I think it's pretty important to stress a couple of things. There is a difference at my house between the warm and cold months. When it's warm out, I am able to leave my back door open and the dogs have inside/outside access all day long. They really love that, and it seems to reduce anxiety. In the winter months, they have access to a large dog door, but many dogs aren't familiar with using one, so it's inside time for the most part. The thing that's the most important to stress, however, is that I do NOT take dogs for off-leash walks. If your dog is used to running miles a day off-leash, I am not the sitter for you. Not getting the usual amount of exercise really impacts their happiness and behavior. I can only provide on-leash neighborhood walks (about a mile and a half to two miles long). Also, I will only take other people's dogs to the private fenced dog park at the Santa Fe Shelter. It's all purely a matter of safety.

Fetch, tug-o-war, and neighborhood walks are the staple around here. What's really fun, though, is that my dog, Max, is super social and playful. At the same time, he's not "too much," meaning if the other dog(s) are all done playing, he's perfectly happy to let them alone.