We booked Julissa to board our 2.5 yr old dog, Murray. Our original request was to have accommodation 7/3-7/7 as we were leaving for vacation on 7/3. Julissa said that she could not take a dog in the morning of 7/3 due to her work schedule so we had to book 7/2 as well. My husband dropped Murray off around 8 pm 7/2. He approached her and her boyfriend who were on the front porch. Julissa didn’t get up or introduce herself. She sat there patting another dog. My husband asked to be shown where Murray would be staying. My husband said it looked like an unfurnished house with a mattress on the ground in the middle of what should have been a living room. They said they had just moved in. He thought this was an odd arrangement but as we were leaving in the morning, felt it would have to do. We awoke the next morning to find a message from Julissa. The first was at 11:30 pm saying that he was settling in and a photo of him on his bed that we’d brought with him. The next was just after midnight, maybe 45 min later, saying that Murray had peed on the bed “multiple times” and we had to come get him. We were supposed to be leaving to stay at a hotel that didn’t allow dogs that morning. Our car was packed and ready to go. Our kids were ecstatic to get to the beach for the 4th of July. We have had Murray since he was a 4 Mo old. He has never peed on our bed (also please note the bed was a mattress on the floor) and doesn’t have accidents. He is 100% house trained. She claimed that he urinated 4x on her bed between 11:30 pm when she texted all was well and sent a photo and just after midnight. Dogs don’t do this! They don’t spitefully urinate on something 4 times in maybe 45 minutes. It makes no sense! Even so, It seems reasonable to expect an animal to have an accident when scared or in an unfamiliar place. An experience pet-sitter would be understanding and be able to make accommodations for this, not require us to get our dog leaving us in a very bad situation. Had the house been properly set up to care for animals and had Julissa called us to problem solve this could have easily been remedied. In my opinion this is like saying that a little kid made a mess while babysitting! You expect this type of thing. We had even offered to bring his crate. This could have helped him to feel secure. Murray regularly goes to doggy day care and has previously been cared for while we’re away we have never had a problem. This is simply not a satisfactory way to work with clients who have paid for accommodation and have travel plans. We wonder if she was overbooked and attempted to scam us into paying for the first night when she only had one dog since clearly we could have dropped him off on the morning of the 3rd (as we’d originally requested) and she then asked us to come get him then. We have just spent our morning calling other kennels and pet sitters and explaining to 3 small children why we aren’t going on our trip as planned. Due to the Independence Day holiday everything is booked! Our hotel is now non-refundable because we are supposed to check in today. When I told Julissa my complaints she told me I should have come to meet her beforehand. She didn’t address the most serious issue which is that if you’re being trusted to care for a pet, you don’t just text the owner to come get the animal in the middle of the night. (Imagine if we’d flown somewhere!)You call the owners and try to resolve the issue so that plans can continue. That’s the most important quality for a dog sitter. Someone who can manage an issue, communicate effectively and reassure you that all is ok.

Julissa was an excellent sitter to our dog, Stella. She