Kid-Free days!
This work week started out smoothly, but seemed to rapidly accelerate. My Wednesday and Thursday were pretty jam-packed with meetings and calls and it became a little overstimulating!
On the plus side, we ended up with a few kid-free days. This is very rare for us. But after a lot of “togetherness” in Copenhagen, I felt ready for a bit of space. 😉
As I mentioned, Asher left Tuesday at 5 am for Virginia Beach with his swim team. Looks like he’s having a good time so far though the 4+ hours a day of swimming plus dryland training sounds exhausting. One of the moms posted this pic of them all at the beach – what a quintessential “teen summer” pic, no?
Ethan unexpectedly made plans on Wednesday to stay over at Ivan’s cousin’s house (on the far opposite side of town, maybe 25-30 min drive away). He has lifting sessions at school every morning so he drives to the west side anyway, pretty near his cousin’s.
Originally he was supposed to work Wednesday night, but I guess they were overstaffed because he got removed. So, he had an unplanned couple of free days as his next work shift is Friday afternoon.
Wednesday morning he went to his early morning lift/practice, then straight to his cousin’s after. He’s a couple years younger but they get along super well and are very close. (Technically they’re second cousins; he’s also the one we took along with us to Mexico in October.) Anyway, they’ve been hanging out and doing who knows what and this has meant that we’ve had NO KIDS home since Wednesday morning!! He’ll come home later today before his work shift this afternoon.
It’s just been nice to have a little…. breather from each other. Ha. This was good timing post-vacation.
Dog sitter shopping…
On Wednesday night Ivan and I drove out to a nearby town ~20 minutes away to meet a potential in-home dog sitter, who I found on Rover.
Eh, it was a no. He was nice enough, but the vibe check did not pass for us.
Right off the bat, he seemed rather socially awkward, which is, okay, fine, not necessarily a deal breaker, but in our messages he was already very short and brief… If one thing I didn’t like about the other boarding place was poor communication, it doesn’t make sense to go somewhere else with the same style!
Next, Ivan commented afterwards that instead of this guy sort of “selling himself and his services”, I had to ask all the questions. I had to try and pullll information out. I was the one who had to interview him: ok, so, do you take them on walks? Where do the dogs sleep? Do you feed them separately? What’s your routine like, what about when you’re gone, then where do you keep them? How many dogs do you keep at a time? How long have you been doing this? etc. etc. He didn’t really offer much information up besides coming outside with his (nice) dog on a leash and standing there.
But the biggest issue was that he didn’t invite us inside!!! Originally when I asked to meet, he had texted back that there’s a dog park nearby he likes to meet at. I responded, well, actually Charlie has never been to a dog park (and this probably isn’t the time for a first time…), and anyway, I want to see the place where we’d be boarding him. (I mean, DUH?! That seems so obvious?)
He said okay, and gave me his address. Great. But then he texted me and said, “Shoot me a text when you’re close by- my fiancé is taking a nap and I don’t want to wake her.” (She’s taking a nap at almost 6 pm? 🤔Alright, perhaps, fine…) So I did and he came outside on the driveway when we arrived, but I had figured at some point he’d say, Ok, now let me give you a tour.
Nope, he made no motion of going inside. I honestly felt a little awkward. Do I just… ask to go in his house?? Finally toward the end I was like, “Um, so, we can’t like, see inside or… ?” (He did have two other small dogs who were barking at us through the front window, so he kind of made it seem like due to the dogs, we couldn’t?)
After I asked, he said, Well, you can sort of look inside if we go around to the back (through the sliding patio door of the exposed basement). Apparently this is where he works from home and the dogs spend a lot of time. So we did that and I guess that space seemed fine (though another red flag to me- his yard was SO overgrown with huge, unruly plants everywhere and very tall grass and weeds and it seemed like an absolute mosquito and TICK breeding ground).
Anyway, obviously I really wanted to see his whole house, not just one room (and through a window!). I mean, how am I supposed to know what kind of hygienic and safety situations are going on in there?? I’m supposed to just leave my dog there, sight unseen?!
OH and one other BIG red flag to me- when we were walking around to the back door, the 3rd dog he’s currently watching was in the basement rec room, a bigger Weimaraner, and he was barking at us, as dogs do. As we approached, the guy yelled, “Shut up!” to him, rather harshly!!! 😳Then he sort of self- corrected, and was like, “Er, I mean, be quiet! Shush!” But oof, that did not sit well with me. I never tell Charlie to “shut up”! And I did not like the tone.
And finally, as if I needed another reason to cross him off the list, lol, he just didn’t seem to get excited to meet Charlie. Remember how I said the new vet + vet tech acted, like they thought Charlie was the cutest/sweetest/best dog that ever lived? THAT’S what I’m looking for! I’m not sure this guy even bent down to pet Charlie.
Anyway, he does have excellent reviews on Rover, so, I feel a little confused. Am I… missing something? Being too picky?! (No, I’m not.) I imagine that Charlie would survive there, but NOPE. That is just not what I’m looking for at all.
We have another appointment next week with someone (right here in town, too!) who looks very promising. It’s a young woman who runs an in-home dog boarding as her full time job, and she has all sorts of dog training certifications, works with rescues, etc (clearly seems very passionate about dogs).
I also may set up a couple appointments to tour some other standard boarding facilities. I had originally been turned off by how those places keep the dogs in their private “suites” or “pens” much of the day, all alone!, thinking Charlie would be sad. But in reality, I now wonder if it might actually be good for him to have some alone time/ down time so he could actually nap and rest sometimes. I do wonder if the kennel free setting was just TOO much for him.
Also, I do see many other perks to a traditional boarding facility. For instance, I think the odds are almost nil that he’d somehow “escape” (which concerns me much more in someone’s home). I also feel odds of him eating or chewing on some weird household item are very low in a facility, and much higher in someone’s home. Obviously, a big boarding facility is completely set up and caters to DOGS as that’s what they do. And I presume there are industry standards and certifications to be licensed, etc. Oh, and a big one- in a facility, there’s no risk of the dog sitter suddenly cancelling, getting sick or having a family emergency!! That is a big concern for me about using a sitter or in-home place, being dependent on just one person…
(Having someone come and stay in our house doesn’t feel quite right to us, either, for a variety of reasons. Ivan feels weird about a stranger staying here, and I have some concerns about Charlie being home alone all day while someone presumably works. We never crate him all day since I’m usually here, but he can still be a bit mischievous when left alone for very long stretches..)
Ok whoa, I just wrote a lot of words about dog sitters and dog boarding. 😅 I guess I needed to work through that thought process a bit! I know many of you have dogs (and I got some great and helpful comments on my last post!), so I certainly welcome any other thoughts on this topic!
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for a movie night out last night. Ivan and I went to see the new F1 movie, starring Brad Pitt. I loved it!!! Perfect summer action movie and we both thought it was great. Highly recommend! Funny, action, good message, awesome cast. And Brad Pitt’s still totally got it. (But he’s definitely looking older now.)
GRATEFUL KAE 
I know you said you don’t really want someone in your house, BUT, I house/dogsit for a site called Trusted Housesitters, and have had a lot of success. Obviously, I am the sitter not the home/pet owner. However, I have had people who want me to arrive a day before and stay the night so I can meet the dog and them and they can make sure that they are happy before they leave. Some people if it is local want the sitter to meet them for an interview a while before just like you are doing. Also, the owner will often say that I can’t leave for more than 6 hours max, or something like that, and often the sitter is a WFH person anyway, so I have had people let me use their office/monitor etc. and it has been great from my side. Obviously I always leave the house better than I found it and I take care of the pets and do my job, and there are always bad stories in every bunch, but I think if you are very upfront with what you want (hourly texts and photos, don’t eat things in this cupboard etc (although I have never had anyone say that), you can get what you want. You do have to pay a yearly fee, but it is way cheaper than a boarding house! I have a code if you want 25% off. Text me if you want more info, but you should be able to check it out without registering if it is something that interests you.
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I read this with intense fascination because a) I’ve never had to board a dog and the whole thing sounds stressful and b) we WILL need to hire a cat sitter at some point and I have no idea how to go about doing it! Your description of this guy makes me 100% on board with your decision to look elsewhere. The “shut up” alone… but coupled with the overgrown backyard and the refusal to show you around the place your dog would be staying???? No thanks, buddy.
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My daughter went with a boarding kennel with suites for her first time boarding her dog – a sweet, neurotic, overly-attached chicken of a cocker spaniel- as she wasn’t sure how he’d do long term with other dogs. ( Usually, I take him and her cat to stay when they go on vacation, but this was a family wedding where we all would be.) He stayed in the suite overnight;they gave him lots of attention during the day. And they sent pictures! So good boarding kennels are out there!
We’ve also dog sat for neighbors who have dogs. But usually they are dogs who can be on their own for a few hours without destroying the house. Do your sons have any dog crazy friends who could stay with your dog while you’re gone? Or do you prefer a professional? (People like my kids as dogs inters/garden waterers because they’re responsible, have plenty of siblings to act as back-up, and me looking over their shoulders. )
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There is no such thing as too many words about dog sitters!
Look, if you had checked out the sitter and there was just one tiny thing that bugged you, that would be enough reason not to use him. But this guy was handing out red flags like confetti. I don’t care how many positive reviews that guy has, you saw what you saw.
The place that we take Doggo for boarding and doggy day care is a franchise, and unfortunately there are none of that brand in your area or I would give you the name. We started with them for dog training, so we got to spend a bit of time there and got very comfortable with the facility and the staff. They have cameras in all of the play areas, so we can log in and see her during the day. When we board her, they give us a report and pictures every day – I mean they’re not going to say anything besides “Doggo is the best dog ever and we love her” but no one ever minds hearing that about their dog and getting pictures. Heck if we wanted we could pay a little more for a private room with a camera so we could watch her 24/7, but that’s a little extra for my tastes, and she’s very social so I think she’d rather spend the night in “general population” with the other dogs. There are times when they get short staffed and things seem a little hectic, but I am comfortable that she’s being taken care of. Anyway, big ups to the big chain dog boarding place.
With that said, we did some work on her reactivity with another trainer and got a taste of “enrichment day care” which is a little more structured than just having the dogs in a play room all day. I do want to look into other smaller places to have as an option, so I’ll be going through this process myself. The ultimate would be if we had another dog owner that we could trade off sitting with, but so far that hasn’t happened. Good luck to both of us! And also, happy early birthday to Charlie!!! I only know that because Doggo’s is coming up. Let’s hear it for our soon to be two year olds!!!
And just to add another chapter to this book of a comment, let’s hear it for kid free time! Obviously we love our kids, but a break is good for everyone.
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Well, you’ve already read my rant about our dog sitting experience on your last post! You are DEFINITELY correct to go with your gut and it sounded like there multiple red flags with that place. The other woman sounds more promising. I think it’s encouraging that she does this as a full time job and is clearly invested. If we found someone like that I’d probably jump at it–everyone on Rover in our area are like…college students or others who are kind of doing it as side gigs. And if you do a kennel again I agree with you it might make sense to do one that isn’t kennel-free because i do think dogs get exhausted around other dogs and may need time to just chill alone! After our debacle of a dog sitter in Costa Rica a few weeks ago, we are still trying to figure out what to do for our next big trip, which may be over Thanksgiving week. We may end up having someone stay in our house (that seems to be what most people who are dog sitters want to do in my area?) even though it’s not our first choice. We at least have a couple leads on people who would be good (we have personal recommendations for them from people we trust) but it’s a matter of seeing who’s available for a week over Thanksgiving.
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Kae, I have boarded my dogs many times, and I think the very best situation is the kind of boarding place that has “suites” for the dogs, with options for playtime. The place that Rex goes to has several hours a day where the dogs are out in a big fenced area, and there are people there whose entire job is playing with the dogs. So the dogs all play together and then they go for rests/ eating/ etc in their suites. Yes, they are alone at that time, but there is staff there to check on them, and I think that dogs really need the rest and alone time after so much stimulation. With Barkley, who was my first dog, I tried a few different places and found that this was absolutely the best fit for us. But then, our dogs sleep in their crates and Barkley in particular would be in his crate when no one was home during the day. I just think they need the rest! Good luck with your search!
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Ooh that guy does sound like a No wrapped in some more Nos 🙄
The first time we left our dog with someone other than my late MIL ( as it was too physically strenuous for her from that point on, unfortunately for both sides as she loved our dog and was her favorite person what with her making chicken soup especially so that the dog may have chicken when we came visiting) – we’ve done a “practice stay” way before the planned travel , for 2 days I think, so that we felt confident leaving her there for the 8 days when traveling
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I completely agree with your assessment of this first guy! Hopefully the next interviewee will be better and have many more green flags. Otherwise, just wanted to share what we’ve done in the past:
Good luck 🙂
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You are not being too picky at all. It’s so important to find someone or somewhere that will love your dog as much as you do, and who will keep them safe. Someone who understands dogs and how to connect with them. I think you definitely dodged a bullet with this guy. I agree with all of the issues you had with him. He sounds like the total opposite of the sitter I found on Rover. Don’t compromise or think you are being too picky. You’re not. This guy sounds like he was just doing it for some easy money (or at least in his mind it was easy money). To me it’s not easy money to give your charges decent care and attention.
Rover is a great app to find the perfect person. I went through several profiles before I found one that I would even think about contacting. I was fortunate and found the perfect in-home sitter for my Haden on Rover on my first try. He has anxiety and is rather shy and doesn’t warm to people very quickly. I had an extensive conversation with the potential sitter before we even arranged a meet. We met at her home and she invited me in and gave me a tour so I knew where Haden would be playing and all of that. We wanted to make sure he would get along with her own dog. She asked so many questions, she asked if he had special triggers she needed to be aware of, how was he with people, other dogs, cats, etc. It took a bit for Haden to warm up to her, but I appreciated how patient she was with him and didn’t force the issue. He eventually started taking treats from her hand, so I knew right then she was the perfect fit for us.
I was gone for almost two weeks and I received pictures every day from her. She made sure to send ones while he was playing with her dog, pictures of him sitting on the couch next to her, which made me so happy because I knew he was comfortable there. She also only takes one dog at a time. If there are two in the family then she’ll take both, which is also great because her time and attention won’t be spread too thin.
She also gave me a cute little report card after our first stay. She marked all of the achievements he had and made notes about any issues she may have had with him. Maybe a trigger or something I had never noticed. I absolutely loved this sitter and so did Haden. He was pretty annoyed with me leaving him and he didn’t want to leave her the first time.
I really think it all boils down to what you think will be best for your boy. I know what my dog likes and doesn’t like, so I had to find someone who understood his little idiosyncrasies.
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Wow, your dog sitter sounds amazing! And you’re right- the vibe I did get from him was that he was just trying to make some money on the side. At least on this day we met, I saw (through the windows) 3 dogs plus his own dog there already. Like I said, the reviews were favorable but it just didn’t work for me. I do think just trying a different boarding facility (like Nicole said) may be okay, too. In a way it would certainly be easier if we could find a facility we are really happy with, because there are fewer concerns then about scheduling, availability, etc too. I do have a friend who recommended a different boarding facility nearby- she said she and her husband have been using them for almost 20 years now! So clearly she must be comfortable with them!! I left a message there today to find out about a tour as well. Thanks for the insights and advice Tina! 🙂
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It’s not to easy to find a dog sitting place I guess as pet is like kids. You wouldn’t be comfortable to leave Charlie to anyone. Sofia was joking about wanting to dog-walk if she works summer time because we saw so many in buenos aires. Sofia would be a great pet sitter for sure, she has so much love for animals.
enjoy your kid-free days.
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If you could find a boarding facility that worked well for you and Charlie, agreed, that is best case scenario. I have used Rover with success for both my cat and dog but it’s certainly not guaranteed availability and also no guarantee the person you used last time for sitting even is still doing sitting the next time you need it. I’ve had to go through multiple cat sitters because they just just weren’t available anymore. I found the perfect set up for a dog sitter, used her a few times and the next time I needed her, turns out she moved to another state. Sigh.
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I hope you can find a solution soon so you know what the plan is for your next trip! It is tricky to find the right place!
I can’t even wrap my mind around kid-free days! But I hope you enjoyed the simpler schedule/quiet house (although your house is probably quiet even when the boys are home).
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Sounds like a boarding facility might be the right choice for you, right now. Eventually maybe you’ll find someone you love and trust to stay in your home. But for what you and Charlie need right now, a facility might be the best bet. I’m trying to remember your summer schedule- but it sounds like you have another trip coming up?
i’m having a kid-free day right now and I’m making the most of it! Of course, that means sitting on the couch reading which might sound really boring. My husband isn’t here either so I get to do what I want!
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Those unexpected kid-free days must have felt like such a reset, even with the dog sitter drama! Hope the next one you meet checks all the boxes for Charlie. Loved the peek into your thought process!
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Ooh, it is so hard to find a good fit for boarding. They can’t say much, but you just know when things don’t work, don’t you?
I have no great advice except to say that it can help to start small with a day here and there and build up to longer stays. In the case of my dog, time also helped – he is just more at ease now that he is older. When you find the right environment, it will be good for all of you – the dog will love the carers, the adventure, and you will enjoy the dog-free days ;-)!. Good luck!
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