My dog is 13 years old and when I was looking for a dog sitter, I talked to many before choosing Melena. When we met her, she sounded great! She loves dogs, understands older dogs needs and worked part time, so her hours would fit perfectly for Louie to be taken out every six to six and a half hours. The first day went great! She came after work and he looked like he had gone out a couple of times before bed (we have cameras on the outside of our house). The second day, Louie had gone outside at 7:25 am. We were in the Caribbean and luckily could text for free and to rest my mind, I just wanted to see that Louie was being well taken care of. Around 3:30 Caribbean time (4:30 Daylight Savings Time) we looked and saw that she hadn't returned yet! My mind started worrying about him having an accident. We waited another hour, and still not back. I texted her friendly texts, hoping that would trigger her to hurry back. Instead, I got texts reassuring me that all was going well. At 6 p.m. she still wasn't home. I texted my neighbor and had him go over and take Lou out and feed him. I then messaged Melena and said we know Lou hadn't been out since 7:25 a.m. and he is 2 hours after his dinner time. For at least three hours, I spent my vacation worrying about if I needed to find another dog sitter. I started reaching out to people who might be able to help. Melena got home around 6:30 p.m. She said there was a family emergency that came up. I understand that things could happen but I left emergency numbers to call (2 people, if needed). We were still on vacation for four more days and each day, I worried that the same thing was going to happen. Melena said she worked T, Th, and F from 8:30-1:30. Before leaving, we selected her to help take care of Lou because we knew he'd be ok bc he wouldn't be home for long periods of time. However, she worked every day and her hours changed. On Saturday and Sunday, she worked til 4. She did text me Saturday morning, asking if my neighbor could help. What if I couldn't have texted from where I was at? The hours should have been known before me leaving, so then I could have found help...not while I was on vacation and suppose to be relaxing. Overall, I think Melena was good when she was taking care of Lou but did not follow what her page says (works part time so she has plenty of time to spend with a dog). I was not able to relax on vacation like I would have hoped to.

Melena is seriously the best! I came home to a clean apartment and a happy dog!