Last week I was lucky enough to get out of the country on a few days holidays, 8 months since we last left our dogs for an overnight.
Doris our eldest dog is fast approaching her 12th birthday and as I have blogged here before turned diabetic over 2 years ago.
This had quite a large impact more so on our lives, as we wanted to keep Doris to the routine & schedule that she is used to. Routine is paramount in the life of a diabetic dog.
It goes without saying that we adore our 4 dogs, but as much as they are a massive part of our lives there are things you want to do with yours that it’s just not possible to do with them.
Catching 5 days in Porto,Portugal would be one of them.
In the past we have kenneled our dogs, probably once or twice per year, and like when it comes to choosing a vet, didn’t just settle on the first one we came across, or the closest to where we were living / departing from.
This has changed since Doris turned diabetic.
At first we continued with the boarding kennel situation but found that the stressful environment plus change in routine didn’t suit Doris & therefore us, so we had to look at another option.
We found that in the early part of this year.
Last week, our fantastic Pet Sitter came to the house the morning we were leaving & stayed with Doris & Co for the duration of our holiday & when we arrived back to the dogs last Sunday instead of being met by an explosion of dachshunds, we were greeted by the lifting of their heads from their beds as if to say “Oh, your back, we’ll talk after I finish this snooze”
Now this didn’t just happen overnight. It took many 1 hour visits by our Pet Sitter before she and the dogs were happy in each other’s company & the routine they are used to was established.
So what did we find as the main advantages of having a Pet Sitter come to our house as opposed to sending our dogs to boarding kennels.
Well the obvious thing is that the dogs remain in an environment that they are used to, it’s their territory that they are used to & comfortable in. No noisy neighbour 3 feet away that barks at the slightest sound or movement no matter what time of the day or night.
We were able to keep the dogs on their normal feed which is the BARF diet, and could just make up a big batch of it & leave it in the fridge & freezer knowing that they were going to get the correct amount & the right time of the day.
Our dogs would be getting one to one personal attention something that is impossible in a kennelling situation.
Doris would get her twice daily insulin injections the same way she gets them every other day, in her bed after each meal.
Doris would not need to have her annual booster & kennel cough vaccine which we believe weakens the immune system, which is of course dangerous for any dog with any type of condition, the likes of diabetes.
That as well as our rubbish bin being put out and my tomato plants being watered, ensured that we came back to the house as we left if, the dogs were the same as when we left them, nearly as though we hadn’t been away at all.
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