Traveling with Pets - Another Option
Sometimes we need to find a petsitter or kennel, sometimes we travel with our pets. What about the in-between times? When it is easy to bring your pet along on the trip, but then you must attend a meeting or dinner at your destination?
Leaving a pet in an unfamiliar place (hotel room) where they might make noise, make a mess, or damage property is not an option for many of us. And, if your pet has special needs or has a medical condition such as diabetes, knowing someone is there should a need or emergency arise provides an additional piece of mind.
Guest Author Nancy Ehrlich Lapid has found a unique solution when traveling with her senior dog, Nikki; an on-call pet sitter. Nikki loves to travel, but doesn't like being left alone. This solution works for everyone.
From Nancy:
Here's an option for people who want to bring a dog on a trip but are hesitant to leave it alone in a hotel room. Nikki doesn't have crate, but even back in the days when she did have one, she'd freak if we left her in a crate in a strange place. The option only works if the dog is friendly and tends to accept strangers as long as the human family seems comfortable.
The option is to find a qualified petsitter in the town you'll be visiting, and arrange for the person to come to your hotel room to stay with your pet. The person can read, watch TV, study... and take the dog out for walks and feed it as necessary. If you've brought the dog's bed along, and a few familiar chew toys, the dog will settle down and relax, and you can be comfortable knowing that if there IS a problem, the petsitter will call you. We've even been able to find wonderful people willing to pet sit on major holidays. (Of course, I try to be reasonable and work with their schedules, too.)
To find the petsitters, I used sittercity.com -- a site that connects people with petsitters, babysitters, and housesitters. You have to pay to join, but you can join for just a month, and the price is more than worth it. Some people only pet sit in their own homes -- that wouldn't work for Nikki, so I've confined my searches to people who'll come to me. You'll find that people are a bit startled at first at the idea of coming to a hotel to pet sit, but they've all been very glad to do it.
Everyone who's worked for us has been lovely. (No one works as a petsitter who doesn't like animals.) I corresponded with them by email in advance, and we spoke on the phone before we met. We always make sure they come about half an hour in advance the first time, so we could sit and chat and the dog could become comfortable with them. And of course, we make sure the hotel room is straightened up and pleasant for a stranger to spend time in.
Of course, it's important to know your dog. With Nikki, for example, I know that if I just walk out and leave her with someone unfamiliar she'll cry for me to return -- BUT if I pick her up and put her in someone else's arms, then she knows that person's in charge of her. So, each time I left her with one of the petsitters, I handed her over that way. Also, when we leave her at home, we tell her "mind the house" or "mind the car" -- so she knows we're going and she's staying. When we leave her with a sitter, we say "mind the house." So I'd advise people to think of some symbolic gesture the dog will recognize as "goodbye, but we're coming back." And of course, the dog is being left in a place that's filled with her family's things -- clothes, etc. -- that smell like us.
We also found that after two or three days of the petsitter, we could leave the dog alone in the hotel room and she would just sleep until we returned... because by then the place was familiar, and she knew we would leave but come back. If we do leave her, we make sure to put a "do not disturb" sign on the door so no unsuspecting housekeeper will walk in on her.
For people who don't want to join sittercity.com, other options (which have not worked for me) are: call local veterinary groups and ask if they can recommend petsitters, ask the hotel to recommend someone, or ask people you know in the town you're visiting for a recommendation.
For people who hate the idea of boarding their dog in a kennel, but also want to be able to go out during the day or in the evening without the dog, this can be a really great compromise!
Thank you, Nancy, for sharing this pet travel tip.
About the Author
Nancy Ehrlich Lapid is a writer and editor who enjoys making life cozy, pleasant, and safe for all creatures, young and old. Presently sharing her heart (along with her human family) are 14-year-old Nikki, a miniature dachshund, two small young birds (Birdster, a lineolated parakeet, and Beakface, a budgie), and Goldie the 8-year-old goldfish.Nancy is employed by Thomson Reuters, where she is the managing editor of Reuters Health, an online medical news service. The opinions expressed here are her own.
