She was a nice lady and good sitter. Thank you. ❤️

This was Alison’s first time house sitting for us. The stay was for 2.5 days over the weekend before Christmas, caring for our five sighthounds. I booked the sit in June; she met our dogs at that time and kindly returned for a second meet-and-greet in early December so they could reacquaint themselves. Prior to booking, I read Alison’s previous reviews, including one from May that described her nearly never leaving home during a five day sit. While I would never expect a sitter to remain in our home continuously—we work from home and our dogs are used to company—I do expect clear communication about required and planned time away, but most importantly, that our dogs keep consistency with their routines. During our initial meeting in the spring, Alison did not mention the need to leave to care for her own dogs and, given her May client review, that clearly wasn’t the case back then. When this came up in early December, mere weeks before the sit, the scope and timing were not clearly explained. When I asked for clarification, she responded again, “twice a day … morning and evening.” In practice, there were days when she was away for several hours at a time (for example, on Sunday, leaving around 5:00 p.m. and not returning until 8:45 p.m.), which resulted in our dogs being fed significantly later than their usual schedule. Had this level of time away been communicated in advance, we could have discussed whether it would work for us. It was only a 2.5-day sit, and being away for 5+ hours each daytime is a lot. Communication during the sit with respect to our dogs was generally minimal (How did they handle you sleeping over? Did they eat okay? Any questions? - I got none of that info) and txt were often initiated by me to ask how things were going, which wasn’t ideal or comforting. Our dogs have specific, non-negotiable safety requirements: 1. Boo, our female greyhound, must wear a basket muzzle when crated if the sitter leaves the house. 2. Our male whippet must wear a basket muzzle during potty breaks. 3. Our female whippet was on crate rest due to a broken foot and needed assistance out of her crate and medication given with peanut butter. This sadly happened a week before our trip and this sit. Unfortunately, there were several lapses related to these instructions. On one occasion, Boo’s muzzle was not put on before Alison left for several hours. On another, it appeared to be fitted incorrectly, as Boo managed to remove it and destroy it—which had never happened before. There was also an instance where Boo’s crate was not securely latched and she pushed her way out of the crate while Alison was preparing to leave the driveway (this was noticed before she drove away). I understand that mistakes can happen, and ultimately our dogs were fine, but the number of safety-related oversights in such a short period of time was not a great feeling. I do want to acknowledge that Alison experienced a series of unfortunate events that weekend, including car trouble upon arrival and a scooter traffic accident on her final day. She did communicate immediately when these things happened. I recognize that these circumstances may have affected her focus and decision-making, and I genuinely wish her a speedy recovery. When the accident occurred the morning we were on our way home, I arranged for a friend, our former sitter, to cover us for a few hours to make sure the dogs got out to potty. While doing so, I noticed through our front door lock app that Alison had left our front door unlocked. We live on a busy street. That oversight was less than ideal and definitely not appreciated. In the end, our dogs are safe. Boo’s muzzle has been replaced, and our whippet’s foot appears to be healing in place. Our dogs are a pretty chill bunch who sleep most of the day, so we appreciate Alison’s willingness to take them on and especially at a busy time of year. However, due to the lack of clear upfront communication about time commitments away from the house, limited updates during the sit, multiple safety oversights, and concerns about transportation reliability in case of an emergency (Alison only got the car this summer, previously it was always travel by scooter), this arrangement was not the right fit for us. We would not book Alison again, but we wish her well in future sits that may be a better fit.