it could be an option as we have a sizeable garden and if its warm he just likes to sunbathe anyway, but I still think i would like him to get a few good walks in, especially as they might be a bit hit and miss before we go with having baby no 3 arriving, so i think we will aim for cousin staying and dog walker even if its not every day...

Thing is if its raining and dog walker comes he won't even go out !!! so thats a waste of money too.... LOL

just hope my cousin agrees to it... otherwise our holiday is costing a fortune LOL

I would have someone stay in the house , but not walk the dog and dog walker to come in a couple of times a week if it were just Pharaoh my 11 year old. He'd happily sleep away and be happier at home than kennels, I wouldn't want to leave him overnight though..

Kismet is a different story. She'd need more specialist care, she's too intense for most dogs and can be dog aggressive and I wouldn't trust just anyone to walk her.

I am thinking of going away in the summer and will be looking into pet sitting or husky experienced boarding kennels.. In an ideal world I'd love to drop her with someone with a pack of huskies so she could socialise and mess about with dogs her own spirit. But I don't know anyone who'd do it.

Id go with getting your cousin to stay and then have a dog walker a few times(have them walk him a few times now so he can get to know them), i housesit and charge £35 per day ( and im cheaper then alot around here) re the leaving him alone overnight most good dog walkers would refuse to look after a dog left alone overnight as they will not be covered on thier insurance.

We had a couple from "Minders Keepers" agency when we went on holiday to the Cotswolds 18 months ago.

It was expensive (about £350 I think for the week) but brilliant for peace of mind and they were lovely people (man was called Kenny Everett poor bloke!). Cherry was partly blind and had to be given eye drops on a strict regime and I couldn't have put 2 older dogs into kennels when they had never been in kennels before.

We had a lovely holiday and the dogs enjoyed being looked after by the house-sitters.

The only thing was that they wouldn't let Parker off-lead (fair enough-not their dog though his recall is excellent) so he had been on a flexi-lead all week and when we took him out for a walk the evening we got back he was going nutty round the pitch & putt course on the heath doing zoomies and happy rolls at twice his normal speed!

About 5 years ago we took a different option and had my elderly parents house-sit and paid for professional dog-walkers that knew both my dogs to take them for a long walk each day. That only cost about £50 for the week. 18 months ago though my parents were that much older and unwell.