Dog sitting in York

Dog sitting in York, at your address, not mine.

I stay overnight in your house and look after your dog there — his walks, his meals, his garden and his own bed, in the order he is used to.

Overnight, in your home

£50a night

Each extra pet

£25 a night

Bank holidays

start at £60

I don’t board dogs at my house, I don’t run daycare, and I don’t take dog walking on its own. If a break in the day is what you need rather than a night, an hour-long visit is £22.

Ask about your dates See all prices

Tamara beside a lake with Skye, her golden retriever, standing on fallen leaves

Whether this is the right thing for your dog

Say no early and neither of us wastes a fortnight.

It works well when

Your dog is happiest at home and travels badly, or hates the car journey at both ends
He has a routine you would rather not interrupt — a walk order, a feeding order, a spot on the sofa
He is elderly, stiff, or slow on stairs he already knows
He is fine on his own for the part of the day you already leave him
You want the house lived in while you are away as well

It isn’t the right service when

You want daycare, or your dog boarded at my house — I do neither
You want a dog walker to collect him and bring him back
He cannot be on his own at any point in the day
He needs handling I have told you at the meet and greet I cannot manage safely
Your dates are already taken

A night at your house, in order

The same order every night of the booking.

Letting myself in

At the time we agreed, letting myself in the way we arranged. Most dogs meet me at the door and I don’t make a performance of it. Lead, food, care notes and your vet’s number all live in one place we picked together.
The walk

His route, his pace, the lead or harness you told me he actually tolerates. Whether he goes off the lead is your decision and it is written down — I won’t make that call for you on a first booking.
Back through the door

Paws done with his towel, not one of yours from the airing cupboard. Water changed, coat hung where it drips on something that doesn’t matter.
Food and medication

Measured the way you measure it, in the order you do it — some dogs eat before the walk and some after, and I follow the note rather than my own habit. Medication as prescribed, at the times written down.
The evening

I’m in the house. He gets the sofa or the floor, whichever he is allowed, and I don’t change the rule while you’re away. Photos and messages go to you as often as we agreed.
Bed

His own bed, in his own house, in the spot he sleeps in every other night. Nothing about that changes because you are away — no kennel, no crate he has never used, no new room.
The morning, and the day I leave

Out first or fed first, whichever his note says. On the last morning the bowls are washed, the towels are in the wash, the bins go out if it is the day for it, and access comes back to you the way we agreed.

What a night includes, and what it doesn’t

Included at £50 a night

Nights spent in your house, not in mine
His usual walks, at his usual times as far as the day allows
Garden time and toilet breaks in his own garden
Meals measured the way you measure them
Medication as prescribed, including injections such as insulin where agreed beforehand
Mess cleared up, accidents included
Post picked up, bins out, lights and curtains used normally
Regular photos and messages, at a frequency we agree
The house left the way I found it

Not part of it

Dog walking booked on its own
Daycare
Boarding — your dog never comes to my house
Training or behaviour work
Collection and drop-off — I come to your address, he doesn’t travel to me
Anything that isn’t written down before you leave

“Tamara was great with Buster, he was super chilled out and had clearly had a lovely day.”

Ross E.
Verified Rover booking

The questions that decide it are never about the price.

How long will he be on his own?

We agree that before you book, and it goes into the care notes with the rest of it — when I’ll be out, what he is doing while I am, and what happens if a day runs long. It is a fixed part of the booking rather than something I decide on the morning. If the answer we arrive at doesn’t suit him, I’ll tell you at the meet and greet.

Do the walks actually happen?

Yes. Walks are part of an overnight dog sit, not an extra on top of it. I’d rather keep his route than invent a better one, so tell me where he goes, what he pulls towards, which gate sticks, and whether the harness or the collar is the one he tolerates. Off-lead is your call and it is written down before you leave.

He’s nervous, or he reacts to other dogs

That is exactly what the meet and greet is for. I come to the house, we do the handover of the lead in front of him, and I watch what he does when the doorbell goes and when I stand up and move around a room he thinks is his. If I don’t think I can hold him safely on a pavement, or settle him on my own overnight, I’ll say so then — before you have paid anything.

He can’t be left at all

Some dogs genuinely can’t, and a sit still has gaps in it. If that is your dog, say so in your first message. We’ll either find a pattern that works or I’ll tell you that you need someone who can be in the house continuously, which isn’t what I sell. I’d rather lose the booking than take it and get it wrong.

Skye is a golden retriever, so wet towels by the back door, a coat that needs going over after a muddy field and a dog who thinks 8pm is breakfast are already part of my day. None of that is a surprise arriving at your house.

Keys, updates, and the day something goes wrong

All of it agreed in writing before your first night.

Keys and the back gate

How I get in, and how that access comes back to you afterwards, is agreed before the booking rather than left to the day you travel. Show me the gate that sticks, the lock that needs lifting, and where the spare lead lives.

If he becomes ill

Your vet’s details, your emergency contact and who can authorise treatment, and up to what cost, are written down before you travel, so nobody is deciding that from a departure lounge.

What you hear from me

Regular photos and messages, at a frequency we agree before you go. If he has been off his food or slow on the stairs, that is what the message says. You get the day he actually had.

Leave out for me

His lead and harness, the towel you use on his paws, poo bags, food measured or a note of how much, and any medication in the box it came in.

Show me while I’m there

Your vet’s name and number, the cleaning cupboard, the gate that sticks and where the spare towels live. All of it is easier in the hallway than by text from Spain.

How far I come for a sit

Overnight stays reach further out than drop-in visits do, because I am not driving between two houses twice a day — I am staying in one of them. The working limit is about fifteen miles from the middle of York, which takes in most of the villages people ask me about.

Further out than that, ask anyway. There’s no travel surcharge — it depends on what else is in the diary that week.

Everywhere I cover

In and around York

York, Acomb, Clifton, Fulford, Heslington, Bishopthorpe, Huntington, Rawcliffe, Poppleton, Haxby, Copmanthorpe, Dunnington

Overnights, further out

Strensall, Stamford Bridge, Tadcaster, Easingwold, Pocklington, Wetherby

How a dog sit gets booked

Five steps, in this order. Nothing is held until step five, and there is no online booking — I won’t commit to a dog I haven’t met in his own hallway.

You send me your dates

Dates, postcode, and what animals you have.

We talk it through

Routines, access, and whether I’m the right fit for your animals.

I come to your home

A free meet and greet in the house I’d be staying in, before anything is booked.

We write the care down

Feeding, walks, medication, your vet, and who to contact if something happens.

Square invoice, dates held

I send a Square invoice; the agreed deposit secures the booking.

Ask about your dates

Four questions dog owners ask me

All questions and answers

Could you have him at your house instead?

No. I don’t board dogs and I don’t run daycare, so your dog stays in his own house and I come to him. If boarding is genuinely what suits him, a licensed boarder is the right call and I’ll say so rather than talk you out of it.

Can I book you just for walks?

Not on their own. Walks are part of an overnight sit, and a walk can happen inside an hour-long visit as part of that visit. I don’t run a walking round, so I can’t promise you a slot at the same time every weekday.

Does your own dog come with you?

No — Skye normally stays at home. Your dog is looked after on his own routine, in his own house, without another dog being brought into it.

He barks at strangers on the doorstep. Is that a problem?

Not automatically — most dogs do. It is a reason to meet properly rather than a reason to say no. I want to see the doorbell, the hallway and what he does when I stand up, and then I’ll tell you honestly whether I’m the right person.

He’s on medication. Does that cost extra?

No. Medication as prescribed is part of the sit, and that includes injections such as insulin where you give me clear written instructions and we go through them together before the booking. We write the dose, the timing, where it is kept and what to do if he refuses it into the care notes before you go. I am not a vet, and I will tell you if a routine is beyond what I can take on rather than agree and hope.

Send me your dates and I’ll tell you if I’m free.

Dates, your postcode, your dog’s breed and age, and anything about him you’d want a stranger to know before ringing the doorbell.