Michelle did a good job taking Jersey for long walks, brisk jogs, and out shopping. While she did veer off his feeding schedule, she didn’t miss any of the important activities with him. That being said, I give Michelle 3 stars for the following reasons: -1star: Communication style and frequency Michelle did not keep us updated on whether Jersey had been walked (and how much), fed, peed, played with etc. Granted, we should have been clearer with our communication requirements beforehand, but our previous sitters had always been very open and freely communicative, providing photos and videos of Jersey. -1star: Poor reaction to feedback When we asked Michelle to be more proactive about communication, she seemed offended, as though it were an indictment of her ability to take care of our pet. Getting information out of her was like pulling teeth. She made curt assurances, saying, “I assure you Jersey is fed, walked, peed...” etc. but she needs to understand that Jersey is our child, and we need more color (and less attitude) than that. Also, trust is earned, not freely given. How else do we know that our child is being well taken care of? We are anxious parents, and made it clear that this was the first time we were leaving Jersey alone for so long. I created a care document for Michelle - upon her request - and told her that it was only a guide, that she needn’t follow it to the T, and that all that mattered was that Jersey was safe and happy. Michelle told us that our “bombardment” of questions about his day and his regimented schedule was giving her anxiety. All we did was ask her whether he had been walked peed and fed, a couple of times a day. It also took her a good while to start proactively sending us pictures. Also, upon going over our camera’s recordings, it doesn’t seem like she was affectionate with Jersey, even before “the troubles” began. I recommend future pet owners to make their communication preferences abundantly clear with Michelle. Ultimately, I blame myself on my lack of upfront communication with her, defining our needs. Apart from that, it seemed like she did a good job.

Michelle is an athlete and she was a great match for our active dog. She was very reponsive, promptly returning all my messages. Michelle was awesome!