Leaving your dog?

What do you do with your dog when you go on holiday? So far we have not really had to deal with that problem as we have taken her with us and when we have just been away overnight a family member has stayed with her.

I hire a petsitter to come by twice a day and feed them.

When I was a kid, we boarded our dog. Later on, we had friends take care of her by visiting her and feeding our dogs. Eventually, we had family who could do it. I'm very distrusting of pet sitters per se.

When she was younger she went to kennels, but we had to travel a long way to get kennels that we trusted to look after her properly. More recently we have had pet sitters to stay at the house and look after all the animals. It is expensive but it is worth the money.

I don't think I could send her to kennels, even if they took good care of her it would be traumatic for her. She is a rescue dog and she would think she had been abandoned again - or maybe she would be fine but I would think all those things and worry about her all the time we were away!

Its been a long time since we took a vacation but last time we did, we lived a couple houses down from my parents & they just came over or sent my little sister over to feed the dogs. We were only gone for a weekend though so it wasn't very long.

I've never hired a pet sitter but I think I would definitely ask for references & stuff before I hired one.

We always take the dogs away with us. If that's not possible, my first choice would be a relative or close friend that knows the dog. Second choice would be a pet sitter who comes to your house to care for your dog, third choice would be a dog boarder - someone that has your dog stay in their home. I would never use kennels, they wouldn't take my dogs anyway as I refuse to vaccinate them.

I think it depends on the dog. I have used kennels in the past. I did a lot of research and visits first and we travelled quite a long way to find kennels with excellent facilities and even more importantly staff that cared and treated each dog as an individual. It suited that dog because he was friendly, outgoing and he needed lots of attention, he loved to play and the staff loved to play with him because he was so funny. He liked other dogs too.

We haven't gone on a vacation since we've had our dogs, but I think that if we did I would have a friend stop by regularly to feed them and let them go potty. I wouldn't like to drop them off in a strange place like a dog boarding facility. I would be afraid that it would traumatze them.

Well, I actually own a doggy daycare and boarding facility, so for mine suitable for that environment, they go there. However, five of my dogs are not altered, and therefore can not go. I usually have someone (one of my staff members) come stay at my house. I feel really good about it because I love my staff, and so do all my dogs and I KNOW they're in great hands.