Tara was scheduled to stay at my house for a week with my German Shepherd, Shay. I had high hopes after our meet-and-greet, as she seemed very engaged and seemed like she would be a great fit for our girl. A few hours before Tara was scheduled to arrive, she texted to ask if her fiancée could stay some while she was sitting. I told her that was fine with me as long as Shay was taken care of. Tara arrived early, which I appreciated, and I felt good leaving our girl in good hands, with someone who understands that our pets are like our children. I had written four pages of 'Care instructions' for Shay so that it was all on paper for her and Tara did not have to question/remember all that we had discussed. I have a Ring camera that covers my entire front yard, so I can see when Shay gets taken on walks. The first two days, I cut Tara some slack, as she was sick, so I understood why she may not want to take Shay on any walks. She and her fiancée did take Shay on her first trip to the beach, which was very exciting. However, beyond that, she was only taken on a handful of walks (3-4) over the course of the five days she stayed. Those walks were only for short (around 5-minute) intervals, and it seemed that her fiancée did more of the walking than she did. Considering that he was not who I hired to care for my dog, it was very disappointing, although I'm glad that she was taken out when she was. However, Shay is a high-energy breed and needs multiple good, long walks a day. On the third day we had been gone, Tara left in the morning around 9:00am. My Mom, who lives next door, noticed that Tara had not been back for a while and alerted me around 4:00pm, asking if she needed to take Shay out. I messaged Tara at 4:20 and she said it had been a crazy day, but she would be at my house in 15 minutes to take Shay out. At 5:05pm, she arrived. Shay had been in her kennel for over 8 hours at that point. Per my care instructions, I had asked Tara to ensure she was not in her kennel more than 6 hours and she was aware that my Mom could take Shay out if need-be if she wouldn't be able to make it in that time. While I understand that things come up, 8 hours is way too long for Shay to be in her kennel. Once she arrived back she said they were 'bundling up right now to take her on a nice walk' and that walk was less than 10 minutes long (after being in her kennel for 8 hours). The following day, her fiancée unfortunately backed into my mailbox. While this could happen to anyone, it was the fact that I was not informed that was my point of concern. Tara messaged me about 3 hours after it happened letting me know that 'Shay is doing great. Just checking in again :)'. I had to bring up the mailbox, and she said that her fiancée just told her about it when I asked, and had 'bumped into it but fixed it. He said it broke off at the bottom and he barely hit and he redug it and it's sturdy.' He had taken the broken piece out of the ground and put the post back in the hole. While I'm grateful he found a temporary solution, I clarified that mailboxes have to be a certain height in order for the post office to deliver to them and that if he just put it in the hole after removing a part of the post, then it likely was not high enough. She said they would check the height the next day. The next afternoon, some other circumstances occurred that further diminished my trust. At that point, the stress I felt over Shay getting all the care she needed was affecting my trip, so I messaged Tara and asked she and her fiancée to gather their stuff and leave two days ahead of our end date, to which they obliged quickly. My Mom stayed with Shay for the remaining two days. While I understand that Tara did not have time to clean-up because I had asked her to leave, and she did offer to my Mom to clean-up before going, I also feel like she was not treating my house with the care that you would expect from a visitor. Upon my arrival home at the end of our trip, I found two tomato sauce stains on my carpet (one that was about 9 inches round in my bedroom, and another in front of my couch, both of which they had tried to clean-up but I could still see the stain and Shay was trying to lick). While spills can happen to anyone, the fact that I was not informed about it (and the stain was visible) was very frustrating (especially considering that I have a Spot Bot carpet cleaner that could have easily cleaned the spot immediately if they had informed me so I could tell them about it). Tomato sauce splatter was found all around the kitchen, including in drawers, so I'm not really sure what happened. Bottom line, while it seems Shay was fed and taken out to potty, I feel that the bare minimum was done for her care, and the amount of stress that it caused on our trip was extremely frustrating. I know that some of these things could happen to anyone, but it is hard to trust someone (especially someone staying in your home) when you are only receiving a small pieces of the picture. I allowed myself time after returning to ensure that my frustrations had eased, and hoped that she may reach out in response to the way some things were left, however, I have not received any correspondence since she was asked to leave early. While I appreciate Tara's time, I felt the need to share my experience. I am happy to chat with anyone who needs further details.

Tara B. cancelled a booking 3 days before it was scheduled to begin.