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by Jeneba Jalloh Ghatt
A couple of years, my husband and I gave into our middle kid’s incessant request for a pet! He wants a dog but we are not ready for the responsibility so we got my son a pair of guinea pigs, and everything was gravy…until we wanted to take a family vacation and couldn’t take them with us. doh! So, I never realized how difficult it would be to get someone to watch them when we went on vacation or extended trips away from home. Over the course of a couple years and a few family get-aways here and there, I quickly went through all my extended family members, siblings, brother-in-laws etc who each decided after doing us a favor of watching them once, decided they would never do it again. Yikes!
I realized quickly that the common thread among my family members who were turned off is that none of them were pet owners! Aha!
Only “animal people” or those who already have pets could handle the job. Phew! Good to know.
Now this kid wants a dog eventually and I’m sweating bullets because I know at the point we cave, the task will be even harder to find a sitter. The only option we would have will be kennels. Using traditional kennel services would drive the cost of going on vacation go up substantially. Oy vey!
Fortunately, there are new companies and startups that have stepped up to the plate to disrupt the pet sitting and kennel industry. One such service is Rover.com. Through it you can book dog boarding, hourly sitting, drop in service, doggy walking, and dog day care service. The sitters are certified through Rover but they charge much less than the institutional and traditional kennels so it is a more cost-effective and industry disruptive option!
I can dig it! To entice me and my audience to give it a try, Rover is giving you all $25 to go towards your very first booking! woot!
To check it out go HERE!
