Best House Sitting in Allegan, MI

Julia L.

(16)

4 repeat clients

from $40.00
per night

Julia is so kind and extremely patient. My dog has extreme separation anxiety and this was my first time leaving her with a sitter after adopting her two months ago, so it was a really big deal for us. I really appreciated that Jlia didn't force bonding, handled a very messy crate accident with grace, gave Pillow her meds on time, and was communicative about how she was doing throughout the experience. She was also available extremely last minute and helped me attend my uncle's funeral, which I am eternally grateful for. That said, there were a cuple of flags that may signal she's not the best fit for a super anxious dog in the future. Would 100% recommend her for your dogs that love people and don't mind when you're gone, so if your dog is not a walking bag of anxiety, look no further! You've found your sitter! Julia had to leave for a 30 minute meeting about 15-20 minutes away while here, which she'd been transparent about at the meet and greet. It was quick turnaround and while I was nervous about it, I was cool with it because the meeting was so short, she'd be gone for less than 1.5 hours. She texted me over an hour after I would've expected her to be back from that meeting to tell me that my dog had a massive anxiety-inspired poop accident in her crate, and asking what to do with the poopy bed/shirt that I'd left behind for her. I asked about the timeline and she said she'd gotten back almost 1.5 hours prior, had just been busy cleaning up. That didn't quite track for me because she was asking specifically what to do with the poopy things in question, which seemed like something to ask sooner than almost 1.5 hours after discovering the poop... I'm not sure why it took so long to ask. I was happy to give her the benefit of the doubt though, because she graciously cleaned it up and didn't bail. However... I did discover an acute lack of attention to detail after I'd gotten home. When I got home, I noticed almost immediately that Pillow had a cut on her nose, likely from the panic attack in her crate. Julia had brushed it off as something she'd noticed, but wasn't sure if it had happened with her there or not, so hadn't pointed it out to me. I would've appreciated being asked about it when she noticed it so I could've asked her to do her best to clean it to avoid infection. There is stuffy-fuzz stuck in the scab. After Julia left, I realized she did not have a nose for pee. The whole back portion of my house smelled extremely strongly of pee, with the epicenter coming from my bedroom. I texted to ask her if she'd noticed Pillow peeing in my room or where she had hung out in there so I could find it and spray it down, the response was that she hadn't ever noticed Pillow in there. I found two mostly-dry pee spots. I then stepped in another mostly-dry pee spot by the back door that Pillow goes to when she has to potty. I then noticed that Pillow's crate fully smells like pee, which likely happened during the massive poop-explosion incident but was not caught by Julia. I've also noticed that my dog smells like pee in spots, likely from sleeping in the pee crate all night, and will be getting a bath before bed. I'm still wondering if I've found all of the spots, because parts of my house still smell overwhelmingly like urine (they didn't smell before, she's been potty trained for a month and a half, these are fresh urine smells). I expected accidents when I was gone because of the nature of this very last minute trip, her anxiety, the fact that it was my first time leaving her, etc. I even left out Nature's Miracle and paper towel on the counter with hard-copy notes for Julia about what to do in case of an accident - just in case. However, I expected the accidents to be noticed (even when they weren't crazy poop blowouts). It's one thing to give a dog space to be anxious, it's another thing to pay attention and stay alert to what they're doing while giving them that space. That second part seems to have been missing from this visit, which I believe mostly comes from lack of experience with anxious dogs. It's not just about companionship and presence, it's like babysitting a toddler that wants its mom. It requires active awareness, not just a passive presence. Again, this is all hyper-specific to my clinically anxious bean. I would fully recommend Julia for dogs that don't have behavioral issues, she is so kind and my dog liked her immediately (which is rare!). It just wasn't quite a fit for us once we stacked up the little things.