This post is sponsored by Rover.com. I am being compensated to help spread the word, but It’s Dog or Nothing only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. Rover.com is not responsible for the content of this article.
In a perfect world, I’d be able to take Mauja and Atka with me wherever I go. Travel would be easy, places would be pet friendly, and I could easily care for my pups. I mean, no one can take better care of them than I can, right?
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world and not every place is accommodating of our four-legged family members. Then I’m left with the decision of who to trust with the fluffies.
It’s not an easy task.
This infographic from Rover.com shows just how difficult holiday travel is for dog lovers. We have definitely missed holidays and gone out of our way to ensure the pups are happy and well-taken care of.
Most of you know that we recently went to the east coast and spent a few days in New York. We had Mauja and Atka with us, but we wanted to be able to do a few activities that weren’t dog friendly. Atka has separation anxiety in new places so I wanted to be sure someone could be with him at all times.
I’m not willing to put the fluffies in a kennel, they just wouldn’t be happy there, so I did some online searches to see what my options were. Eventually, I stumbled upon Rover.com.
Rover.com is a website that connects pet parents to dog sitters. It’s like a dating website but for dog sitters! I was able to set preferences such as other dogs in the home, yard size, and work schedule. Some sitters even travel to your home so your dog can stay comfortable in their environment. Once I narrowed down my specific needs, I began browsing.
Most of the sitters keep extremely detailed profiles and respond to questions in a timely manner. The profiles include reviews from previous clients so you get a more in-depth understanding about how your dog’s stay will be. After chatting with several sitters, we found a girl that matched our needs perfectly.
This sitter was amazing. She was so incredibly understanding of the Pyrenees breed and what we expected of her while she cared for our dogs. She was extremely flexible and even handled pick ups and drop offs as we needed. I knew that we made the right choice when we saw how Mauja and Atka reacted to seeing the sitter. They loved her.
The sitter sent us pictures and updates constantly to keep us at ease during their stay. I just can’t say enough good things about her! If you’re headed to New York, let me know and I’ll give you her name 🙂 I’m sure we will be back to NY and we will definitely be using her again.
If you’re traveling over the holidays and can’t take your dog with you, I highly recommend searching Rover.com for available sitters in your area. There are many highly-qualified, trustworthy sitters all over that would love to spoil your furbabies as if they were their own.
In order to get you started on finding your pyrfect sitter, we have a discount code for you! Use code “Dogornothing25” for $25 off your first stay!
I agree with you, in a perfect world we could enter an airplan together and we all would fly (in the cabin and not in the cargo area) to all destinations of the whole world… but sadly the reality is a little different. It’s not easy to travel with Easy :o)
So glad you were able to find a good sitter for the pups. It’s so important to find someone you really trust.
I would not have been able to take my month’s long trip to Panama if I didn’t have a wonderful pet sitter I could rely on.
Oh I have heard of Rover, i’m so glad to hear it all went well!!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Wow! That sounds awesome!! I would never kennel my girls, either.
I will admit to you, that I’ve never left the girls. Most people are shocked when they hear this! LOL! The longest I’ve ever been away from them was a day trip and my in-laws watched them and when we moved from OR to CA, Zoe went with Vince and they spent the night away from me but she was still with her “Daddy”. We’ve taken them on all of our vacations.
It can be a bit scary trying to find a reliable pet sitter. It sounds like you were able to find an awesome one through Rover!
And how cool that she was able to send you pictures and updates during your trip. It always makes me feel much calmer and more relaxed when I know my pets are doing well.
That worked out really well for you in the big city. It would be hard with two big dogs in the city. We normally only take dog friendly vacations, but now and then we stay home with friends and Mom goes alone. Since there are three of us, she hasn’t left us behind as finding someone to watch two was tough, but three is impossible.
We have an awesome sitter, which makes me happy since I would totally stress out otherwise.
I would love to be able to have my pet with me in the plane and not in cargo
This sounds like a really great resource for dog owners! I haven’t had the chance to travel since I’ve had my kitties, but I would definitely want them to be with someone trustworthy and for them to be comfortable if I wasn’t able to take them with me.
Thanks for sharing. We take our dog with us everywhere but great options for those who cannot. Happy Holidays.
I’ve debated having my parents look after the pups when we next go to NYC but there are so many places we CAN take them during the day (Central Park). This would be a win/win for sure if hubby and I could go out and enjoy ourselves for a couple of evenings and not worry. I will be contacting you for the information. Thanks!
Thanks for the great info. We are lucky because our dogs breeders will usually watch them for us if we can’t take them with us and we have put them in a kennel on occasion.
Rover just released a more recent resource on traveling with pets here: rover.com/blog/traveling-with-pets