Hello guys, I am in need of a little advice/help.  One of the families who bought a puppy from me are going on holiday abroad in summer.  They have asked the vets to recommend boarding kennels and they went to see 2 of them but I think they were not what they expected (they have never had to put a dog in kennels before).  I suggested getting a Pet Sitter but she was a little warey of trusting someone she does not know to stay at their home.

Can anyone suggest an alternative?  I have suggested the puppy (6 months old now) can come and stay with me but she said that I have enough on with my 3.  There is no close friend or neighbour who would take the puppy either. 

Thank you in advance

I have recently been looking at a firm called Barking Mad that arranges for  dogs to stay with what they call host families while their owners are on holiday etc. This then solves the problem of having strangers in your house. I don't know of anyone who has used this firm but just thought i would mention it as it seems it might be a solution to the problem. 

Barking Mad are great, I know many people who have used them & they come highly recommended & when we go away in the summer for a wknd we will certainly be using them, I'm sure they have a website with more details but I think they charge about £15 per day which yes is a bit more expensive than kennels but much more fun for the dog!

Hello there!

There's one day a week where both my OH and I work away for about 10 hours so our puppy goes to a pet boarding lady. We drop her off in the morning and pick her up in the evening. She totally loves it there (so many other dogs to play with), and it's helped us no end with socialisation (sheep, horses, chicken, other dogs etc!). The pet sitter sticks to the routine you would normally follow, feeds the same food etc., and takes dogs for overnights/holidays as well. I don't know which area you're family is in ... but I would recommend this lady wholeheartedly. She's also a member of NARP (National Association of Registered Petsitters) - all their members are police-checked/insured etc. You can buy a list of members from their website - but I think word of mouth recommendation is best (e.g. the family could ask their local puppy training class). Some members will come to your house once/twice a day (I think this works out expensive though - just what I've found) and others take dogs into their house.

Hope you manage to sort something out :).

wow, where are you?!!!

Hello,

The lady is near Bristol, but NARP members are nationwide. I must admit - our puppy loves going there. As soon as she gets out of the car she goes mad and just runs towards the petsitter with her bum wiggling like mad :). At first I was worried that she wouldn't want to come home to our boring house at the end of the day (she's an only dog), but she's always MEGA pleased to see us, jumps into the car, and then sleeps for the rest of the evening and night .

AussiesRock that sounds really great!! Perfect actually!!

When Fagan was a pup he used to go to Doggy Day Care, he absolutely loved it and had a best friend there called Onion :D  He never looked back when you dropped him off, but was always pleased to see me when I picked him up, probably because he was shattered from all the playing and wanted to go home for a rest !!!  Unfortunately the lady has moved to Yorkshire and ive never found anyone who does the same.