Leaving Your Dog With a Minder
So! You’ve found a dog minder! We want your experience to be as seamless and enjoyable as possible for both you and your dog while you head out with other exciting things to do!
When you’re dropping your dog off to the dog minder, we recommend staying for at least 10 minutes to let your dog settle and to see if they will be happy with the chosen minder and the environment. In this time, taking the dog for a little walk can be beneficial to let the dog settle and understand that this person is okay to be around. The more your dog sees you interacting with a new person, the more comfortable they will feel as them being a part of your ‘pack’.
To make it a smooth handover, it is important to drop your dog off with some familiar things like their bed and a favourite toy – this is a familiar and comfy space for them. Their food and bowl – if the dog is staying for more than a few hours. A supply of water and water bowl – access to water could be tricky for the pet minder depending on your location at the time, so it’s a good idea to supply them with plenty of water. Their medication (if required) and a written set of instructions so nothing gets confused. Their lead, harness, collar and either their crate or a securing post – this is imperative as when you leave your pooch, they will probably wonder where you’re off to and want to go with you.
For anxious dogs, or if you’re going to be away a few days, leaving a t-shirt or piece of clothing that smells of you can be a good calming mechanism for your fur baby while they stay with someone new. For the overly social, happy-to-hang-with-any-humans type of dog, no need to worry about leaving your clothes behind!
We strongly suggest ensuring your dog has an ID tag with your contact details on it, and is wearing it on their collar. To ensure the safety of the dog, their collar should be tight enough to only fit two of your fingers between the dog’s collar and their neck. For small dogs, one finger is the recommendation.
We also think it works best if, once you’ve headed off after dropping the dog off, to stay in a close proximity for about 15 minutes, in case your dog does not settle and the minder needs to contact you.
It is imperative to understand that some dogs just won’t click with some people, some people won’t understand every dog and that sometimes it won’t always work. We hope this is a very rare occurence and you have an extremely wonderful experience; but, we do feel it is important to note.
