Ah, my fur baby, Oreo. I adopted him almost six years ago, and we have traveled all over the place together. We have road-tripped from the Florida Keys up the east coast, spending time in Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. Oreo has even attempted to chase after deers in the mountains of West Virginia. He flew to Arizona with me, was present at our engagement (first photo) and has hiked Sedona mountains and the Grand Canyon's south rim. Homeboy has had quite a few adventures.
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| He was not afraid of heights at the Grand Canyon |
Oreo is family, but since the new human baby addition, we have taken a break from bringing him along - just until we feel more comfortable (read: less overwhelmed) traveling with our baby boy. Since we live thousands of miles away from our families, we had to figure out another way to comfortably leave Oreo, NOT in a cage in a crowded kennel, especially since some of our trips are long ones.
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| A tough day at a Miami dog beach |
Enter DogVacay, an online community that connects dog owners with vetted and insured pet sitters across the US & Canada. My fiance found the website when we moved to Arizona a year and a half ago and we have been using and loving the service ever since, both as customers and as sitters. That is why I'm excited to partner with DogVacay for this post and to give you wonderful readers a little ''sum-sumthing" as well!
The process is simple: You browse their database for pet sitters in your area, read reviews and schedule a no-strings-attached meet-and-greet with potential hosts. The sitters can care for your pup in their home or yours, at an average cost of $20 a day. Reservations include daily photo updates through their phone app, 24/7 customer support, and most importantly $25,000 of vet insurance coverage. Talk about peace of mind.
Now DogVacay is introducing a new service: daycare. Just like their overnight boarding, sitters watch your dog in their home or yours while you're gone during the day. For us it's a great option when I'm traveling and my fiance is at work all day or vice versa; it's fun for Oreo to interact and play with other dogs instead of being bored home alone.
Now DogVacay is introducing a new service: daycare. Just like their overnight boarding, sitters watch your dog in their home or yours while you're gone during the day. For us it's a great option when I'm traveling and my fiance is at work all day or vice versa; it's fun for Oreo to interact and play with other dogs instead of being bored home alone.
The folks at DogVacay were generous enough to provide a free day of daycare for TTUP's readers (use promo code "UNBEATENPATH"). Sweet, huh? Feel free to ask me any questions, and you can learn more about them on Wall StreetJournal, the NY Times, Forbes and The Today Show.
this is so smart! We hate boarding our dogs!! It breaks my heart! We have always been lucky enough to have friends and family close by to watch them both. And if not, we have a pet sitter come stay at our house while we are gone!!! I still worry!
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I hate boarding my boys too
ReplyDeleteWe tend to ask our friends to take our boxer. He loves his crazy Aunt Tanya and Aunt Rebekah, they let him sleep in the bed!
ReplyDeleteAh nothing beats dog-loving family and friends to spoil our fur children when we're gone!
DeleteOreo has the life! I wish we could take our dog on vacay with us but he's big (65 lbs.) so he can only join us on (short) road trips. We are lucky that my parents live close by so they can watch him for us when we are gone. But DogVacay sounds like a great website/idea!
ReplyDeleteHi Christine - haha Oreo is a lucky little fellow! And yours sounds like it too, with sweet parents AND grandparents around to spoil him!
DeleteWe have a local doggie day care we really love bad trust but it was a struggle to find that. What a great concept!
ReplyDeleteOreo is such a cutie!
Thanks Julie! Tthat IS hard to find, and I'm glad you did. Our little fluffballs deserve love, attention and safety when we're gone!
DeleteThat's awesome thing to know about! I usually just have friends looks over pets, but nice to know there is this type of service out there!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to have friends and family watch over our little guys, but when we moved across the country and new no one, DogVacay came in quite handy!
Deletethat is so nice! We don't travel too much so our cat has us, but when we do, we usually have a friend come over and spend time with her since she loves having human attention and is used to that. If we ever get a dog, I will have to check this place out.
ReplyDeleteliz @ sundays with sophie
Awh, I love your little Oreo!! I've never heard of Dog Vacay and I'm always looking for ideas because I refuse to do the kennel. We have been sending Rykar to Pet Paradise where he gets a big room and is spoiled absolutely rotten, but it is so expensive. Seriously, the bill was ridiculous this time around.
ReplyDeleteYour dog is sooo cute! I'm glad you found this great alternative to boarding. Surely you worry less about him when traveling.
ReplyDeleteFound you through #WeekendWanderlust :)
Thank you Valeria, we think so too :-) It makes leaving him behind much easier, especially since we get photo updates and can text/call the host at any time!
DeleteI don't have a pet now--mainly because I didn't want to worry about what to do with it when I travel. But I grew up with a dog, and we just took him everywhere we went. As a kid, I thought that was awesome!
ReplyDeleteHi Tamara, thanks for stopping by! I can't wait to start taking Oreo everywhere we go again, but for now this service really helps me feel better about leaving him :-)
DeleteWhat a great service! Great to know, as we're definitely thinking about bringing a dog buddy into our lives this or next year. (though I currently live abroad and not sure there's anything like that here yet, sadly!)
ReplyDeleteWe are fortunate that we have a lady that house and dogsits for us when we take off. It is so great for Fritz (our golden doodle). He doesn't get all stressed out and we have somebody to water the plants too.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome, Arnie! I'm sure Fritz appreciates the company and the plants appreciate not being neglected haha!
DeleteThis is nice to know. When our fur baby was still with us, it would stress me out to have to board him if we went on vacation. Thank you for sharing and for joining the May Everyday Friends Monthly Blog and Social Media Hop ! Have a great weekend! ~Kelly, Our Everyday Harvest
ReplyDelete