Choosing a dog sitter - how to choose a good one?

[Lazydomestic]

I have a lovely dog sitter who was recommended but struggling with matching availability to when I go away for work.
Did a local search & visited a couple this morning & their resident dog went for my young boy. Not in an I am the boss warning way but full on murder mode, I did a swift exit & they followed up with an email of dates they were available (er your dog is a psycho & I didn’t even see your home)
Went to a farm - he had a blast but they are housed in a (insulated) mucky shed & would be on his own at night

The 2 have seen are registered/ have good ratings - are my expectations too high or am I missing something/ just bad luck ?

we were recommended one and our dog hated it. So I went on rover and visited any I thought matched what we needed. You can filter for things like allows dogs to sleep upstairs. The one we picked and have used since is perfect for our dog. They love him and give him plenty of attention. You just have to visit as many as it takes. The one we use was great as they asked loads of questions about our dog and we stayed for over an hour so he could explore and meet their dog.

Meeting with one from Rover tmrw so 🤞
He isn’t a prince in training but there are standards!

We have someone to come and stay at our house instead of the dog going to theirs - works really well as the dog is comfortable in own house, and the house isn't empty while we're away.

How about a dog sitter who comes to you instead?

I asked for recommendations on a local FB page, and then asked those sitters for recommendations. My daycare also does overnight foster care. It's likely that there are some good, registered places you've not yet found, but otherwise, word of mouth is the best way. Technically a lot of the places you find on Rover aren't registered/licensed but honestly if you feel safe with them and they look after your dog I tend to think that's more important (having said that I do look for licensed home boarding!).

Neither of those options sound suitable for my dogs, but they sleep in the bed with us/downstairs at a dog sitters as a bare minimum. Doesn't sound like you'd be happy with the second option.

We have found other sitters through Rover, local Facebook group recommendations and googling "dog boarding in <location>".

Think you should be able to find someone suitable on rover.

He sleeps in a crate downstairs at home - just tell him sleepy time 🥰 Lots of walkers around here but not many places that board - did consider getting a house sitter but sooo expensive
Keep plugging my way through rover ! I maybe entered the process a bit naively 😢

TrustedHousesitters.com - if you are looking for a week or so at a time (rather than single nights)

Not expensive - the cheapest subscription is I think £100 or the one with all the insurance £200 but that covers a whole year, multiple pets.

I second Trustedhousesitters. I've used them twice and a friend has several times. It's great, and your house is also occupied. Saved me thousands.

Thank you - had a look, may give that a whirl !