Most of my family are going away this summer for my mums 70th birthday. My 3 dogs have never been left before as when I have gone on holiday my daughters are always at home to look after them, but as they are coming with us I have a dilemma. My neice, who will not be coming on holiday, has offered to stay at my house and look after my dogs for me but she works very long hours. I am torn between booking them into kennels ( I have to find one that I am comfortable with first) so that they are not left alone or them staying where they know and trying to find someone who can let them out during the day, but they will still be on their own longer than they are used to. Please help me decide as I feel quite stressed about it to the point that I want to cancel my holiday.
jane

How about taking your niece up on her offer but also finding somebody who can go in during the day just to spend an hour with them playing etc ? :)

Hi Jane
What a dilemma.  Only you can decide what is best for your dogs - but, if it were me and I trusted my neice and the dogs were comfortable with her and if she could be relied on to spend her non-working time with them, and if you could find someone reliable to come in during the day who the dogs were comfortable with, then I would go with that option.  However, there are quite a lot of "if"s there!  You also have got the worry of someone else exercising them.  In kennels they would be secure and they would have activity round them during the day - how do you think they would cope with kennels?  I'm sure some dogs actually enjoy them - I think Meg (my Aussie) would but the Ridgebacks would rather be at home.  And if they're at home, they're keeping an eye on your house for you too.
Good luck with whatever you decide - and have a lovely break with your mum.
Best wishes
Carina

Only you really can decide what's best for your dogs. For my lot it's the kennels every time, I just couldn't relax worrying about them possibly escaping/running away from someone else watching them. My brother comes for a walk with us almost every day and his two daughters handle my girls at agility. He's a station officer in the fire brigade, a very sane and sensible person but I still wouldn't leave my dogs with them even overnight. I need to know that if I'm not there they are in a completely safe environment and will definitely be there when I come back :) Having worked in a few kennels I can say that it is very rare to have a dog that doesn't settle - over 99% are perfectly happy - mine run into the kennels off lead, tails wagging :)

Kennels for us too. I would worry about putting pressure on someone else should anything happen to any of them while I was away. We have a kennel we are very happy with and the girls go in together. We started by putting them in for a couple of nights to see how they got on and they were absolutely fine. If your holiday is in the Uk then why not put them in a local kennel and you can take them out with you on some of the days? We've done that too when thedogs weren't allowed and again they were fine. )We once had a collie who was fear aggressive (with people) and could not go into kennels and it was such a problem that I vowed that any other pets I had would have to be used to kennels.

We couldn't use a sitter as our dogs wouldn't let anybody strange into the house :D :D :D However, they are angels at the kennels and that is where I choose to leave mine when I go away (unless the children can dogsit) :) :) I know they are safe in the kennels and that they are well looked after :)

Daisy

Why not use a professional firm of sitters? That's what I do with mine because I simply don't trust kennels, I'm afraid. Insured, police vetted sitters have the added benefit of not leaving your house empty so lessens the chance of burglary in your absence.

Hi,
I would go for house sitters anytime, with a back up of the kennels. I know it would stress mine to be away from there comforts of home. If she works long hours, see if you can get some one just to check on them lunch times. Now it is summer, my dogs are out nearly all day they do have a large run large water containers also shade and cover if needed. At the moment they have a large parasel over part of there
run. I also leave a radio on. It deters unwanted visitors.
Regards
Denese