While Lois and her roommate did provide our pup with a safe place to stay, there are a few things that could have been handled much better. Our pup came home a different pup. He frankly is not as excited or happy for play/attention/treats around the house. We believe this is because he did not have the proper structure to avoid anxious attachment, as he had too much freedom and affection and not enough rest and alone time. Our pup is young, and we truly feel this imbalance led him to become over attached and lack discipline. While we do thank her for taking care of him, it seemed like she not only let him have too much freedom and affection, but also took liberties without discussing with us (ie, when we first dropped him off she informed us the crate would be in one of two locations in the living room, only to later move the crate into her bedroom and thus make him sleep in the same room + she fed into his desire to take and chew up socks by…giving him socks). Worse, she did not inform us about it. It felt like things were being kept from us. We are sure he had a great time, but we think this shouldn’t be about giving him a vacation, it’s a paid job to make sure the dog is both happy, taken care of AND still a well behaved and regulated dog when he returns home. At the end of the day, it felt like her goal was to give him maximum excitement and happiness without the guard rails a young dog needs to learn how to be independent and reasonably happy.

There is not better person to care for your pet than Lois. There have been many times when I left for vacation 1-3 weeks and Lois was taking care of my cat. She updates me as often as I want her to. My cat is always well fed and cared for. Sometimes I think my cat prefers her over me. She always takes the time to play with my cat since my cat is super energetic.