Dog Sitters

Nice to see all these dog friendly holiday posts on here. However, if like me you are going on a holiday where you can't take your dog, there are alternatives. Ours can't go into kennels as he gets too stressed, so we send him to a dog sitter/foster home. There is a really good company called Barking Mad. They will visit you to assess what your dog is like and then match him up with a suitable foster family. They will also collect and return your dog for you.

That sounds like a really good service.

That is a very good idea, thanks for posting.

I just had a look at their website, it's quite a large franchise with places all over the UK.

Densil is off on his next mini break with the dogs sitters tomorrow, so will miss him for 2 days, back on Friday
Must say it is working out really well, he has been having 2 day breaks with them so they get used to each other, but he knows he is coming back to me. We always get photos and a postcard so we know how he has been doing.

This is a great idea, i love that. Lexi wouldn't be able to use it unless there were no other pets though lol

is there any way of knowing if the fosterers are good with dogs etc. What if they mistreat your dog. Im not knocking the service but would have to make sure the people check out safe first

There are no other pets. When you book your dog through this service, a rep will come out to your home to assess your dog - size, exercise needs, habits etc. They will then select one of their dog sitters who are best suited to your dog. Your dog then goes for a mini break usually 2 days plus 1 day collection/delivery. I am quite confident my dog is being well looked after. All the sitters have been vetted and indeed in my area they have to be registered with the Council as a boarding facility and get inspected annually. Also, as I said they keep in touch with photos/videos etc. I think most people would know if their dog had been ill treated in any way and the company has their reputation to think of. I suppose I am lucky that in my case the area rep lives quite close to the sitters and indeed leaves her dog with them when she goes away, so can't get a better recommendation than that.

That sounds fine i didnt know that they were vetted that much. Sounds like a good idea then

Had a text to say he had settled in well and was happy. Also had some photos sent by email. Can't wait until he comes home today though as miss the little guy.

Hiya , I have just registered to barking mad I, I am anxious for someone to look after Riley for me in January while we go skiing , the lady who normally looks after him for me can't this time he has never been left in kennels before so it would be lovely for him to stay with someone who will love & look after him like we do

Densil is now back home and fast asleep after having been fed and walked. He acted like he had never been away and they say that he settles straight in when he goes there now. We have a nice letter from the sitters, plus a postcard and some pictures of him. It really is useful for them to have a little mini break first so when they go back they now where they are and that they are coming back home to you. I know I won't be worried about him at all when we are away on holiday, just miss him like mad but I know he won't be missing us as he will be having too much fun.

I can thoroughly recommend Barking Mad, they have looked after our pooch twice,and there have been no problems. Unfortunately they can't look after him this year as there 'foster family' are away as well, so does anyone know of a good kennel or another foster family that can look after him? We are in Surrey.
Thanks

Barking Mad looks like a really good service! Ill definitely consider these when we go away!

I was looking at these kennels the other week...

http://www.mypetstop.co.uk/pet-boarding/dog-boarding/dog-boarding-prices/

Densil is going on another barking mad holiday shortly. Even if he didn't get stressed out in kennels I don't think I would ever put him in there no matter how good they were because like most staffys he loves company and would get bored.

densil wrote:Densil is going on another barking mad holiday shortly. Even if he didn't get stressed out in kennels I don't think I would ever put him in there no matter how good they were because like most staffys he loves company and would get bored.

Just realised you mentioned he stresses out in kennels, my bad!

It mentions additional services for extra one on one time and social time etc, even a trail day to see how he would get on. Each to their own Hope you find somewhere!

Just found this and sent off my request to Barking Mad, I'm away for 10 days in Sept, the kennels where Ledger has been for day care have vacancies but I would rather pay the extra for him not to be caged most of the day getting stressed by other dogs and unfortunately my dog walker can only do weekend boarding as she is too busy in the week. Fingers crossed as this service sounds great and other home boarding places I have found online either haven't responded at all or seem to have gone out of business years ago!

 they are great for those who don't want to kennel their dogs.

No good for me though we either go somewhere we can take the dogs or we don't go

I am edging towards that on the whole and have acquired my parents caravan but it's the British women's skydiving record attempt and though I feel guilty enough, a busy airfield is no place for a dog for 10 days so if I can spoil him with his own holiday it will be better for him.

I like the idea, but obviously i can't leave Chance with anyone else, so we just take the dogs with us if we go anywhere

Well the local rep called today they 're coming for an hour on Monday to meet Ledger and learn his schedule feeding/walking etc they then select the family to suit £20 a day seems very reasonable compared with kennels which are around £15 à day

hope it all goes well

Oh and a big up to the forum as they asked where I'd heard of them and I mentioned the recommendation here

densil comes back from his Barking Mad Holiday today. He has been on a couple of short 2 day breaks to the same family before, but this is the first time he has had a week with them. I just wish I had found out about this service when I had my 2 previous dogs as I had assumed that the only option was to place them in kennels, which I will never do again.

Aww let us know how he is, I'm sure he'll be fine

Densil came back from his Barking Mad holiday today and I cannot praise this company enough. Densil gets stressed in the car so this time we tried him on zylkene, which I have mentioned on another thread. The lady who picks Densil up has been paying another colleague to travel in the car with her so she can keep Densil occupied whilst in the car, and on this occasion the host "foster daddy" actually came home with Densil. This is service above and beyond what is expected. We were also told he was considerably better and on the journey home he didn't make any noise until he reached our Town, so he obviously recognised that he was home!

When he arrived on his holiday we were sent a little video showing that he had settled down with his foster family, and when he returned home we had a postcard from them telling us all about his holiday and how he had been a good boy!

Sounds amazing, I have signed Ledger up for his holiday in September, they showed me the profiles of two possible host families who are available and are getting back in touch to arrange a sleep over for him towards the end of the month to check that he will settle.

Kind of wish I'd had the questions emailed before the visit as things like his behaviour quirks well they are normal to me, but it all went ok it was new for him to have people in my house and after the initial excitement, a bone and his chuck it ball kept him out of trouble. But reassuring to hear they have a few staffys on their books and his general behaviour isn't much different to other dogs

Think I'm more excited for his holiday than my own

I eamiled them but had the response that they don't have a franchise in my area

Pollyanna wrote:I eamiled them but had the response that they don't have a franchise in my area

Aww what a shame

Pollyanna wrote:I eamiled them but had the response that they don't have a franchise in my area

Ooh that could be a good opportunity for someone

jshrew wrote:Sounds amazing, I have signed Ledger up for his holiday in September, they showed me the profiles of two possible host families who are available and are getting back in touch to arrange a sleep over for him towards the end of the month to check that he will settle.

Kind of wish I'd had the questions emailed before the visit as things like his behaviour quirks well they are normal to me, but it all went ok it was new for him to have people in my house and after the initial excitement, a bone and his chuck it ball kept him out of trouble. But reassuring to hear they have a few staffys on their books and his general behaviour isn't much different to other dogs

Think I'm more excited for his holiday than my own

Before they came to visit I wrote up some notes on Densil - about his previous history and his current habits regards food, walking, behaviours etc. The lady was very pleased with this and it was a bit more comprehensive than what they can manage to fill in on the forms.

Yeah that's my plan, also at a Learn to speak dog course last week the suggested having a list of what words you use for each command certainly makes you think about how complacent we get that our dogs know what we mean.

jshrew wrote:Yeah that's my plan, also at a Learn to speak dog course last week the suggested having a list of what words you use for each command certainly makes you think about how complacent we get that our dogs know what we mean.

Yes, I included this list as well as sometimes some people use different words for the same meaning, wait/stay etc. For Densil wait means literally "wait but you will get it in a minute" leave means you are never going to get it at all and "drop" means to drop whatever it is eg ball so that I can throw it again for you. "Stay" means stay there until I tell you otherwise.

Well Ledger is off for his overnight trial on Friday here is hoping he settles

text photo of Ledger settling in on his sleepover last night, he should be back by 4pm today

Bet you are looking forward to have him back but he looks settled in Xx

Yeah has been weird not coming home with or to him can't complain at not being woken up this morning though