Who looks after your dog when your away???

Am new to this web site, but want to ask any Dog owners out there, who looks after your pets when you either take a holiday or need to go back to UK. I have two dogs, but am against boarding them in the large dog kennels in the area. I am thinking of setting up a small dog kennels, with a more personal touch to it and wondered if there is a market for it. i live within 15K of the Mar Menor area  

I see Stanley Miguel's post has been deleted. I think it was a helpful comment, especially if one was wondering whether locals would support a kennel business. In my area, everyone does exactly what SM said, leaves a hopper of dried dog food and a few bowls of water. Have to admit we now do the same..,,we are on a biggish plot, 3 ha. We knew someone who opened a small kennels but people would drop dogs off, pay a weeks board, and hasta la vista....never seen again. I suppose they figured dog-friendly people would be unlikely to drop the dog off at the local tip, which is what usually happens round here.

Thanks GuyT for your comments and for pointing issues like this out.  I am aware of stories like this, which does make me more sceptical, which isnt a bad thing.....perhaps word of mouth advertising is the best way forward..will wait and see what other replies i get.... 

When we first moved here we tried to do what we were doing in the UK. This was looking after peoples dogs and cats in our own home (as one of the family), or housesitting at the house of the people going on holiday. Our rates were what we thought resonable, a lot less then we got in the UK!!   5 euro a night for a small dog or cat and 7 euro a night for a large dog. (cheaper than kennels with no cages and the animal having the run of the house, sleeping on the bed etc) Housesitting was 20 euro a night. We only got a few bookings so gave up on the idea.

Caz

I think if you live inland, with lots of Spanish families around, you are unlikely to get much business.  Apart from people who live in the campo on large properties who will probably just leave the dog there with food and water, many people in the towns and villages have family around, who will keep an eye on their pets. We have left our dog with an English couple in the past, who charged us 5€ per night (we provided food etc for her).  The last time we went away for a couple of nights however, our Spanish neighbour volunteered to have Lisa in her flat.  She loves our dog and was more than happy to look after her, in fact her mother and her brother also got involved!  We gave our neighbour a bottle of wine and her mother a box of chocolates to thank them however they insisted they had loved looking after Lisa and would be happy to do so any time we were going away.

If you are thinking about doing this because you love animals, and you don't need to make much money, then go for it.  However if you need to earn money to live on I suspect you need to look for a different business.  It may be different near the coast and especially near expat communities, but in that case you would need to look at the competition in your area.

Sue

We always put our dog in kennels and this year with another dog, they both went into kennels.  We are fortunate in that the kennels are only 5 minutes away, run by spanish who not only run the boarding kennels but also train dogs for the police locally and we have seen police and fire brigade arriving to train their dogs.  They also breed dogs and the office is full of cups won by some of their dogs.  When we first enquired, after a recommend by the local vet, we were shown round the whole site and it is amazing, constant supply of fresh water, heating or aircon depending on weather conditions and the pens were immaculate - and we called in 'on spec' so they were not expecting us.  This particular kennels is just outside Alhama de Murcia but I am sure if you investigate you will find some near you.  Ask at the local vet who will advise - its in their best interest to give you good advice.