Lucerne, CO's Best Dog Boarding Sitters & Dog Walkers

Jennifer R.

(379)

153 repeat clients

from $40.00
per night

Daisy’s first stay here, won’t be her last! Our 8 year old female (spayed) St. Bernard. stayed with this family for 4 nights in April/May 2018. This was her first time staying with them, and it was also her first time staying away from home (& us!) since we adopted her earlier this year — it won’t be her last! The top 5 best things about this dog sitter for us: 1. Lots of happy people in the household! With a stay-at-home Mom, several teenager-ish/young adult kids in the house (four, as I recall: a middle schooler who is homeschooled, 1 or 2 in high school, and 1 or two in college) plus Dad, our dog Daisy pretty much always had the human company she craves. I know that there are some great dog sitters who have a day job, come home at lunch time to let the dogs out — and that works great for a lot of dogs. But we just really liked it that there pretty much was someone in the house all the times and so would be there if any problems cropped up. Plus, as I said, our Daisy gets really sad if she isn’t around people most of the time (even if she has doggie friends to keep her company), so this factor was especially important to us. Also, if you’ve got more of a loner-type dog, or maybe a senior dog who needs to take long naps in their kennel away from the hustle & bustle of busy family life, their two-story house with basement already has gates set up on the stairs etc. This makes it easy for them to adapt the environment to suit the needs of visiting dogs. For example, they can easily separate animals that need to be kept away from each other, create a cozy & quiet place for that senior dog - or give your always wound-up & anxious, recently adopted rescue dog a place to just chill. 3. Experienced dog people! You can just tell if folks are truly experienced dog people or not, and it was clear, right off the bat, that they have been around lots of different dogs. I think this is especially important when there were multiple critters of the non-human variety in the same household. It’s just a fact of life that animals — especially with new (but temporary) canine visitors coming in & out of the family — sometimes two dogs can seem to be getting along ok, but then something ticks off one of them off and a situation develops. Another example might be where a dog suddenly stops eating and has diarrhea, or even is even just feeling a little “off.” With experienced dog people, they’re not just better equipped for dealing with whatever may come up, they’re also just better equipped for heading off problems before they occur and notice that a dog is feeling under the weather before more obvious things like not eating come up. Also,our dog Daisy is an 117 lb St. Bernard and being experienced dog people, that fact didn’t phase them a bit. She’s super sweet, but she is a VERY BIG, bundle of fluff. Some people, even some experienced dog people, just aren’t prepared to deal with ultra grande-sized pups. Fortunately, Jennifer & family had had experience with really big dogs before, and weren’t phased at all by our gentle giant. 4. Flexible, Easy Going, and Not Flaky! They were very flexible on pickup & drop off times, and totally happy to accommodate special quirks — like our Daisy being a grazer who needs to have 24/7 access to her elevated bowl of kibble that also needs to be in a place where people spend a lot of timeh while at the same time needing to be around the family (including their three cats and their totally adorable, little, black & white Chihuahua(?) on a 24/7 basis as well. I was impressed by how they were really easygoing about the change in schedule when two visiting pups unexpectedly needed to a couple extra days because their humans were stuck in some far corner of the earth where what few flights there were kept being cancelled. Even though this complicated things for them in terms of accommodating the prior client’s dogs while doing right by the newly arrived dog. It was more hassle for them, obviously, but they just took it in stride. Jennifer always responded to my texts quickly, They were there at the agreed upon time when we came over to meet them and check out their home a few days before we made spontaneous plans to go to the mountains (even though we were 20 minutes late). I appreciated that there was a responsible adult there (either Jennifer or her husband) when we dropped Daisy off (so I could go over her routines & needs, how to put her harness on, etc.) and when we picked her up (so we could ask questions about her stay). All of her stuff had already been gathered up (and they double checked with me to make sure they had gotten everything we’d brought) and put near their front door when we came to pick her up. These might seem like obvious things that a dog sitter would do in order to ensure repeat business and lots of referrals. Sadly, too many times in my experience (NOT with Rover), when doing business with people working a side business like this, some people can be pretty “casual” about things ((what I would call flaky!). So I really appreciated that Jennifer was a competent on the business side of things, as well as being a great dog lover. All these tamall things when, put together, made it a lot easier to entrust her and her family with our precious Daisy - even thought they were pretty much strangers to us. 5. Location! Location! Location! We live in the west side of Greeley and their home in Evans was very conveniently located — and it was actually faster to get to than.a lot of places in Greeley! We also really liked that they are just a few minutes away from the 24/7 emergency animal hospital in Evans recommended by our Greeley vet, and is also within walking distance of a nice dog park. Their back yard is very basic - a patio, and then all grass. Really, it was just perfect place to let dogs to to play & do their bus Kline’s. There is a nice solid wood fence - which I know is solid because the neighbor in back of them has two Great Danes, who were jumping up on that fence while we were back there checking things out. I’m guessing it’s six foot because I could see the Great Danes peaking over it, but it could be 5 or 5.5 feet tall. Their house is kinda cluttered and the carpets are not pristine, which might bother some people. In our case, it meant Daisy would feel right at home.(?) Plus, when I have to leave my fur baby with some stranger, I felt a lot better because these things said to me that this is a home that’s centered around family and where the needs of their “kids” (human & otherwise are the priority). IMO, the clutter and the carpets make for a far better situation for my giant fur baby than some pristine home, where everybody is uptight, and would totally stress if a dog brought in a little mud or puked on the carpet. Dogs pick up on vibes, and if there were lots of unhappy people in the family, she’d be negatively affected for four straight days of her stay- which definitely is not a situation I’d be ok with leaving her in. I’m sure some people just care that their dog will be safely cared for by a dog sitter. But, as far as I’m concerned, my dogs emotional happiness is just as important as her physical safety. I expect both when I pay my hard earned money to someone whose a stranger to us, and where , for the most part, have to take them at their word as far as what care was provided. ———————- IN CONCLUSION: Both my husband and I thought their whole family s very nice, and friendly, too - even the teenagers! ? And, when visiting in advance, it was great to know that Daisy would be with a family where she’d be happy while we took a little vacation in the mountains, at a spot that doesn’t allow dog. This is the first time we’be gotten a dog sitter through Rover.com instead of a referral from close friends or family. And I weas initially pretty leery about going this route. But I’m happt to say that our first experience with Rover.com was just great - ... Thanks to Jennifer and her family!!! I really like how the Rover system works - The dog sitter doesn’t have to worry about getting stiffed after doing all the work to take care of someone’s dog(s) for a few days or a few weeks - and the people needing a dog sitter don’t have to worry about paying for these. services ahead of time, only to discover at the end that their dog wasn’t taken care of, lost, but in danger or some other awful scenario. Everybody is protected, plus the history of reviews that gets laid down over time provides you with added confidence when leaving your dog with a stranger. I have to say that given the protection afforded by having Rover be the middle man gives you that extra peace of mind on top of what you already gain from meeting your dog sitter in advance, taking your own measure of the people in the household and the physical situation with the house and yard. Honestly, I really didnt worry at all about Daisy while we were gone - though we did miss her. Jennifer was great in promptly answering my text to see how Daisy was behaving after the first day, and she also texted me a couple pix over the 4 days we were gone. Both of which I really appreciated! I’m so glad that I can say that, after this first experience, that I happily recommend both Jennifer R of Evans, CO and Rover.com. Thanks for making it possible for my husband and I to get away and not have to worry about how our dog was doing!