Melissa was great! Our pup is very nervous around new people and Melissa was very patient and encouraging to her. To top off their first time together, the power went out until midnight, which made our pup more nervous, being in a dark house all evening. Melissa was in constant communication with us, so we didn’t worry about our pup.

Melissa is the gold standard in dog care. She is formally trained in animal behavior, and her knowledge and skills in this area is abundantly clear. We have had very poor experiences with previous dog sitters where we return home to anxious pets who are clingy for days after we’ve been away, or who rush in and out. Melissa was devoted in her time spent and patience. She was super with special instructions for feeding and care because our dog often won’t eat or drink when we’re away and needs coaxing and consistency to be reassured that she’ll get to go outside to do so. She listened, remembered every detail, noticed many we didn’t even mention on her own, was super organized on schedule, and an excellent communicator sending tons of updates, photos, videos, and notes. She frequently played, snuggled and hung out with our dog for extended time periods. Our dog was 100% calm, happy, and normal acting on our return instead of traumatized like prior experiences with others. We came home to a house cleaner than we left it despite me repeatedly telling her that she was only there to care for our pet and not responsible for cleaning the house. She kept our numerous plants watered and alive, took the garbage cans to the curb on trash day, spent tons of time playing outside with our dog including fetch, leash training games, water/swimming play. She is absolutely trustworthy with pets and houses. She stayed for a week and we are immediately booking her future dates. I hope this review doesn’t make her too busy for us to book her, but she deserves it.