Vacation dilemna-do you take or leave your Yorkie?
 

Hi,

I am new here (well I was on for a short time before and then lost computer function!) and have a serious issue. We have to travel this summer...my daughter is getting married so it isn't a trip I can skip out on! We will be combining this with a family reunion.

We have never left our, now 7 year old, Yorkie (Lacey) for more than a week and we had an experienced, trustworthy young lady stay here with her one time and she stayed at the ladies house the other time. She is no longer available.

We will be gone about two weeks this time.

Here are my options:

Leave her with a young woman we like and trust, however have not known more than about 6 months. She seems knowledgable, mature and honest but then again, one never really knows until you are in a situation where ethics or such is in question. She has Chihuahuas but not Yorkies or other long haired breeds. The down side to this is that I would worry about her the entire time I am gone BUT she would be in her own house.

Take her with us, which would entail her riding in a car for three days, staying in hotels on the way there and back and then put up with a LOT of people and kids in a big house for the week or so we are there. There will be a lot of activity and adults and 8 kids coming and going, plus a pool we would have to keep her away from. She loves kids but has never been around THAT many all at one time!

Professional pet sitters whom I have called want 700-800 dollars so that is out.

She can't stay with anyone who has a dog as she is terrified of other dogs due to an attack many years ago.

Kennels are not an option-she would be scared and I am not certain the amount of attention would be enough-she is used to me being home with her all day pretty much everyday, plus attention from my husband and daughter in the afternoons and evenings.

Any advice or suggestions are very much appreciated. I am certain ya'll understand why I am so concerned as I know we all love our Yorkies beyond limits and want the best care for them

Calianne

I'd bring my baby along. She's in the best care in her mom's hands and you'd be worried about her the whole time you're gone anyway. Just load up the car with her bed, sleeping crate and X-pen and you'll have safe places to keep her while you're attending the festivities.

Here's a site that has pet friendly hotels for the road trip.

http://www.dogfriendly.com/

I would take her with you

Don't worry
 

Hello,:aimeeyork
Let me share my experience with you, don?t know if it too late. I recently had spring break and of course I wanted to enjoy my vacation. I live South of Texas, we can say almost Mexico and we decided to go Louisiana. The first thing I thought was what?s going to happen to ?Kobe?(5 months).:confused:
To make the story short, we decided to take him and he behaved really well.
To avoid him getting car sick we had him on our laps the whole way, and every time we stop to eat or get gas we take him potty?.
We feed him once in the morning and not until night.:animal36
We were also able to find pet friendly hotels and we used the potty pads.
Just think I would be leaving him behind made me want to stay. Of course when we would go out he would stay in the room and we leave him with enough toys or a bone.
Hope you trip turn out good. Let me know if you have any questions.
Have a good day, let us know what happens.
:animal-pa Kobe

yorkie vacation
 

We travel with our yorkies...they stay in hotel rooms with us...we eat fast food in the car or the hotel if it is warm outside...they are never left alone in the car (out of sight)...we take turns using the restroom so they are not alone in the car... I find Holiday Inns are the cleanest and pet friendliest.

My husband knows I would be a mess without them!

I would bring along her crate and blanket so she can be alone somewhere if the kiddie party gets to be too much...for her safety... too much sun and an unfamiliar pool not to mention a lot of little kids.. may be too much.

Don't forget the vaccine record...you may need it if you need to visit the vet or board your yorkie in an emergency. Also a collar with an attended phone number on it....little ones can be confused in the event of a (god forbid) car accident, or you have a medical emergency....

have fun...if you are anything like me you won't enjoy anything if you are worried about your babies...

roxanne in nc

a yorkie vacation
 

If you do leave him alone in the hotel room... please let the management know so the cleaning crew does not let the baby out.

roxanne in nc

I take mine with me. After all, I got them so I could keep them company.:D Also, I never leave them in a hotel alone. I don't trust they'll be there when I return. That's just me though. I just couldn't do it.

We take our dogs pretty much anywhere we go. we did have a vacation, this past thanksgiving, where my babies couldnt go. We were gone for a week, and it was hard to be without them.
They stayed at our local doggie hotel. The lady that runs it, is very trustworthy. She came to my house, over a weekend, when we owned our bulldog, to let him out to potty and feed him. They only charge $14.00 per night to stay in the hotel and that was for the 2 dogs. Now with my 3rd one I think they charge $16.00 per night.
But when we take my daughter out of town for her races, we take the dogs with us and they do awesome in the car rides. And they sleep in their crates overnight.
But if I were you, I would take her. You'll probably enjoy yourself more knowing that your baby is being taken care of.

How sweet of ya'll to write to me so quickly with such nice advice!

We aren't leaving until late June so I have plenty of time to decide but, like the rest of you, I am leaning toward just taking her with us. We won't need to leave her at the hotels because that is just two nights each way as we drive.

When we get there we are renting a house, and if we have to leave her there we can either crate her or ex-pen her....in the house-this is Arizona and it will be 110, which explains the pool!

It is good to know that others have done it and thank you for the pet friendly hotels site and the advice of Holiday Inns-I did not have a clue if hotels took dogs!

Calianne

i'm on vacation right now with my yorkie! we drove from nj to florida. he was great in the car. we packed a cooler and i hid him in a baby blanket going into a hotel.. we are on a family reunion in a rental house that i got special permission from the owner to bring romeo. go for it. they are part of your family.

Personally, I would take Chloe. I wouldn't fully trust her with anyone.

I'm very particular about the way I take care of her and would be paranoid that her furbabysitter wouldn't be following her rules/instructions properly. "If you want something done right, do it yourself" comes to mind LOL :rolleyes:

It just wouldn't be worth it to me.

You know, I'm interested in options too :) I might be going on a cruise this summer and there's no way I could smuggle my fur kids on board =p so I need a reliable, safe alternative. I'm looking into pet boarding facilities that have "suites" so that they aren't in crates and can all room together, but I'm still uneasy about it.

Awwwwwww.... just take the little "puddin face" along!! :) Maybe there is someone that could "yorkie sit" for you while you are at the pool parties, wedding, "kid crazy" activites. If not a trusted relative or friend.... maybe a "Arizonian" YT'er!

;) we take our 3 0n vacation with us to florida at pet friendly beach houses and plus we love having them with us.Cathy and Yoshi

Layla comes everywhere with us.. however we are very fortunate to have a babysitter who i know i oculd leave her with if we had to go somewhere she could not come... a note on the hotels.. when we travel we drive until we can't drive anymore... which means there is not always a holiday inn nearby or any other pet friendly hotel.. if that is the case. . my father goes in to check in and asks for a room on the ground floor... we enter through the back door and sneak layla in (i know i know..) she goes out to potty in her "purse bag" and then back in the room where she sleeps in her crate... she is not a barker so we ar elucky there.. and we bring toys.. but no squeakers... we keep the tv on so if she does make a noise no one will hear. for your sake tho i hope you find a holiday inn (althought not all are pet friendly) because the alternative is very stressful!

I have never left Hopey(havent gone anywhere) but when we go on family vacation, I have a close family friend (19 yrs old) come and stay at my house.. I TRUST him very much and he loves my pups, PLUS he gets the house for the week... I pay him $150 or $200 and he does a super job... dont know what will happen when we go with Hopey but that wont happen this year....
Good Luck!

For those who HAVE to leave your dog/dogs I will say that having someone we know well and trust stay at our house while we were gone was really the BEST solution we found.

Lacey was in a familiar place and stayed with someone she had known for a long time. We talked to the person daily and had left a fairly detailed agenda of what Lacey was used to doing during the day.

Our criteria for someone to stay here was
1. Someone we knew for at least a year.
2. Someone we knew had about the same ethics we have.
3. Someone who had the same regard for animals as we have. If you cherish you dog as a family member you don't want someone with the "It's JUST a DOG!" attitude.
4. This had to be someone we would be willing to leave our children with.
5. They had to have SOME experience with small dogs. Small dogs are NOT the same as their larger brothers and sisters.
6. WE had to have seen them interact with their own dogs and/or Lacey more than once and possibly during something difficult.
7. They have to be willing to do things OUR way while they are here. For example-we don't give rawhide or certain other treats-we didn't want someone who thought, "OH well I give them to MY dogs so I'll get Lacey one". Of course it HAD to be someone who does NOT ever physically discipline...meaning by hitting a dog...putting one in a crate is fine.
8. Someone who was mature and informed enough to handle an emergency.

She grew up in a house in which the mother was a reputable dog breeder and show person, so she actually had more experience than me with dogs! She was extremely kind and Lacey adored her.

To this day we have but to say her name and Lacey will go to the window and watch for her to come over. When she visited us for Christmas I think Lacey was actually disappointed that she left and WE stayed!!!

IF this same young woman could stay with her OR we knew anyone else well enough who was able to stay here that is what we would do BUT we just don't so she will go with us.

We always make reservations for hotels before we leave...we know how long it takes and we never travel more than a certain number of hours a day-so we will be able to find pet friendly hotels ahead of time! We only have to stay tow nights on the way and two on the way back!

Thank you again for all the support and help! I feel more confidant now about taking her!

Welcome! This is a great forum.

I personally would take her with you. What we do, is we take the pups' kennel with us (it folds up, so easy to pack in car). And where ever we are we set it up with the door open. If Tiger or Rhapsody get too much stimuli they just go in and lay down on their blankets until their ready for more action. It's kinda like taking their den with them, and I also keep chews and bones in there with their extra blankets so they really feel as though it's their safe place. We also always make sure the door is open so they never feel trapped.

As much as I love my yorkies, I am so against taking them on vacations, other than for a few days.

IMO, it's impossible to enjoy your vacation when you have to worry about a dog (or in my case, TWO!). I took them on a 4 night vacation in the fall and the entire time I was afraid of leaving them alone and someone (cleaning people, esp) coming in and little them. I couldn't even enjoy going out to dinner because I was afraid something would happen or they would start barking.

I say leave her at home, and enjoy your vacation. :)

It's like having a baby again isn't it. :D I think she would be more miserable being left with someone for that long. (and stress can cause major health problems in these guys). What would happen if the sitter had to call and tell you the little one is in the hospital, or got ran over or any number of other horrible things.
Also what about you? You would not relax for one minute for thinking about your baby all the time. It may be a little more work taking her, but don't you think it would be well worth it, seeing her happy just to be with you. Just get her a little collapsible crate for when you get there and need to put her in a safe spot. I have two Yorkies that I would take with me no matter what. I've passed up several chances to go overseas and to Hawaii with my husband on his business trips, only because of the quarantine laws. I won't go if they can't. Simple.

You might want to ask your Vet if they have any suggestions. Sometimes your Vet tech might be willing since they know your dog, and obviously are experienced. I'm sure most of us dog (animal) owners know this feeling.