With the summer holidays almost upon us, many will be looking forward to their vacation. Some, however, maybe be feeling a bit worried as they prepare to head off without their four-legged pal.
A survey of 1,789 pet owners revealed that half suffer from ‘separation anxiety’ when they leave their dog to go on holiday. A third (33%) even went as far as to refuse to go on holiday without their pet.
Despite spending most of our working days longing for a break, the research conducted by dog walking and pet sitting services provider, Tailster, and Pets At Home, showed more than half of Briton’s animal lovers spend their holidays pining for their beloved dog.
Almost half (44%) of those polled said they would rather leave their partner at home than their dog and a whopping 79% of pet parents admitted to worrying about their pet’s happiness. A further 37% said they missed the special bond they have with their ‘fur baby’ when they’re away.
Pet owners also question the credibility of their dog sitters with 10% expressing concern that walkers may “cut corners” when it comes to ‘walkies’ and over half (51%) believe it’s harder to find the perfect dog sitter than it is to find the perfect spouse.
This emotional toil felt by pet owners is so severe that three out of five of those polled said they frequently leave work or social occasions sooner than they should to let their dog out.
Indy Sangha, CEO for Tailster, said, “Pets are a treasured part of the family, so it’s no surprise that owners struggle when their pet is out of sight and they miss that special bond they have with them. Tailster has to date offered over 300,000 pet owners a personalised service which enables them to connect with pet carers to provide them peace of mind when they can’t be with their pet – benefitting from our fully insured and vetted service with real time photo updates when pets are having overnight stays with carers.”
Peter Pritchard, Pets at Home CEO added, “We recognise that the summer season can be more stressful for pet owners than exciting and we want to ensure that we offer absolutely everything a customer might need to keep their pets happy, healthy and safe whilst they are on holiday. We are delighted to be able to bring this exciting service from Tailster to our customers, which is especially good for pet owners searching for someone they can trust to look after their much-loved pet.”
