Is In-Home Pet Sitting Right For My Dog?

While there are many benefits to leaving your dog at home while you travel for business or pleasure, there are some dogs who would not make good candidates for in-home pet sitting. In order to help you decide if your dog would benefit from pet sitting, we have come up with some things that you should think about before picking up the phone and calling a pet sitter.

• Some dogs are destructive when left home alone. We have all had a dog like this at one point or another, I’m sure of it. You think “Oh, Buddy will be fine if we just leave him for an hour out of his crate while we’re gone” and then you come home to what can only be described as a scene out of The Day After Tomorrow. Some dogs are more prone to boredom or the need to chew and simply cannot be left unattended in the home for ours.

• Your dog is not crate trained. A simple remedy for the problem above, is to give your dog his own crate; somewhere he can be kept safe during the day and relax. However, if you have never introduced your dog to having a crate, getting a pet sitter before he is used to it is not a good idea. Crate training your dog requires time and commitment from you and shouldn’t be done when he is expected to all of a sudden stay in his new “den” for several hours at a time.

• Your dog is territorial of his home. For the safety of the potential pet sitter and the well being of your dog, if your dog is aggressive with strangers coming into his home when you’re not there; pet sitting is not right for your dog. There are some ways around this one; for example, you can get your dog used to his new pet sitter by having them come over a few times a week prior to your vacation, gradually working up to coming in without you home. However, if you have tried this method and your dog is still not comfortable with the pet sitter coming in when you’re not there, don’t force it. The results can be very dangerous for everyone involved.

Though I would love to say that pet sitting is a great option for every dog out there, it simply just isn’t true. It is better to make a decision that is best for your dog, his safety and his long term happiness. Not to mention avoid any unnecessary stress on you!