Richie enjoyed his walk!

We have hired Meredith several times over the nearly 3 years we’ve had our rescue dog and were always pleased with her communication, the care she showed Lusi, and the capability she demonstrated. She was our first choice for a sitter when we knew we would be out of town for Christmas; we wanted to have someone trusted come stay with our anxious girl to keep her at ease and in her routine. Before the stay, we sent Meredith a detailed document with care instructions and everything there is to know about our place to have the most comfortable stay; we were very grateful for anyone working through Christmas and wanted to do everything we could to make things easier for her, so we accommodated her in every way possible. We also had her over the day before we left to go over things in person; we told her very clearly we needed her to come no later than 5 pm so that Lusi could go to the bathroom. She said she would be there between 4-5 pm and when we left home the next day, we sent detailed messages including the time of her last walk and a reminder that we had our doggy camera on for safety, but would turn it off upon landing. When our plane landed around 5:50, I was surprised to realize that there were no messages from Meredith about our dog and saw that she wasn’t there yet. I sent her a message asking if everything was okay and she replied 30 minutes later just saying she would be there soon without explanation or apology. We were trying not to panic waiting for her reply, with no word from her and being in a different state with no way to arrange alternate care if we needed to. When she finally arrived after 6:30, her communication was focused on the doggy camera rather than a photo or update on our girl. During the stay, the majority of her communication was terse updates that she was leaving or coming back. In the first 2 days, we only received 3 photos and no details on how she was doing, so that we felt we had to reiterate our desire to receive more photos and updates. After I asked if she was eating her kibble, she told us she was only eating some of it. We expressed concern that she often doesn’t eat when being left alone for long periods of time and she sent a picture of her empty bowl with a terse reply, which really bothered us. We let her know both in person and in our info sheet that Lusi seems to tolerate being left for 4-5 hours, but to our shock, she seemed to take this to mean we were okay with her being left 4-5 hours multiple times each day, and left Lusi alone anywhere from 9-10 hours in the day, every day. We know it’s the holidays, and had acknowledged that when we booked her in October. We let her know she could bring Lusi to her place for some time if needed or have her family stay at our place, but she had told us she had no plans and had not given us any indication that she would be too busy to spend time with our dog. We live in an apartment, so she needs someone there to take her to the bathroom and give her stimulation, exercise, and social time. We do not feel she received adequate care in this regard, and were not able to enjoy our trip due to the lack of communication and overall level of care for our dog.