Dog Sitting in Big Rapids

Ed and Laura were great pet-/housesitters! They were organized and communicative. We returned home to a spotless house, thriving plants, and a happy cat.

I felt at ease leaving my fur kids with Emerson. I hope to have her back!

Elizabeth was fantastic and we would absolutely have her again. She is a great communicator, checked with us if she wasn't sure, took good care of Lulu, and was overall wonderful.

Lauren and Jeremy were wonderful house sitters. I would ask them back or recommend them without hesitation. They communicated clearly, and took wonderful care my pets, house and garden. They left the place cleaner than it started and generously offered to help in ways that I hadn't asked but that were very kind and thoughtful. I felt very comfortable with my animals and home in their care.

We could not have asked for better cat and house sitters than Jenn and Ryan! We met them in person before we left for 40 days because that is a long time to be gone away from not only our adorable cat, Wesley, but our home. Our cat literally was sleeping at Jenn's feet by the end of the first hour together during the short "interview visit." They were so great about communicating. In the start of the sit, they asked really great questions and thankfully we had answers for them. They sent us a photo and text surrounding Wesley as soon as they walked into the home. From that point on the communication was efficient, kind, and compassionate. It was evident that though our cat missed us in the beginning, Ryan and Jenn extended so much genuine love and care to Wesley that he was sitting on their work space desk and in their laps once they were in relax mode! Our home was so well-cared for. Very clean upon our arrival back home, including the refrigerator and freezer which could have become a bit untidy after 40 days of two new people using both. The landscaping was watered and our plants overall survived the heat of the summer and the intense wind and rain of tropical stormy Debby that they weathered through here in our home in Tampa, FL. I hope that our cat Wesley and our home continue to enjoy such fantastic care such as the care provided by our most recent housesitters. Jenn and Ryan genuinely seemed to enjoy our home, its spaciousness, and the pool. They never once complained about needing to water so many lovely plants & flowers nor did they hesitate to cover our outdoor furniture to keep it in good condition in spite of the pop-up thunderstorms that we have daily in our area.

Dylan (and his GF) took care of Sal and Sabrina while my husband and I went to europe for two weeks. The kitties were happy and healthy on our return and the house was in perfect condition! They were super sweet and friendly, they stayed in communication with kitty photos every couple of days, highly recommend!

This is our second sit with Angie and we enjoyed having her. We were able to communicate easily and she appeared to remember the routine of our home. The house and our dog, Lucca, we’re both in great shape and ready to welcome us home. We are hoping for an opportunity to lure Angie and Sarah once again out of the cold to our Florida home.

When we select a sitter, we read every review in addition to conducting some sort of video interview. We really rely upon the experiences of past hosts, so that’s why I believe it important to be honest in this review. I love giving out 5 star reviews and do quite frequently, but I also need to share any less-than-positive experiences as well for those hosts who rely upon reviews such as we do. As such, I’m a bit ambivalent about writing this review of Katie, as there were some really good things Katie did while here. She is a lovely, energetic woman who responded immediately to the concerns I voiced to her during the time she watched our pets; however, the “negatives” we experienced speak to the heart of the importance of having a dedicated pet sitter. For the most part, our home was left tidy and neat – which is no small feat as ours is a large house and I appreciate the care Katie took in ensuring we walked into a clean home. That said, Katie failed to notice my dogs had urinated in both of their dog beds and on the floor of our downstairs office, which we believed happened in the first part of the sit and resulted in the downstairs smelling of stale urine. Further, because she didn’t notice the urine, my pets, when downstairs, had to either sleep on the bare floor or in wet beds, neither of which is a satisfactory option. Also, my dogs don’t generally urinate in the house as they have access to a doggie door, and this seemed more a sign of their distress or discomfort. I believe this incident was part of a larger problem I experienced with Katie and that was in the manner in which she approached this sit. I advertised dates of July 6 – July 22. We generally ask our sitters to come in a day or two early as to walk them through the schedule for both our animals and our many plants, as well as to give them time to get to know the animals and experience a little of the town we live in. We also provide a very detailed introduction and welcome guide which outlines our expectations. Katie came in late in the day on the 7th, without personal transportation, which necessitated us picking her up and then my neighbor taking her to a rental cart company the next day because we left very early on the morning of the 8th. This abbreviated introductory time didn’t allow us to fully prepare Katie for the sit and allowed for some apparent “misunderstandings.” The “issue” for me was for the first five days of our 13-day trip, Katie was away from the house for up to 13 hours at a time – leaving our two, older rescue dogs, who have some separation anxiety - alone and with an extended time between meals. It was clear Katie was using this opportunity to visit many of the beautiful areas which surround where we live – hence using our home as more of an Airbnb to vacation – than a house sit dedicated to caring for our animals. Our dogs are fine with being alone for up to six hours but even that, for multiple days in a row, is, frankly, distressing to our animals and to us, as owners. To Katie’s credit, when I called and brought her daily, extended time away to her attention and reiterated my wishes the dogs not be left for more than 6 hours, she changed her schedule and while still gone every day, capped her time away at six hours. And, as I said, she is cheerful and responsive; hence, the ambivalence is positing my concerns with this sit. I think if Katie is provided with very clear expectations prior to the sit and understands exactly what is needed and expected, she will absolutely deliver. For whatever reason, from the start, this sit was rushed, there appeared to be too many misunderstandings, and it ended up being frustrating for us in ways other sits have not been.

From a pet sitting aspect we were not unsatisfied with Sara. Our dogs seemed happy and our chickens were also tended to well. However, from a house sit I will say we were disappointed with a few things. There was a bad storm the day before we left and we requested some photos of the damage to our property that was done. I asked multiple times and never received what I asked for after saying she would send it. We also agreed to daily updates in form of text or pictures of the animals and I did go the first couple days without reliable communication which didn’t sit well with me. As for the state of the house upon return, while it was mostly clean, one of our curtain rods was ripped from the wall. I wouldn’t have been upset had we just been notified of the repair that needed to be done but she never even told us that she broke anything in the house it was just left. She also very clearly rummaged through our drawers and took brand new unopened toiletries from areas that we did not specify she could use and she never reached out asking if it would be ok to take.

Lindsey was great! She left the house clean and organized and no concerns with that. My dog loved her and it went so well he didn’t have any behavior problems when I got back. Would definitely recommend and have her come back in the future.