Please can anyone recommend reliable and safe house sitters in the Sandringham area of Norfolk. Needed for just a weekend later this summer. Personal recommendation is needed because the dog will not be left unless the owner feels that he will be safe and well cared for. Any help gratefully received as this is for a personal friend of mine that usually never leaves her dog, but this is a special occasion and she is desperate to know that her dog will be safe.

Corgis?

No it is a whippet

Sorry, slow on the uptake... no and she doesn't wear a tiara either

Corgis?    Love it!

Ask your vet, check local vet's notice boards but please be careful who you let into your home.    I had a couple sit with mine when I needed to be away for a long weekend.   They came with references but although I knew I wasn't the only one they were working for at the time (and I'm fairly sure they did actually sleep in my home) when I got home, there were pee stains on the living room carpet which should NEVER have been there.   I'd asked them not to leave mine with the run of the house if they had to go out.   I was not amused about that.   My hounds were okay so I suppose that was a plus but ..............

If you have doggie friends, ask them - word of mouth usually works far better than references!!  

There used to be a company called Animal Aunts (?) although they are very expensive and it might be better really to use a decent Boarding Kennel.

If you have a sitter, make sure you leave a contact number, and details about your vet with them.   Just in case.

ps    If this is a friend, why not take her dog in for the weekend yourself?

Animal Aunts are excellent but yes,expensive. I have written before on this forum relating our dreadful experiences with a different national sitting agency  a few years ago. The sitter had clearly been absent from the home for most of the 3days/ 2 nights she'd been employed to sit. Our normally reliably house trained dogs had been left to wee and poo whilst she pursued her fitness training along a local trail. We arrived home early to find her in her designer running gear disposing of a soiled rug. The house was dirty and the dogs miserable. And we'd paid hundreds of pounds for the privilege. We 'll need a sitter next year to attend our daughter's wedding in Tbilisi . Normally there is a family member who can sit but next year we'll all be away. I'm working on it now.

If this is a friend, why not take her dog in for the weekend yourself?

Because her dog is a single dog and likes a quiet life and I think our 7 dogs would be too much for a quite whippet. ( yes our 6 dogs became 7 today when we took on a rescue Dalmation 15months old, luckily all the others have accepted him and they are all playing and running so much that I am sure my tubby Beagle will start to lose weight) I hope, but he is adorable.

If it's just for the weekend surely it wouldn't be too much for either you or the Whippet for him to stay with you (sure you could find a quiet corner somewhere lol). Might be less invasive/worrying than having a complete stranger moving in with him.

You might find this 'quiet Whippet' (is there such a thing she asks - not around here!) will cope for just a weekend, just fine.   Especially if she's crate trained.   And again my experience with 'reputable sitters' wasn't a good one really in terms of how my house was when I returned - and I was only away from Thursday to Monday too.  It's not something I'll be in a big hurry to repeat - I'd rather use a good Boarding Kennel.