2 part travel abroad question- Barcelona or Amsterdam and what to do with beloved/anxious dog while away

I have a friend who has pet sat for people through Trusted Housesitters. Might be something to look into, especially if you live in a city people would want to visit. She is great and has really enjoyed her experiences pet-sitting for people around the world.

I have used folks off Rover (hit & miss — it’s like AirBnB for pet-sitting with no real oversight, you just have to read the reviews very carefully) and I have used a local pet care service. It will be very expensive if you go with a professional, but you just need to factor that in to the cost of your trip. It would be more than $150 a day for overnight and some daytime visits with the local service I have used.

A really good friend and I have traded pet care for years. Her animals know me and my animals know her. That has worked well, but now she’s down to one elderly dog who usually needs someone to stay with her so sometimes her daughter’s boyfriend will stay if he’s not going on the trip.

We have a super duper crazy high anxiety weirdo Belgian Malinois that we have not been able to leave yet. She was a feral rescue and she just ain’t right. Oldest kid adopted her and then she came to live with us because apartment life was not right for this dog. (Sometimes 21 year olds do not listen to mom’s advice regarding pet adoption.) We also have 4 cats right now. So if we go somewhere we can take the weirdo anxiety dog we do and then my friend can take care of the cats easily, but this dog is just a LOT. I don’t know what we are going to do about Thanksgiving travel.

Anyway, yes I would definitely get a pet-sitter into your house unless you are lucky and have someone in your neighborhood who does in-home pet-sitting. My friend I trade animal care with had that situation for awhile and it was ideal.

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