Dog Sitting in Dutchess County

If I could give more than 5 stars, I would! Brooke and Kirk took excellent care of our elderly cat, and they left our house in pristine condition. Brooke sent daily texts, and it was clear that our cat felt at ease with them. We welcome Brooke and Kirk back anytime!

Dianne and Tim are exactly the kind of sitters who make TH a trusted and reliable community that we can turn to time and again. They were highly communicative, friendly, capable. They took care of our 7 month old Nora for a few days and were so flexible with the needs and quirks of a young dog in training. Our dog fell in love with them quickly and the daily photos proved it. They were conscientious from start to finish with Nora and left our home in immaculate condition. We came home after a long day of travel to a clean home and happy dog which is everything. We are so very grateful to Dianne and Tim!

Melissa was great with the dogs. She sent us lots of pictures and kept us up to date.

Alice was super helpful, taking care of Xabat and our home with short notice. She is thoughtful and tidy and we are grateful!

Mirielle was great with our cats, one of whom has special needs and the other one is a scaredy-cat. By the end of her short visit, the scared one got within a foot of her, which is remarkable. The most complicated part of taking care of our cats was keeping their food separate, which she did. When I got home, the cats were glad to see me, the house was all in order, and all was well. What more could I have asked?

While it's nice to have someone at the house while the owners are away, the most important thing for pet owners is someone to care for their pets. If I could give Elvira 10 stars for loving my dog and giving her special attention, I would! Elvira also texted me with daily photos and comments about the "walkies" my dog enjoyed. Plus, Elvira took on the additional task of conveying my dog to the groomer, and afterwards dosing her with flea/tick medication and a heartworm pill. Elvira and my dog look forward to seeing each other again, probably next spring when Elvira thinks she'll be back in the area.

Leslie did a great job taking care of our four cats, our house was neat and clean, and we received lots of pictures from her daily - we can't thank her enough! Aside from an alarm on an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) in my office (she has NO blame for this one - it failed while we were gone!), she was self-sufficient and took care of all out plants and paid great attention to the cats!

Rigel has sat for me twice and has done well.

Juliet and Laurent were great petsitters! My place was clean and the cats were happy, which is my biggest concern. Juliet was very communicative and sent pics daily along with little comments about Jack and Jamie and how they loved the area around here. I had zero worries about anything, which is always a great feeling while away. I would highly recommend them for any pet sits in the future! Thank you both!😻😻

Shelley is a dangerous and incompetent housesitter. She should never be entrusted with anything more valuable than a houseplant. Her pet care was terrible. On the 2nd day she left our 2 dogs outside in the backyard, unattended on a 83-degree hot, humid summer day with no water for 90 minutes while she left our home to go out for a walk. We saw this on our Ring camera and immediately reported this to zeewoi (full complaint currently under investigation) and let her know directly how concerning this was for us. Not only was it unsafe to leave the dogs outside while she left the home, but it also went against clear instructions that were communicated to her in person during the handover and in writing about what to do with the dogs anytime she left our home. She repeatedly had trouble following basic instructions that were communicated verbally, in writing and in text reminders. She was incapable of following basic pet care requirements. We asked that only one of our 2 dogs be walked once a day (I did not want her walking the other stronger dog, because during the handover we went on a walk together and Shelley DROPPED our dog's leash). We use Fi collars, so we know that over the course of 11 days, Shelley brought our dog for only 4 walks. We did a phone interview with Shelley and never did she inform us that our medium sized, 40 pound dogs would be too much for her to walk. Additionally, Shelley traveled with her sister who clearly is unwell (likely dementia or some sort of developmental disability) and also was afraid and nervous around dogs. She never informed us of this, and it was clearly a huge safety issue. Shelley's sister let our INDOOR cat out multiple times (at least 4 times are seen on outside cameras). Sometimes our cat was left outside for 20+ minutes without Shelley or her sister realizing. This is so, so dangerous- we are on a main street with a lot of traffic. We are lucky our cat didn't get lost or killed under her "care." Shelley and her sister left our home in a terrible, and honestly gross and unsanitary, condition. A paper bag with human feces was found in our bathroom and made the entire 2nd floor of the house stink for days. The rug in my office was covered with urine- which makes me wonder if she locked my dogs in this room for extended periods of time. Our dogs are fully house trained and have never had any potty accidents. The kitchen was filled with flies, milk had been spilled in the refrigerator and never cleaned up (a gross film had formed by the time we got home). The blender was put away in the cabinet unclean. The recycle bin was filled with dirty trash- so much so that we got a notice from the city. She carelessly used metal utensils and scratched our Le Creuset dutch oven (which will now void its lifetime guarantee). Three brand new bars of soap were taken from our home, like they were some sort of hotel amenity. Shelley went into our basement storage freezer (which she had NO need to access) and took home 3 gallon bags (about 20lbs) of frozen tomatoes I had harvested before our trip from our garden. When I addressed this with her, she claimed her sister packed them by accident (which, if true, & your sister is so unwell that she's packing things from someone's home that are NOT HERS, she should not be allowed to travel with you). However, I don't believe that's the case- 20 pounds of tomatoes aren't really something that just sneaks by your consciousness- it's A LOT of tomatoes. Shelley was offended I accused her of stealing, but that's what she did. She ultimately returned them, knowing full well she was in the wrong. I'm not sure what else she might have taken from our home, as I didn't think I needed to take an inventory of our belongings and supplies before we left. Ultimately the sit ended when our one of our dogs ate some of a marijuana plant in the backyard (she had never shown interest before and we did not know the plant- with no flowers on it- was dangerous). We do not blame Shelley for that (even though it was probably from a time the dogs were not adequately supervised in the backyard); having the plant where dogs could access was our mistake, and one that will never be made again. The part that is extremely concerning is that it took Shelley nearly 2 hours to get our dog to the emergency vet from discovering the first symptoms (she first texted me at 6:26pm that our dog was unwell and "having seizures" and did not leave for the hospital until 8:12pm). And I am certain she never called the zeewoi vet emergency line. She eventually reached out to my mother (our emergency contact while we were in Europe) and my mom told her to go to the vet ER immediately. Afterwards Shelley stated via message, "I cried, prayed & hugged her throughout the incident." So, instead of getting prompt medical care for our dog (emergency vet was clearly listed in our printed out home instructions), she prayed for her. Unhelpful, incompetent and incredibly dangerous. I'm not sure how she has previous good reviews. We were shocked by the incompetency and complete inability to understand and follow simple, clear directions- there are, sadly, many more examples I could include here. We are grateful our girls survived having her stay in our home. I would hope no one else ever has to deal with such a horror. To finish things off, disapproving of the legal marijuana plant in the backyard and probably of our rainbow flag displayed on the front of the house, Shelley texted "You need prayers. Find a Bible based church to go to and get healed. I pray for your soul."