You're right, and we still have to do that. This weekend maybe we can stop over! I wonder if they have a bulletin board in their main area that we could put up a poster in. I will check on that.

My neighbor next door needed someone to take care of her cat and asked my then 13 yr old daughter. I didn't know the cat was diabetic but the woman taught her how to give the insulin shots- she had a nice job($2 /day) for many years and learned alot.
I think the retired people would be a great choice.My mom still talks about taking care of her neighbors cat, she had been recently widowed and it gave her a reason to get out of the house.

I had considered asking the neighbor's kids (the oldest is around 11 or 12 I think) but they are just so rambunctious and I just don't think I would trust them yet! Maybe in a few years.

I actually just got a reply from my ad on kijiji. It's a lady who was a dog groomer but prefers pet sitting. She has three dogs of her own and three daughters so she's "ready for anything". She is fine with learning how to express a bladder, and to my comment about it not being as gross as it sounds, she said "I express anal glands, nothing grosses me out!"

She sent some references so we will call tonight and maybe meet her soon! She doesn't live in my town but would drive out (20 minutes away) and stay with Layla for 45 minutes to 1 hour. We really just need her long enough to express but I understand not wanting to drive that far for 5 minutes, and it wouldn't hurt Layla to have some play and exercise time too! She would charge $15 per visit.

I don't know what rates are usually like, but I think the doggy daycares are around $20 per day. But if Layla was at home, she wouldn't have the stress of the car ride every day, and she'd still get some exercise. Plus, we'd have the freedom to run errands after work and not worry about picking her up before daycare closes.

I just wanted to update this and say we have met with this woman a couple of times now, once at our house and once at hers. She is so good with Layla, and even her dogs are good with her too.

She has 3 tiny chi's, really only about half Layla's size, so it's not a big concern (I was more worried about bigger dogs causing further injury). The two girl dogs love Layla. One is about the same temperament and we think they'll end up being really close. The other is a little more hyper and playful... but Layla let her know she didn't want to play and she backed off after that. The little boy dog, Charlie, is still a little apprehensive. He's older and much more laid back though, and spends most of the day sleeping. He barked at Layla from about 5 feet away, and when Layla took one step forward he put his tail between his legs and hid! Lots of bark, no bite :rolleyes: :) Layla kept her distance and they didn't bother each other.

She also has 3 little girls, but they were really good with her too. The youngest is 4 years old but she was very gentle petting Layla, and eventually got bored and wanted to do something else. The others are 8 and 12 I think. The rule in their house is nobody picks up any of the dogs. They are allowed to sit beside them and pet, but that's it.

Layla seemed totally at home in their house so I am feeling much more comfortable about it. The woman wants to get the bladder expressing thing down 100% before we leave her there for good so we are stopping there again after work today to practise :) I really really hope this works out well. She is the only reply I've gotten to any of my ads (they are all still posted).

I forgot to mention... we will be dropping Layla off at her house. She lives 5 minutes from my new office. It's not IDEAL because Lay hates car rides, but we think it's better than her driving out to our town daily. In the winter, sometimes we can get to work in the morning but we can't get home at night. We'd put ourselves at risk trying to get home because Layla NEEDS to be expressed. So it's probably best for us all to have her close to us at all times.

I'm glad it all worked out somehow. I how he frequent car rides can help Layla get over her anxiety. It's not ideal, but maybe it'll help.

sounds like God sent you the perfect solution for Layla.