl" who didn't like cages, she wouldn't eat much, and would lose weight while boarded. We started calling the boarding her "spa".

 

[wdwstar]

Goldilocks_63 now you post about pet swap, i have been looking for a nice place to take my 2 greyhounds, the last place was fine, just over an hour drive, the few places before that, they were a nightmare
i do have ressies for them at a new place, but this place really doesnt have a fenced in place for them to run. And finally you and i will be in wdw at the same time, so that doesnt really help us