Need a housesitter to stay at my house and care for my dogs during holidays?

[LimitIsUp]

For the last decade I have been using a lovely lady who adores the dogs, but she's well into her sixties now and finding it too much (I have 4 dogs, three of them large breeds)

I now need to find a professional and trustworthy dog sitter who will stay in our house whilst we are away and care for the dogs - but am nervous about merely googling and using one of the online dog sitting agencies with no knowledge as to how they check and accredit their dog sitters or whether they are any good.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Maybe try asking for recommendations on your local Nextdoor page, or on any Facebook local dog groups?

The problem is when its an unknown person recommending, they could be recommending their mate / family member. I was wondering if they are any formal accreditation processes or qualifications for dog sitters

I was just wondering what everyone else does for house sitting dogs?

I use trustedhousesitters.com and they are great - absolutely lovely people, all checked and insured and we now have 3 or 4 favourites who come on rotation. I think I have a discount code on my email somewhere if you are interested - let me know and I'll post it on here.

There's a council licensing scheme for people who take dogs into their own home as boarders, but not for people who stay in yours

It would have to be staying at our house DeathByWalkies - that's not a negotiable unfortunately.

Yes, thank you harriethoyle. How did you start using them the first time? Did you take a leap of faith and let the first person stay for a week whilst you went off or did you do a short stay initially?

The problem is when its an unknown person recommending, they could be recommending their mate / family member.

You just need to specify that you are asking for personal recommendations only, IE, recommendations from people who have personally used that service. Not someone plugging their brother-in-laws business [grin}

Yes but nothing to stop the friend / relative claiming that they have used the service

Trusted house sitters as the PP says are all fully checked and insured. You will pay through the nose but it's probably worth it for peace of mind.

@LimitIsUp I met them in advance the first few people and did short stays ie weekends and then once I had a little pool of people I liked I started doing longer stays. A friend recommended them to me, who had used them for her cats who were literally dearer to her than life itself and that was a good enough recommendation for me to take the leap of faith! And honestly, people don't mind at all popping up to meet you and the pets and letting you check them out before you confirm them. and if something feels a bit off, you can just fudge it the week after and say your dates have changed etc and meet someone etc... I've only had to do that once and it was very fuss free.

We use pawshake for our cat. Lots of sitters on there for dogs. All are reviewed.

@Sprig1

Trusted house sitters as the PP says are all fully checked and insured. You will pay through the nose but it's probably worth it for peace of mind.

Happy to pay for peace of mind

Great advice harriethoyle

Hi OP, I'm a pet-sitter who offers stays in other people's homes.

Unfortunately, as PP said, there is no licensing scheme in place for pet-sitters. There isn't even a requirement for them to be insured.

Personally, I would start by looking at local dog walkers - the vast majority will offer pet-sitting as one of their services. Don't be afraid to ask for proof of insurance, first-aid training and any other qualifications you might want them to hold. Any sitter worth their salt will be happy to show you any relevant certificates and will be able to provide references from current clients, too.

Personally I wouldn't use someone from trusted house sitters as they are highly, highly unlikely to be insured to cover pet care or accidents that may happen on walks. They are also highly unlikely to know much about pet first aid, how to safely walk a large group of dogs and what to do if, heaven forbid, one of the dogs got injured or a fight broke out.

Good luck!

Good shout about trying local dog walking services - thanks

Maybe we should talk icedcoffees - I have quite a nice gaff on the edge of the New Forest

Ask at your vet's surgery for recommendations.. Or care. Com where you can see reviews and ask for the correct paperwork etc. And interview prospective candidates!

Yes, interview will be essential
I have a vets appointment for one of the dogs this week, so will ask then. Good shout

@LimitIsUp

Maybe we should talk icedcoffees - I have quite a nice gaff on the edge of the New Forest

Aw, I wish! Unfortunately I only cover my local area

maybe I should move

Darn, it was worth a try