Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of pet/house sitters please ?

I really don't want to leave her in a strange place, even though there are some very good boarding kennels. We were thinking that having her cared for in her own home would be better as she's only young and never been parted from us for more than a couple of hours so far.

aint got any personal experience, but a few weeks ago i went to a fellow cd members house(brunodog) to house sit her dogs on the wedding night,ide only met her dogs breafly before but they were fine with me being there :) .
If you find some1 you can trust, i think it can be less stressfull on your dogs than sending them to a boarding kennel :)

we have just found one that lady that owns the stables my daughters horse is at has used.  She had her stay over the weekend and was really pleased with her.  We have just used her for days we are at dog shows and will be away all day, she comes in and lets the dogs that are left at home out and sits with them in the garden for an hour, if we wanted she would take them a walk but that would be extra (she only charges £5 for coming in).  We and the dogs thinks she does a good job, (she has told me that she finds my new standard poodle puppy absolutely adorable) so she obviously thinks along the same lines as us!  She insisted on coming round a couple of times to meet our dogs before she came in herself for the first time, then she asked us to put the dogs away in the dog room where they would be when she came in and asked us to hide in the kitchen til she had a trial run of letting them out herself.  I think when you meet someone you get a gut feeling about them, if you have any doubts whatsoever when you meet someone dont employ them cos afterall you are not only trusting them with your house keys and everything you own but you are also trusting them with the most important members of your household - your dogs :D :D

PM Jeangenie I'm sure I remember a thread once and she uses house dog sitters.

i would never be able to have a house sitter, i recently went to my sisters graduation, and left early in the morning got in very late, knew that this would be the case so asked a friend (also my boss) to come and let the dogs out for me, i put the 2 nutters in to kennels, mainly because everytime jack sees her he wees up her legs has done ever since he was a pup, so she just had the two labs to let out, she has Bruces sister and Bruce goes to work with me so he knows her well, but she still had a job getting in the house, if she didnt have experience of aggressive dogs she would have given up, and Bruce wouldnt hurt a fly hes all noise and size :D so i wouldnt even think of asking someone who doesnt know them to come in, but if you can find someone you trust and who the dogs get on with everything should be ok, ask to see references and go on recommendations if you can find someone who has used them before

tanya

Thanks everyone - I agree mini-meg, leaving her in her own home would certainly be better for her - make us happier too.
fifi - ours in a SP too!

I've been looking at house/pet sitter services online and just wondered if anyone had any experience of any of them.

I see they do thorough vetting through all sources and need references too. I've seen said that they find someone best suited to whatever pet it is too.

I dont think we'd have a problem with someone coming in - they do come to visit before a definite booking is made to see if the person is suitable etc, and she is a very happy, friendly dog, so far has never turned a hair, no matter who arrives.

Thanks Carrington - I'll PM JG to see what she says :)