Pet / house sitters

[LakeFlyPie]

We need a pet sitter for DDog at Xmas, I’ve seen various companies where you sign up and they match you but would appreciate stories of personal experience as feels a bit weird having a stranger in your home. DDog is a slightly nervous rescue who will be better at home than in kennels or boarding.

We found our sitter on Rover. We've done it that we've dropped the dog off at their house, and also that they've house sitted for us. Both work well, but I feel more comfortable just being able to fully lock the house up and drop the dog off at theirs, since he likes it there (he had two 'sessions' of meeting them/getting comfortable with them before we left him for the week).

I'm a dog-sitter but like many, I don't work over Christmas and I suspect the ones that do will be booked up by now (sorry!). I personally book up over a year in advance for overnights.

If your dog is nervous I would recommend finding a local dog walker who also does overnights, so that your dog can spend time getting used to them before they come and stay in your home. If they offer a trial night, then that's even better as the last thing you want is them agreeing to the sit but the dog refusing to settle or showing signs of fear or anxiety. I recently did an overnight sit for a very nervous rescue dog and I spent 6 weeks getting her used to me before I stayed overnight for a trial.

The owners have now booked me for longer stays/visits as the first one was so successful, so it can be done. I hope you manage to find someone :)

Thanks, he’s not completely neurotic nervous but I think he would be happier in his familiar surroundings, also he gets carsick so any journey > 5 mins stresses him. I thought I was well ahead of the game, didn’t realise sitters get booked years in advance 😬. Really need to put the feelers out for someone looking for a quiet festive break 🤞

I’ve always used rover and never had a bad experience: maybe I’ve been lucky. You can and should meet people in person beforehand. If you’ve got a good radar and don’t have millions of valuable items you’re probably ok. Kennels is the backstop option. Not one I’d use but at least they don’t all close over peak periods.

Sitters will book up well ahead of boarders or kennels as we can only look after one dog/family at a time - whereas kennels and home boarders can take multiple dogs.