We all know how awesome vacations can be with our dogs. From hiking in new canyons to visiting a new coffee shop with fresh fido-friendly treats, taking a trip with your dog can truly be better together.
Sometimes though, you need to take a trip and your beloved best friend can’t attend. Even though you know they may be the best addition to your next client business presentation, the no dogs allowed policy at the hotel has forced you to figure out how to care for them while you are on the road.
You’re Away and Your Dog Needs to Stay
Here’s a few different options you can use to ensure your dog is well-taken care of while you are gone.
Please keep in mind these recommendations will need to take into account COVID-19 precautions where you live as not everywhere is accepting dogs for overnights as well as having fewer choices of people to dogsit while you are gone.
1. Have someone you trust be at your home.
Whether it is friends or family, there’s probably no better option than having someone you know and can trust to stay at your house and watch over what you care about the most, four-legged furriends.
The advantages of having someone stay at your house are fairly significant: you have a minimal amount of disruption for your dog and there’s someone at your home who can ensure that a random leak does not become an unwelcome moat in your bathroom when you get back.
If you are not able to find a friend or family member to stay at your house, but still would prefer someone to stay there, a number of services are available to either connect you with a freelance pet/house sitter or one of their employees.
Sites like TrustedHousesitters and Rover offer you the ability to search through potential service providers who are reviewed and vetted.
Always check for recent reviews and try to book as far in advance as possible.
Another thing to keep in mind with using any of these services is that you should meet the dog sitters prior to the day you’re leaving and let them interact with your dog(s). You always want to ensure that the person watching your dog is someone they like and who better a judge of character than your good boy or girl’s trusty nose?
2. Stay at a furriend’s house.
While you’re traveling, why not let your dog go on their own little road trip and stay at a family or friend’s house, hopefully spending some time with dogs they know and play with!
One thing to keep in mind with this option is that if your dog is staying with other dogs at their home, make sure everyone has played together and spent some time there to avoid any territorial issues. It may not be an issue, but multiple types of breeds do consider their homes to be their space and will potentially cause issues with other dogs that stay overnight.
3. Frequent check-ins.
For some people, staying in your home may be too much as they have their own pets or other responsibilities that require them to sleep at home.
Another good solution for those that can’t find someone to stay with their dog overnight is to have frequent check-ins including a late night and early morning visit. These visits can be from neighbors, family members, or again, you can use paid service providers in and around your neighborhood or through services like Rover.
4. Boarding at your daycare or a “pet hotel”.
Overnighting your dog at their doggie daycare or a “pet hotel” may be an expensive option, but it also ensures your dog is with other dogs and ideally under the care of professionals.
When considering whether or not to board your dogs overnight, here’s a few questions to keep in mind:
- Is the kennel/daycare/pet hotel well-reviewed?
- Is the kennel/daycare/pet hotel certified by the Pet Care Services Association, a voluntary certification standard?
- Have you toured the kennel/daycare/pet hotel and are confident in their standard of care?
- Have you spoken with the kennel/daycare/pet hotel staff?
- What are the hours that the kennel/daycare/pet hotel staff keep and how often are the dogs looked after?
- What types of exercise/play programs do the dogs engage in at the kennel/daycare/pet hotel?
- What sort of safety precautions and health standards are required at the kennel/daycare/pet hotel?
- How are issues, such as pet anxiety, handled by the kennel/daycare/pet hotel?
Everyone will be comfortable with a different set of answers to these questions, but we recommend you spend time getting to know the place you’re sending your pets to and ensure that they are set up for having a successful overnight wherever you end up sending them.
5. Boarding your pet at their veterinarian.
If you are traveling out of town and your dog has any sort of health issue, especially one that may require 24-hour supervision, leaving them with your veterinarian should be your first and only option.
If your dog is healthy though, you may want to avoid this option as there will be a number of pets who are there due to medical issues and may be in distress. If you have to use the veterinarian, try to keep the stay there as short as possible.
We all know we want to take our dogs with us wherever we go but hopefully these tips on what to do when you have to take an unavoidable trip without your four-legged furriend helps. Though separation anxiety can be real for both of you, always remember the old saying, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”