Leaving dog for a week

[nicolewi]

Can someone please reassure me about dog boarding??

We are away from home at our cottage and need to meet my family at a resort tomorrow for a week. We are leaving our dog with a Rover sitter in the area. She has five star reviews and my husband coincidentally knew her vaguely in high school (four hours away from here!), but she’s just very loose and matter of fact about everything, no info unless I asked questions, and I would’ve preferred a lot more handholding.

I am so, so, so nervous about leaving the dog for a whole week. She takes the dog back-and-forth from her house to her place of business, which has a big arena dogs can run in.

This whole situation is frustrating because last year we could bring her to the resort, but they changed the rules on our main Cottage…. And there was family drama if we had to switch cottages so we finally just said we would board her. Which I am regretting.

Please reassure me if you have boarded your dog. We are supposed to drop her off tomorrow so I am not interested in other ideas. We have gone in circles thinking about all different options but this is the best we’ve come up with. I am so worried she will feel abandoned and depressed. She was sooo nervous yesterday while we were packing, and now she’s up here, not knowing she isn’t really staying with us all week!

[hermione]

My dog likes his boarding place better than home.

[InBetweenDays]

We use Rover multiple times every year, including for a week each summer. He's always done great. ❤️

[nicolewi]

Jul 27, 2024 9:50:24 GMT -5 hermione said:

My dog likes his boarding place better than home.

This would be great!! I am really hoping she loves it and we would have an option for the future!!! It is just so hard the first time.

[countthestars]

We have three different Rover sitters and all are fantastic! People won’t give good reviews when it comes to their pets unless it’s true. My dog is always exhausted after from all the fun she’s had.

[court26]

I have a puppy (turned 1 in June) and I boarded her at a boarding place because she’s sort of a PITA so nobody I know would take her and I felt weird asking a stranger to stay at my house. Anyway, I paid extra for a picture each day and she did doggy daycare there and she was honestly so good and happy when she was picked up by my mom and when I got home later after a week. I was so so so stressed and worried! Your situation should be even smoother!

[brooklyn]

I’m a rover sitter! My clients always say they are relieved to see their dogs run right in my home on repeat visits. 💕I have one dog that just arrived today for a one month stay! I always promise daily photo updates.

[expectantsteelerfan]

The first time is for sure going to be the hardest. My previous dog was nervous around other dogs, so I never boarded her where other dogs were present, I always found someone to watch her, and while she didn't LOVE it, and some experiences were better than others, she was always fine. I always felt like a loon giving pages of detailed notes to dog sitters, and they were usually like, ok, I got it, and didn't give me much info. back.

When we got our current dogs, it was important for me that they were comfortable with other dogs and ok to be boarded pretty much anywhere. We do have 'our' place that we board them, and they love it there. They get excited when they see me packing their food and blankets and know that that is where they are going, and I like that I know exactly what to expect from the boarding place at this point. If for some reason our place was full for dates we needed though, I would also feel ok taking them somewhere new as long as it was a recommended place in our area.

[rooster222]

We also used reviews to find a rover sitter. Ours is so good! Ask for daily pics & updates, that reassures me so much when we are gone. I also like to know that they ate their breakfast. Just emphasize you like lots of pics and it's not bothering you.

[imimahoney]

We just left our dog for 9 days. She loved every minute of it. She has slept for 3 days straight 🤣

[vamoose]

Jul 27, 2024 9:50:24 GMT -5 hermione said:

My dog likes his boarding place better than home.

Same. Our dog loves her vacation while we love ours and then we get home and everyone is excited to see each other again.

Don’t be shy reaching once a day though to request an update or a photo. It might help you and our rover sitter is happy to send updates if we want them.

[devonpow]

She will be great! We board our dog frequently - at least 3-4 weeks throughout each year. In fact she’s at boarding now (we got back last night from a trip but can’t pick her up on Sunday’s so she is still there). Our dog has anxiety and a host of food allergies and medical issues and she does a great job with boarding and has fun. We use the same place she does doggy daycare and whomever is boarding her just takes her home to their place each night. When daycare picks her up she SPRINTS out the door to get in their car so it’s clear she loves going lol. I send a list of instructions with her medications etc each time and they usually text me pictures and updates.

[isabel]

Ask the sitter to text pictures daily. I think that will help you feel better that she's being taken care of.

For what it's worth, we've never had a negative experience with a highly-rated Rover sitter. We used a few throughout our dogs' lives. We haven't needed one yet for our current dog, but I know pictures would make me feel better if we needed to use one.

[jennistarr1]

I have an anecdote I hope helps

We were worried about leaving our dog, he's older, needs fluids. Typically he stayed with my dad but he just moved to a retirement community. We seriously weren't going to go, but friends stepped up. First hours were terrible, he was anxious and had diarrhea and he never has accidents.

The remaining 4 days he humped everything and everyone. He was fine!!!

[magma]

I’ve also only had excellent experiences with Rover!

I left my dog for the first time with a Rover sitter and her family. They live about 45 mins from us. I was halfway across the country and saw that at home, we were having a crazy heat wave (not normal for where I live - highs of 110) but the big problem was the Rover sitter’s house had no A/C. I reached out and insisted the River sitter and her fam come stay at my empty house which has A/C, along with of course my dog and her own 2 dogs. 🤣 a little nuts since I only met this woman once but what are you gonna do. But I could see on our home cameras here and there how nice and respectful they were to our house and of course how good they are to the dogs.

Enjoy your trip, your dog is in good hands!

[midwestmama]

We have done both - paid someone to care for our dog in our home for a week+ and also taken him to a boarding facility. We have a German Shepherd, so a kennel/boarding environment can be stressful for GSDs. Our dog has done fine in both situations. For the at-home situation, it is the young adult daughter of a friend who has cared for him, so we trust her and she does great with our dog. For the boarding situation, we found someone with a lot of experience with German Shepherds, and started with taking our dog to doggie daycare a few times and then going to weekends before leaving him for a whole week+. I would say it's taken some adjustment for our dog to feel comfortable with a kennel/boarding facility, but now he is fine with going there.

[bbdoll]

We boarded ours for six weeks two summers ago, while we took a long cross country trip. I swear she didn't want to leave. She had so much fun. They sent us lots of pictures along the way. She adapted very well.

[ECB]

We've boarded our dog before and she's loved it.

I've used Rover too. Unfortunately not with good results. Won't ever use them again.

[pinkdutchtulips]

I just boarded my dog for nearly 3 weeks in July due to 2 vacations. At kennel 1 (long story, I goofed on the dates and my regular kennel at no room at the inn so I had to figure out a back up), I was able to check in on her via video and she was fine. At kennel 2, her regular one, no issues at all and she had a blast! 

I have used Rover in the past, pricey (bc it was over NYE weekend) but the sitter sent lots of photos and I was assured my pup was ok.