dog sitters/boarding

Has anyone boarded or had a dog sitter for over a week watch your dogs before? How long did it take you to find someone/somewhere you trusted to watch them? Did you go with a boarding/kennel or dog sitter? Did your dog have any special needs? If so, was that a big issue in finding someone?

I'm trying to go to Germany and than Ireland in Jan/Feb 2015 to visit my brother and then my aunt, but I'm having trouble with the dog situation. My sister will hopefully be coming with me, David doesn't know what his housing situation will be like but I doubt it will allow dogs at that point, and my usual go to can't watch them either at that time. Obviously I have plenty of time to find someone, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

For one, I don't know that they could stay here with the dogs as I havent talked to the apartment manager yet (though she's generally pretty easy going, so that is a possibility). Then are the dogs special needs. Artimis takes a little bit to warm up to people and Talon can be a jerk face to other dogs. Artimis at least I'm not as worried about if we can do a dog-sitter situation, he's been left with people he knew/semi-knew and did great and he warms up to new people as long as they let him come to them fairly easily. On the other hand at a boarding kennel I'm worried he'll be horribly stressed out the entire time.

Talon on the other hand can be a handful and needs someone who knows how to handle him. So if we do a dog sitter they need to be able to know how to handle him and I worry he wouldn't get enough of an outlet for his energy/needs. At a boarding facility he get's stressed a bit with barking and can be a gate guarder with dogs so I don't know how that would go.

Ugh, just thinking about it makes me want to stay here and not go, but I'd love to be able to see my brother and Germany/Ireland.

I'll be going to Illinois somewhere in October for a few days so that could be a good trial period. Though I have people to watch them if I can't find anyone by that time.

I'm kind of in the same situation. Cynder is special needs, and her health gets worse when she is anxious/stressed, so that worries me. Abrams is also an unruly piece of poo if you don't know how to handle him, but on the flip side he takes a very specific kind of tolerance so as not to break his heart and cause him to wilt.

I've narrowed it down to two possiblities. I wouldn't mind having a sitter stop by the house three times a day to take care of them. They'd have to put up with Abrams' annoying self and I'd be worried one of the the dogs would get upset with the change of routine and tear something up, but Cynder would probably do best at home.

I also found a low volume "pet hotel" type boarding place nearby. The runs are spacious and we'll spaced out, the dogs would be able to play outside in in a fenced yard, there is no "doggy daycare" to worry about, and I spoke with the owner/operator and she said handling Cynder's health issues would be fine with her (and they allow intact dogs - one of the first I've found that does so that isn't just a vet kennel boarding). That would be cheaper than a house sitter, and I think Cynder would do okay. Abrams would probably do better.

We've also been watching a guy's dog at the house when he goes away on business, and he'd probably be willing to watch them for us. I don't know if I'd want him staying at want our place, but I may have Cynder stay with him at his place and just board Abrams. He'd be stressed, but I wouldn't have to worry about his health like with Cynder, and I don't feel the need to inflict Abrams upon someone in their own home. LOL

ETA: so....I guess my solution is outside of a trusted friend staying at the house/stopping by to deal with them, I'm leaning towards the small scale, high class dog hotel.

I have a woman who takes my dog into her home when we travel (several times a year, usually for 10-12 days at a time). I found her on Kijiji (Canada) - much like Craigslist. I emailed with her back and forth a couple of times, then went to meet her. I knew within about 2 minutes that I would be fine leaving my dog with her.

Our dog LOVES going to the dog sitter. Gets super excited in the car when she realizes where she's headed. She's treated very well, and enjoys her time. Having said that, our dog gets along with everyone and is probably the easiest, most low maintenance dog alive.

I am actually meeting with another potential dog sitter (who would take my dog into her home) on Friday - again found through a posting on Kijiji. I've texted with her several times, and think it is likely going to be a great fit.

I have the same problem. I have special needs pets - Jack has HA/HR issues with strangers, is a resource guarder, and requires eye drops four times a day. Missy is shy, has DR/DA/selective issues, and has seperation anxiety up the hilt. I have a cat that requires daily meds and weekly injections. And then a perfect cocker spaniel.

I live at home, so whenever I go somewhere or my mother goes somewhere, the other one just takes care of all the dogs, and it works just fine.

The one time my mother and I both went out of town (like two years ago), we took Missy with us, and Lauren/PWCorgi stayed at my house and watched everyone else without any major incidents. There are a couple local people that I would trust to handle them for a weekend or something (I'm looking at you, Lauren and Megan!), but it would take a lot of prep work beforehand, and a situation has never come up where it's been needed.

As far as boarding goes...I'm told there is a terrific special needs boarding place a couple hours south of me, and I would definitely look into them if necessary.

I used to stress about this stuff a lot, I'm much more relaxed about it now. The dogs survive, most dogs board just fine.

I generally board my dogs when I go away but if it was a short trip (just overnight/maybe 2) I'd probably just get a family member to come over and check on Quinn.

I am lucky that I work out of a boarding kennels, not for the kennel itself but the training business I work for board their board&train dogs there so I'm there most days.
Honestly, if it wasn't somewhere I was so familiar with I probably wouldn't use it just because it has such a big capacity. My family still use a small, family owned and run kennel an hour away.

I regularly board Quinn at the kennels I work from because it's familiar to her, I'm there most days, she LOVES the staff and the staff LOVE her so even though she's a difficult dog, she gets lots of stimulation. Plus she gets on with most of the staff dogs so they can mix her with them.
I often board her for a few days here and there partly for convenience if I have a lot on, partly because she honestly just likes hanging out there so it's no stress for her and partly because I need the reminder to detach from her a bit and not get myself so wound up about my dog.

Don't let this ruin your trip, you should be looking forward to it. Ask around about peoples experiences, go check out the kennels or do a couple of short trial runs (daycare or overnight) to put your mind at ease.

Thus far we've been unable to come up with a boarding/sitter solution for Tucker. He's human aggressive so most boarding classic boarding places are a no go. He's dog aggressive so most places where he stays at someone else's house are not going to be able to take him. And I haven't found any sitters who come to your house that mention being able to work with aggressive (human) dogs. We'd need someone willing to come several times before the actual trip so he can become friendly with them. It wasn't really a problem because my uncle lives right next door so he always watches them. But for my graduation everyone was coming and it was a big issue. We couldn't bring him because he barks when left alone and the hotel doesn't want them left by themselves anyway. Finally we ended up having my 80 year old grandmother come stay at the house and watch him, but my stomach was in knots over that too...she doesn't know how to handle aggression. Basically we had to set up a tie out on or front steps that she could hook him up to inside the house and just open the door to let him out, she could leash walk him out there like we normally do because she's very unsteady on her feet. But I was just picturing some kids walking home from the bus stop walking on our lawn, or the mailman showing up while he was out there. But luckily nothing bad happened.


I don't know who someone with a human aggressive dog is supposed to do really, who wants to watch a dog that might bite them? I mean once he warms up to someone the bite risk is really gone with him, but the sitter certainly must still worry about it. And who knows if he'd get nervous once the whole family leaves. Heck one time my aunt was watching him and came over with a towel on her head after showering and he was barking and charging her. She had to take the towel off and let him sniff her over before he realized who it was.


If i had a normal dog I'd choose a sitter that comes to the house over any sort of boarding situation.

The biggest issues I am encountering currently are that most facilities require yearly vaccinations.
My dogs get limited vaccs every 3 years (as per rabies law). As far as I know, most of our local places wont accept titer test results either.

Rigby is a psychotic nutbar of a dog that is afraid of new people, food aggressive around other dogs, and all around needs a secure kennel.

We have one place that Cobain and Oz has stayed, which is my rescue heads house. But that's now like 2 hours away from where I live and if I'm heading out that way, I may as well just drop the dogs off at my parents home so that doesn't make much sense.

I'm pretty lucky here. JessLough is awesome and will look after our zoo anytime she is able to (with pay of course). When she is unavailable, I have been able to call on my friend Sylvie in a pinch as well. Both are excellent with our pets and it helps me out a lot, since I tend to take a lot of weekend excursions.

For the rare time when both are unavailable, I either call my friend AJ who has a boarding business in her home (Finn loves her basset hound Charlotte) and I also have a great kennel on call that's on the outskirts of town, who boarded our anxious BC/chow mix when I was younger and they always did fabulous. Finn hasn't had to stay there yet but they know herding breeds and anxiety issues well, and I would trust them if needed. There's actually a fair number of good boarding kennels locally that aren't cage-free that I like and have received stellar reviews.

Talk around to kennels - ask for a tour and ask questions specifically relating to your dog and see how they would handle his needs. It sounds like Talon's issues are relatively common ones as far as dogs go (anxiety, needing outlet, etc) so a good kennel would work with his needs to the best of their abilities.

I've found it is easier to find people to watch them if you split them up. Do you have any family friends you would trust? I would ask your dog trainer if she has any recommendations or even a list of local dog sitters. Many times, a private dog park with have a list as well.

If you do end up boarding, I would definitely do Art over Talon (if you can find someone to trust with Talon). I've found that boarding kennels will either make or break reactivity. It really helped with Harlow to take her to work, but I've seen dogs become more reactive in the situation.

Also, if you board take them for a few small stays ahead of time. The less stressful you can make it for them the better!!

Good luck! I hope you find something so that you can go on your trip.