In search of a petsitter

DH and I are planning a trip that does not involve Hannah and Emma. This is particularly problematic since Hannah can't really be boarded due to her medications and ongoing geriatric challenges. We think that a pet sitter is the way to go and our vet agrees.

I contacted two pet sitters about private boarding last week. We saw that first pet sitter yesterday. DH's first comment after leaving was, "Oh my!" A few minutes later he followed up with "The girls would not be happy there."

We had an appointment to meet with the pet sitter but were unsure of the address. I had called twice to confirm the address and not heard back. I was a little concerned about the phone thing but thought we should go ahead and follow up. I written down something like 24032 and it was 2432. When we got there, we saw a house in disrepair. There was a car parked in the driveway with out of state plates and a car parked on the front law with out of state plates (different state). There was also a broken upholstered recliner in front (trash?) and piles of "stuff" in the car port.

Someone was looking out the window but made no move to get up. I thought this was a bit odd since we did have an appointment.

We went to the front door and rang the bell. DH said, this is the wrong place and started to turn around to leave when someone answered. DH said we aren't sure if we have the right place, we are supposed to meet a pet sitter. At this point young woman stepped forward and said, "I do pet sitting."

We went into the living room, hard wood floors, very scratched up. Two fancy new computers.

The sitter pointed to a dog behind the gate in the kitchen and said he's new today. He's not comfortable with the situation yet. She pointed at a few (3-4?) dogs on the enclosed back porch and said we can put your crates in here or else they can sleep on the bedding in the corner. Several dogs looked out at us. The place was tiny. With the two computers, four people plus me and DH, we could hardly turn around.

The place was all torn up. We were not expecting luxury accommodations but we thought that rather than pointing at the dogs the sitter might have said, "Sam is new today. He's still getting comfy."

"Charlie has been with us all week. He's a sweetheart but can be a handful if he doesn't get his exercise!"

Instead, the pet sitter used no dog names, no interaction/touching. I don't know what's up with the place but I'm glad that I insisted on seeing it first. DH thought I was wasting our time and I had to bribe him with a promise of latte on the way home.

When we got home, I contacted my other top choice again. DH was happy to hear this.

"Good! Last night was Scary House II. It was odd. The house looked like it was going to fall down, but was filled with computers."

I understand that a lot of pet sitters have problems with the professionalism thing but I had expected a little bit more. Heck, our regular kennel knows Hannah and Emma and interact with the dogs way more than that!