I am completly stressed out trying to figure out what to do with my 2 boys while we go away for about a week. I have left them only once overnight, and it was over a year ago. I had a friend come stay at our house with them, and it went great. We haven't taken a vacation since before we got Chase (he's almost 3), so this really hasn't been an issue before now.
I am (like most here) super careful and protective of them. They are our babies, and I have a hard time trusting people anyway, so this is really hard for me. I want them to be with someone who loves them if that makes any sense?
My family is out of the question. I will NOT leave them with any of them. They see dogs as dogs. They would get left out in the garage, let them run loose and get lost, or maybe hit them if they had an accident. Absoltuly NOT!
The girl I have had watch them cannot do it because of family stuff.
Our other friends are not really dog people either, and I honestly wouldn't want them there.
We have toured boarding places around here, and would never leave them at any of these places. One place has huge gaps under the fence outside, and when we mentioned that both our dogs could easily fit under there, they just said they would put a cinder block under part of it (what about the rest of it?!), and it's right next to the freeway. I can just picture them getting out and getting hit by a car. Another place lets the dogs all play together, and just recently had a dog die from getting attacked by another dog. They don't do play testing, and I have heard other stories about this place that are similar.
I am looking into having a pet sitter come stay, but it's just hard because they are all strangers, so I would have to trust them.
I have thought about taking them with us, and putting them into daycare there during the day, but I don't really want to count on that in case Calvin doesn't pass their play test for whatever reason. He likes to be with me, so I don't know if he would do good in that environment. I'm sure Chase would do okay. Plus we have never stayed in a hotel with them before, so I can imagine how much barking there would be. The neighbors across the street shut their car door, and Calvin is barking. He thinks he's the neighborhood watch lol.
Sorry this got to be so long, and thank you if you've made it this far
I could use any advice and opinions from everyone! We are not going until April, and I really want to feel good about them and not worry!