Alternative(s) to boarding the dog at a kennel for one week?
 

We are planning on going on a cruise in November (hoping the pandemic is under "control" (?).

We have left our previous Dalmatians at a local kennel over the years. But we now have a new adopted Dalmatian (had her 2 months...2 years old) that (at the moment) is very attached to us emotionally and we have some concerns about her being too anxious to be boarded at a kennel for 8 days.

Our past choice of kennels is one that does not use cages...sort of their own room....with options for personal activities.

I expect her adjustment to improve significantly, however would like to hear about alternatives or a non cage facility that might be recommended.

I take it you don't want someone to stay at the house with the dog? We used the same woman for years. She works through a pet sitting business located in The Villages. I would feel better about that than taking an emotionally attached dog to a boarding facility.

There's only one facility we've ever left our guy with. The lady has several fenced acres at her house out past Weirsdale. She only takes big dogs, only a few at a time. They are only put in a crate at meal time. All other times day and night they are free in the house, plus there's a doggie door for them to go outside if they want during the day. Our golden could not wait to get out of the car and leave us in the dust when we took him there.

I'm not sure she is still doing this, but I could find out if you're interested.

Thank you.
I would like to know more.

I will send you a PM later today, BTK. I have to dig out the information.

Talk with Joan with "Away From Home Pet Services" at 352-391-2323. She has a list of people who will take your pet into their homes. We have used folks listed with her and had very good luck.

you could also try a gradual kenneling approach. a lot of the kennels offer doggie day care. you could leave for one day. then next time over night so she realizes you'll be back...and based on how the dog does you can extend or investigate in home.

Our dogs are attached to us and to their home. They do best staying in our house and having our very reliable sitter drop by several times a day to feed/water/let them out. When our sitter drops by she brings in any packages/mail, turns on/off our porch light and spends time loving on our pups. We don't live in TV, yet, but when we do move there we hope to find a sitter like this for our dogs. Our youngest dog will be 7 on her next birthday, she's energetic but doesn't get the puppy crazies anymore. For a younger dog it might be worth having a sitter stay over at your house to supervise.

BTK, this is the organization I was trying to come up with the name of in my PM to you. I was unaware that they have sitters who will take your dog into their home.


For in-house sitting, we used Susan Gros from Away From Home. Then we were going to use Sharon from there (lives in Tamarind Grove) last April. She came to the house for a meet & greet, and we were impressed. But then our trip got canceled due to Covid-19.


This is a very well-liked organization.

I will be a renter this coming winter, and have been trying to line up dog care. Thank you for all this information. I won't leave pups in a kennel.

Actually, having a HOUSE SITTER IS THE BEST. A pet sitter that will come by your house (for a dog at least 3x a day) (or stay over ) an animal is calmer in their OWN HOME with all your scent and their toys etc... they won't even miss you. Mean while, your mail, newspapers, and anything that goes wrong in your home will be attended to. I did this as a pet sitter years ago.... with 2 beagles.... the owners water pipe broke an I was able to contact them, got approval and had it fixed before they came home. Win Win.. and fur babies never missed a beat.