Need some advice

[grillywarren]

Okay....here is the situation. Hubby calls yesterday and tells me he

has a last minute business trip to San Fran. (A city I love!) He invites me

to come along. Sounds great, but what about my babes! In the past I have

always left Grilly with family. I have drive 16 hours before so that he was with

family. That is no longer an option (long story) The kids have never been to

a kennel. So, the trip is pretty short. Leave on Thurs. am come back on Sunday am.

My realtor's 18 yo daughter (who has her own Cairn) is on break next week.

She is willing to watch my babies. I envision her coming three times during the day.

8-10, 1-3, and 6-10. Hubby is a little nervous because Madison (like her brother Elliott)

is a little hard to handle. I am going to meet with the young lady on Saturday and discuss things.

OK....so my questions are....

1) Has anyone left their furbabies with a setup like this?

2) Would anyone sugest anything that could make it an easier time?

3) Would it be dangerous to leave the babes alone at night?....( I would alert neighbors

in case of an emergency)

4) Any advice would be welcome!

Thanks in advance!

You guys are the BEST!!!!!

Ellie, Grilly and Madwoman

[brin145]

Dear Madwoman,

I think that you a getting a better situation with the young lady than with a kennel. Do Madison and Grilly stay crated at night? If so, I think it would be fine. I am trying to figure out what to do where our family can take a June vacation and feel ok about leaving mine, so I feel your pain. I might even ask this girl for references (babysitting, personal, or other). I am assuming that you just know her mother and not her.

Good Luck!

Brinda

[grillywarren]

Dear Brinda,

Thanks for the response! Madison aka. Madwoman stays crated, but Grilly doesn't.

He is 5 and he'll be content having the king bed to himself I would make sure the bedroom door is shut. Yes, I only know the mom. She is trying to sell our house for us. She tells me that the daughter is very responsible, she actually told me she wouldn't rec. her 21 yo son, but that her daughter LOVES cairns and is very responsible.

Thanks again for the response. I wish we were closer ....I would watch yours and you could watch mine!!!

Ellie

[brin145]

Sorry for the mistake on the Madwoman reference. I thought you were referring to yourself in this situation. Maybe it's because i feel like the "madwoman" these days. my friends have started called me the "dog lady".

[tena]

If the girl is friendly, and reliable it might be a good thing. College age folks are usually up for adventure, she may be willing to stay at your house for the weekend.

We are wrestling with the same thing here. In our case, a not so terrific nieghborhood and Sophie's deep fear of people coming in the house is leading us towards kenneling at the vet.

[Teri9672]

sounds like a good plan.

I have the same setup with my neighbor accross the street. When we go out of town she keeps an eye on the girls for me. She comes over 3 times per day. They stay in a crate during the day (they do this anyway while I'm at work). She then lets them out to roam for several hours and she plays fetch outside with them. She goes back over before she goes to bed and puts them in their sleeping crates.

(they sleep in a different set of crates at night in our bedroom)

I think this is much better than the kennel because they are more comfortable at home.

[TheScotts]

Well, it all depends on how reliable the caretaker will be. It would make me nervous...what if she screws up?

Mine go on weeekend trips to a kennel where the monsties get to socialize, get out to run around with the pack 4 x day and are crated at bedtime for safety. I feel they are safe and reasonably entertained.

[toomanypaws]

It's so hard when we have to leave our Cairns behind. I'm not fortunate to have anyone that I trust to come into my house. My niece is trustworthy, but plans to have her babysit need to be made in advance. Go with your heart and how you feel about this girl babysitting. Have her come over and watch how she interacts w/ your pups. Write out everything for her so that she doesn't forget to do something. Request she come over alone so that her focus is on Grilly and Madison. Make it easy and have everything she needs available on the kitchen counter (food, treats, paper towels, baby wipes) and leave her your vet's number in case of an emergency. Also have some drinks/snacks available to her to make her visits last longer. I'd also tell her to leave the TV or stereo on during the day so that the house doesn't seem so "empty" to Grilly and Madison. It's funny, as long as I have music on, my youngest Hannah is fine and knows I'm in the house somewhere. If it's quiet and she's babygated in the kitchen, she'll howl for me.

[kayharley]

NYC is only a hop, skip and a jump to CT....Elliott would love to meet his sister. Just a thought

I would never leave mine in a kennel unless I knew everyone who worked there personally. My last and only experience was with Winnie and it was only for 3 days. When we picked her up she was filthy, her bed was soaked with urine and I could see in her eyes she was not treated very well. Never againl

Last year when I went to Floriday, my son and hubby were allowed to take care of my babies and that was only after I drove them crazy with orders. I called every night and had him make each one bark so I knew they were okay. And that was my FAMILY I was nervous with.

I guess that's why I never go anywhere. My dogs are my life.

[CathyAnn]

When we went to Vegas a few years ago, I had two neighbor teens (sisters that were 15 and 16 years old) care for Piper and Toto. It worked out fine.

We did have them come over four times a day, though. I wasn't sure if 3x would be enough. If I am not mistaken, I paid them $25 a day. They only came in, opened the door for them to potty (fenced yard), fed them one time and changed the water. I told them they didn't have to hang around and play, etc. If I were to do it now, I would probably offer more $$ since that was about 4 years ago. Worth it to not have to kennel, IMO.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Cathy

[grillywarren]

This forum is so great! TooMany...great ideas! KayHarley....I have often thought about initiating a Cairn Swap Program. I am living in Princeton, NJ right now.....it is still very close to CT????? Maybe we should talk about future trips???? My hubby and I want to go to Italy in the Spring and I was thinking about driving the kids to Irene. I don't trust kennels. I know there are great ones out there, I just have had a bad experience and can't get myself to do it, unless I knew everyone personally. I think it is great if people have found good kennels that they trust, it must make life much easier! I am meeting with the "sitter" tomorrow. I think her Mom will be "watching" carefully

to make sure everything is okay. Oh...such trouble. I will have to meet the young lady and follow my gut. I was thinking about baby gating the front door, incase of an escape attempt?

MOTHERHOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

[savannahsmom35]

Because the girl is familiar with Cairns (and knows what she is getting herself into ) I would be comfortable with it once I met her and saw that interacted well with the babies. I don't know that I would trust someone who wasn't familiar with Cairns. I wouldn't ever board Savannah unless I absolutley had too because I have heard too many bad things about them.

Wouldn't it be great if we all lived in the same state so we could have a Cairn swap!!! How cool would that be!

[mrskti]

We've been talking about this very thing. I use to board my cat, Buster all the time when we traveled, he went to our vet and was basically a house cat there! Hardly crated, he roamed around and they loved him as much as I did. but the girls are different, they seem to depend on me more, cats are so independant!! There are suppose to be a lot of posh type dog b&b's around here, I get them groomed at one of them, but havent checked out the boarding part yet. We take them everywhere with us, but we have been talking about a cruise again....so that's where we have to think it out. We'd have to board in florida and sorry, but that scares me! Think I could smuggle them on the ship??? LOL

We live too far out for someone to come, plus I would never want to leave them all alone all night, something could go wrong and we're in the middle of 80 acres, no one would know about it till it was too late. Makes me shutter to think of it.

[Brody'sMom]

I know a great lady who keeps dogs in her house. She is in New York just over the Jersey border (Can't think of the town right now, but it is right of the GS Parkway/Thruway). The drawback is she charges $50/dog/day! PM me if you are interested.

[Eliz222]

We have left our dogs twice (the first time was not with the Cairns). In the first case, I had a neighbor girl come over three times a day to take the dogs out. We had a fenced in yard and she let them out into the yard, to play, for an hour at a time. I think she was about 12 years old.

The second time we left only Scout (we didn't have Finch yet) and had a high school girl stay at our house. She was a friend of my DD's and we have known her since she was in K.

My dogs did great both times and I think I will always find someone to stay in our home instead of putting them in a kennel. I have never left a dog in a kennel, so I don't have any personal experiences, but I know I feel more comfortable with my two being left in their own home....plus, my home is being taken care of at the same time!