Puppy: Boarding or in-house sitter?

[k9krazee]

There are two 4-5 day weekends in the next few months where K & I are flying out of state and will need someone to watch Crossbone & Pox.

We are having a non-dog savvy friend stay at our house while we're away. His schedule is much different than ours though...he sleeps most of the day and is up most of the night working/gaming.

At this point, and in comparison to tornado puppy, Crossbone is finally at a life stage where I'm comfortable with him being at the house with our friend for the weekend. Plus, I don't want to put Crossbone in a daycare or kennel situation with people he doesn't know.

Pox, on the other hand, while he's used to being home during the day he requires lots of supervision while we're home and he has so much energy. I'm worried that non-dog savvy friend might be overwhelmed. I can only imagine how rowdy the boys would be after a few days of no exercise and metal games.

The question is, do I keep both boys home with our friend where they will get some interaction, but be on their own most of the time? (I'm afraid they'll turn into feral beasts) Or should we leave Crossbone home and take Pox to a kennel or daycare that we trust for the long weekend where he'll have dog people taking care of him and some playtime and activities mixed in?

What's better for a 6-7 month old puppy? I would hate to have a bad experience at a daycare/facility that ruins him forever, but I don't want him home without "any" supervision for that long either.

This is the first time we've had to explore these options---in the past my parents would watch them, but that is no longer an option.

 

[Fran101]

I've always personally done sitters and had great luck with Rover!
/I would go with the random guy at home. BUT THATS ME/my dog would do better at home,even with little interaction with a human person as long as they are just around.
than he would at a kennel environment

I haven't been happy with boarding experiences (dog came back stressed, smelly, or otherwise affected plus so few updates from the place)

Even with lazy pet sitters (some guy at home, which I've totally done with friends who just hang out feed/let him out) I've had much better experiences..I'd say it just depends on the dog.
I wouldn't worry too much about a couple of days without a dog-person but that's just me

 

[amberdyan]

I think it depends on what your boarding options are. Hugo boards at daycare and he has a blast there, gets tons of exercise and I trust the way they handle him. Even though I would prefer he stay at home with a sitter, I know for a face that he would drive any of my friends bat-sh** crazy if he wasn't exercised for 4 days. He's been great for about 2 days when I've been sick or we've been super busy, but he will not hesitate to stare into your eyes and make death howl noises until you do something with him. I wouldn't want my friends to have to put up with that and since we don't have a yard and I wouldn't want them to have him off leash at the park, it just wouldn't work out.

 

[StillandSilent]

Does Pox currently attend daycare? If he doesn't, send him a few times to get him used to it, then judge from there. The staff should be able to tell you how things went. Do a trial run with boarding if you're comfortable with daycare.

Gimmick has been at the same daycare (with me) since I brought him home. I boarded him one time, with the people he knows and loves, and it was a miserable experience for him. I would have him board with a friend.

Quid was thrilled to have a sleepover with all of his aunties, and was perfectly content.

If I boarded Gambit, I'm not sure which of us would have the nervous breakdown first. Probably me.

 

[DJEtzel]

Easy fix. Give him to me.

 

[Elrohwen]

I would go with the guy who is already house sitting. Things won't be perfect, but I think he'll be able to manage Pox.

I remember puppy sitting for our friends when their first dog was 12 weeks. DH and I had always owned dogs, but not puppies for many years and didn't have a dog of our own. The puppy was absolutely insane and a lot of work, but it was fine and we managed.

I'm just not a fan of boarding because I feel like my particular dog does so much better being in a home with someone. But the right facility with the right dog would be fine.

 

[teacuptiger]

Honestly, as much as I do not like the thought of boarding Roxie (mainly because of her dog issues and SA), seeing as how Pox is a puppy, it may be a good thing to have him experience. At the very least, then you'd know that is an option for him later in his life.

As previously suggested, do some doggy daycare to ease him into it. If he doesn't do well with that, you can definately just keep him at home. Whatever ends up being easiest for him

 

[milos_mommy]

I'd be very, very hesitant to board. The only time I might do that is in a cage free facility with a dog I knew was totally comfortable with other crazy dogs, or with a dog that was used to a kennel situation.

What about finding a sitter that watches a few pups in their home? Honestly I think usually unless the dog has serious behavioral issues a non-savvy friend can watch them just fine, especially for a short time.

 

[stardogs]

I'd probably do some trial runs at the kennel before making my decision. I have dogs who will try and outsmart housesitters, so unless they are very experienced dog folks, I prefer to have them boarded at a kennel I trust. None of my dogs seem to have an issue with kenneling, so that helps immensely.

 

[sassafras]

^^Agreed. If there is a good facility available to you, try boarding just one night overnight when you are in town and then get the lowdown from them about how he did before you have to make a decision.

My dogs are all tricksy in some way, either they jump fences or are weird with other dogs or RG or are a malinois ( ) or whatever. So generally I prefer to board these days so I can relax and just not worry about someone else managing them.

But, one key to this is that I have some really nice facilities that I trust completely. If I didn't, I'd do things differently.

 

[Southpaw]

I ran into this when Juno was a puppy, I had a friend stay at the house with Lucy but knew that Juno was going to be difficult to deal with if she didn't get her typical exercise. We picked a cage free boarding place (at the time Juno's greatest joy in life was playing with other dogs), had her do a couple days of daycare beforehand, and the whole thing went well. I was comfortable with the facility and felt like they did a good job, and Juno was always very excited when we got there and couldn't wait to get away from me so she could play lol.

I just didn't want my friend to be overwhelmed or for her to feel like she had to dedicate all her time to my dogs, I wanted her to be able to follow her normal routine. Lucy is fine being left alone for hours on end but Juno would've been wild.

 

[*blackrose]

If I had someone available to watch my other animals but I wasn't sure how Abrams would do with them/how he'd be handled, I'd have no issues just boarding Abrams elsewhere.

I'm actually kind of going to do this next month. My mom, sister, and Grandma are coming down and bringing Gracie and Cooper with them. Not only is having 4 dogs and a cat in this house going to be a LOT, there isn't a good way to keep the dogs separated and while Abrams ignores the two little ones, Cooper and Gracie dislike him (he's a large idiot, so I don't blame them) and trying to manage them all is going to give me a stroke. That, plus the fact that my Grandma would NOT appreciate having a large dog run/jump/play ball directly by her...this house just isn't big enough for everyone to not be on top of each other.

Plan is to have Abrams neutered at my vet, then board in their kennel facility afterwards for those few days they're here. Will be so much less stressful, and I won't have to worry about him.

 

[altamont]

There are two 4-5 day weekends in the next few months where K & I are flying out of state and will need someone to watch Crossbone & Pox.

We are having a non-dog savvy friend stay at our house while we're away. His schedule is much different than ours though...he sleeps most of the day and is up most of the night working/gaming.

At this point, and in comparison to tornado puppy, Crossbone is finally at a life stage where I'm comfortable with him being at the house with our friend for the weekend. Plus, I don't want to put Crossbone in a daycare or kennel situation with people he doesn't know.

Pox, on the other hand, while he's used to being home during the day he requires lots of supervision while we're home and he has so much energy. I'm worried that non-dog savvy friend might be overwhelmed. I can only imagine how rowdy the boys would be after a few days of no exercise and metal games.

The question is, do I keep both boys home with our friend where they will get some interaction, but be on their own most of the time? (I'm afraid they'll turn into feral beasts) Or should we leave Crossbone home and take Pox to a kennel or daycare that we trust for the long weekend where he'll have dog people taking care of him and some playtime and activities mixed in?

What's better for a 6-7 month old puppy? I would hate to have a bad experience at a daycare/facility that ruins him forever, but I don't want him home without "any" supervision for that long either.

This is the first time we've had to explore these options---in the past my parents would watch them, but that is no longer an option.

I prefer you should keep your pox and Crossbone in a boarding, where they can play and get lots of friends.

 

[Fran101]

In house but not MY house.
I always use Rover.

Merlin likes a home environment (even if it isn't his) much more than kennel/daycare kind of thing. Plus I like having one person and he is getting one on one attention (plus sometimes they have their own dog, which he enjoys)