DDog is a lovely, slightly nervy border collie. She is an absolute joy at home and with the people she loves, but quite suspicious of strangers. She goes to daycare and has a fab dog Walker who also does home boarding but is always booked up a year in advance. We have the in-laws who have a dog and will dog sit. Last summer when we went away, in-laws were offended that we didn’t ask them to dog sit, so we cancelled the home boarder and DDog went happily to them. We’re going on a short city break next week with my Dad and before we booked (in January) we double checked that in-laws could dog sit this time too. They said yes no probs.
In the interim I had started some meet and greet/settling sessions at a local kennels because I wanted to have more options for dog sitting than just the in-laws or our very in demand dog Walker, in case we wanted to go away at short notice etc. We’ve been taking it really slowly, been building positive relationships and associations with the dog. The in-laws didn’t know about this.
In-laws told us on Saturday that actually they’ve got builders coming in, they’ve already knocked down the kitchen wall and conservatory, the garden is a bomb site and actually they can’t really look after the dog for us after all.
So I’m attempting to accelerate the settling in process at kennels, she managed a few hours today without barking the place down and took treats etc but they couldn’t coax her out of the kennel once she was in. I’ve now got to spend Saturday and Sunday doing more settling sessions with the dog at the kennels (40 mile round trip!) and got major anxiety about leaving her and going away. DH is on night shifts so unable to help, and I’ve already trekked over there twice this week. Please can someone reassure me that DDog will be fine and we will be able to relax and enjoy our holiday. I’m at the point of considering cancelling the whole thing, I’m so upset about it.