Best Advice For 1St Time Leaving At Sitter Overnight?

[Guest 18tjettagrl]

My husband and I are going out of town for one night and will be back early the next morning. However my parents unfortunately are out of town as well so that leaves me to depend on a really good friend who has pets of her own and trust her 100%. I went back over to her house to check the gates/fences and all that good stuff. I am so nervous as this will be her first night away from home not with us or my parents. I honestly am trying to be ok with it and know if I am not then I'm going to not enjoy being out of town for the night for something we really wanted to do. I have no human kids only my furry children and am more than protective of them. I know its normal to be nervous and so forth but last thing I want her to feel is that we are leaving her as well and not coming back. I'm packing her overnight bag with her food/waterbowl, blankie & stuffed animal with our smell as well as her bed, even though I know she wont sleep in it as she seemed to pick out my friends guest bed as her own. I dont know what else I can possibly do to make her feel comfortable and not freak out. I dont want her to panic and then come home and be on high alert we will leave her again. She is fine with my parents of course because well she knows them well. This is new territory for her at my friends house. I"m a little concerned though it might start the trend of accidents becasue she has 2 dogs who tend to have them once in a while in her house. She did mark her area though in the backyard over there so I think she might be fine on that. If I'm rambling I'm sorry, just been years and years since I've had to depend on someone else other than my parents to look over one of my children. Suggestions on maybe what I can do for her to make her more comfortable and know we will be back? Suggestions for me to calm me down???

[philospher77]

I will be honest... I felt like you do when I boarded my two for the first time. Interestingly enough, when I went to pick them back up, they were happy to see me, but didn't want to leave! So it was a lot harder on me than it was on them.

 

I will also say, a piece of advice I got which may help you is to tell your dog how long you will be gone, in dog terms. Tell her exactly what is going to happen: "When you wake up tomorrow, we are going to X's house, who's going to be taking care of you while I am out of town. After Y nights and Z days, I will come back and get you and we will go home." If you can, actually think through the day/nights: Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night, Sunday, Sunday night, Monday afternoon I will be there to pick you up. If you believe in animal communicators, that will allow the dog to know what's going on. If they are a load of hokum, you will at least have done your best to let the dog know what's going on. I figure it can't hurt to do it.

 

The best advice I can give you is be very matter-of-fact about the whole thing. If you act all nervous when you take her there and drop her off, your dog is going to be all nervous, and that may make it harder for her to settle in and relax and have fun. This is no big deal, and the dog is probably going to take it a lot easier than you are!

[Greydawg]

I feel your angst, as I know it myself. Just remember that dogs are very adaptable and resilient. She will be fine.

You, on the other hand, may be a different case. :-) Try to have a good time on your trip.

 

 

 

 

[Guest 18tjettagrl]

Just picked her up from my friends house after a night of fun for my husband and I. I got texts every now and then to reassure all was well. misses her terribly though. Got to her house and I'd never seen a dog so happy to see me!! She started shaking and wiggling and then came the quiver. I feel better now that I know all will be ok if that scenario happens again. My friend said she paced a few and was scared she wasn't going to eat but finally did around midnight. She heard her crunching in the kitchen. She slept in a bed with my friend and I was told did not share well but none the less was more than welcome to do it any time as her dog was not a cuddle type of dog and mine is. Ahhhh feels good to be home and have her back in her spot in the couch.