How To Find The *Right* Person to Care for Your Dog

As a trainer, one of the most frequent questions I am asked about is how to find the right person to care for your dog when you go out of town. Whether to have your dog stay with someone, or have someone stay in your home, a lot of it comes down to a personalized choice of what is going to set your dog up for success.

I know this is not an easy process for anyone, and so if you are needing to find someone to care for your dog, here are a few tips I have to find the best person (and see below for the types of places I WOULDN'T trust with my dog):

1. Start sooner than later. The best dog professionals will book up months in advance.

2. Make sure they have public videos on social media or their website of how they care for, interact with, or where dogs in their care stay. It's a red flag if you have no idea where the dog stays or how this person cares for animals.

3. Check out this step-by-step for how to introduce your dog to someone new. Do not be afraid to advocate for your dog and tell the sitter what will be the best way to meet and interact with your dog.

4. Ask lots of questions. Think of it like an interview! Here are some I like to ask:

   • What will the daily schedule look like for my dog?

   • Where will they stay? (if staying somewhere else)

   • Will you continue to implement place and crate training with them?

   • Will they interact with other dogs? Who are those dogs and are they balanced with other dogs?

   • Will they interact with other people?

   • Do you send or post videos every day?

5. Set bottom lines. Bottom lines I set when I have someone watch Tena is (these are specific to Tena, your bottom lines might be different depending on your dog!):

   • NO meeting any new dogs or people, ever. Crate her if someone new comes over.

   • Tena must eat all her meals and her chews in her crate, separate from other dogs (Tena has minor resource guarding and I don't want it to ever escalate).

6. Trust your gut. You know best for your dog. If any of the answers to the above questions don't feel good for you, go with that.

I wouldn't work with a company or person if they:

• Are a facility with many dogs running around in a free-for-all. I would only send my dog to a facility that prioritizes structure, calm time, and has control over every single dog there.

• Don't post regular videos on social media. It's just too easy to do in this day and age and owners deserve to see what their dogs are up to each day.

• If they love dog parks or think all dogs need to be friends to be happy. Sorry, but that's too much of a risk to have a person who believes that to take my dog.

• if they are unwilling to follow my protocols for my dogs. From food, to how I walk my dog, to the rules I have in place of not meeting other dogs or strangers.

• I prefer someone to stay in my home if possible for my reactive dog, because she is most comfy at home and is easier to care for that way.