Don't Fret Pet

4.6
based on 48 reviews

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48 reviews about Don't Fret Pet

verified email - 12 Nov 2021

Terrible experience. Our minder was young and too time poor to adequately mind a dog. Her priority was her athletics training & contract catering job over the Xmas break. Our minder lived with her parents and her mum didn’t like dogs. There wasn’t a yard so where was he kept while she was working the multiple catering shifts?

We received a call day 2 of our 8 day interstate trip. Don’t Fret Pet claiming he was sick & we had to collect him immediately. Tricky when you’re interstate. Arrived home to an extremely anxious, out of sorts dog. Never again.

Don't Fret Pet 22 Nov 2021

Thanks, Samantha, for sharing your experience from 11 months ago.

We are surprised that you mention that you arrived home to an extremely anxious, out of sorts dog as the text we received from you on 29/12/21 12:25 stated Harry seems fine. We can't tell any difference and Owen said he was fine first night he collected him..

As indicated at the time, the primary concerns of the minder were that Harry was defecating inside their home, chewing table legs and chair bottoms and had also bitten one of the family.

This was a very extreme situation given the thousands of dogs we have minded over the past 28 years and we took action to ensure the care of Harry and the safety of everyone involved.

Hence, we did all we could to resolve this situation under the circumstances and immediately provided you with a complete refund. If you wish to, please contact us as we are happy to, once again, discuss it with you.

verified email - 16 Oct 2019

We have used Don't Fret Pet 40 times over the past 11 years and need to finally write a review to express our gratitude for this service.

Our lovely now 14 year old Staffy boxer cross, Ziggy is a rescue dog with an unknown past. When we first adopted her we used (carefully chosen) kennels with good reputations. After even a short stay she would return highly stressed, hair falling out, constipated and very unsettled, taking days to settle back at home. When she returned home from her first stay with Don't Fret Pet she had her routine wander and sniff around the house then jumped into her basket and went to sleep perfectly content. We have used DFP ever since.

For the past 7 years we have been very lucky to have a wonderful caring minder "Aunty Margaret" who has always gone well beyond our expectations in caring for our little girl. We are very appreciative of the individual care and attention that Margaret has given Ziggy. It is very reassuring to know that our dog is being so well looked after, especially as she has got older and has some medical issues and has at times become unwell on her holidays. We now check Margaret's availability before booking any holidays.

Thank you so much Margaret and Don't Fret Pet.

Don't Fret Pet 16 Oct 2019

Thank you, Carolyn, for your lovely review. It has always been our pleasure to care for Ziggy and as you indicate, Ziggy and Margaret certainly do have a very special relationship. When Ziggy is having one of her times when she is not feeling as bouncy as usual, we know how much Margaret feels her pain too. As you say, Margaret goes out of her way to provide extra reassurance and care to Ziggy, helping her to recover or deal with whatever has been ailing her.

All our minders at Dont Fret Pet! love having their visiting doggie guests and as I know myself from being a dog minder it is wonderful when the same dogs keep returning for their holidays. It really is like they are part of our families and you can see that to the dogs it is home away from home many of them scarcely giving their mums and dads a backwards glance as they go to join their Dont Fret Pet! Aunties and Uncles.

We look forward to Ziggy coming into our care for many more holidays with her Auntie Margaret.

09 Feb 2017

Fantastic service. We met the minders a few weeks before we went away and they were just wonderful. When we dropped Jelly off she didn't even look upset that we were leaving. Our minder sent us text messages regularly and photos. We could see how happy Jelly was and how well she looked and were relieved to see that she was totally fine. The person we did the booking through was also great and very understanding of our special requirements for Jelly. I just wish we had found out about this service a long time ago.

verified email - 02 Oct 2016

in the past dont fret pet was amazing with truly lovely carers..this time around not so good as we were curtly informed our dog had been doing toilet inside their house while we were gone..we were given a cold reception by both carers especially the husband which made me want to get our little girl out and home asap.. she was extremely traumatised by it as she was so very clingy for days..in future we will take her with us . its too expensive to put her thru such an experience again

BurtonErni 05 Oct 2016

I was really surprised to read this feedback as I have used Dont Fret Pet a number of times with great success. Of course my dog didn't go to the toilet inside. I'd expect that if my dog did that then I might not get warm welcome either just as I'd be annoyed to have to clean up all the time if I had someone else's dog mess up inside at my place. Time to take some responsibility and be accountable. I know I'd do that if my dog disgraced herself.

Don't Fret Pet 05 Oct 2016

It is a shame that Gizmo did not appear to be as happy as she was on her other holiday with Dont Fret Pet!. Perhaps she was feeling out of sorts during her stay and that contributed to her toileting not being up to its normal standard though Gizmo's minders did leave the door open to make it easy for her during the lovely sunny weather that we had during her stay.

Many things can cause a dog to become anxious and not following their normal toileting habits can do just that. If this was the case it quite possibly could have taken a few days back in her normal routine to help her feel back to herself again. It is a shame that you felt the carer was not as receptive as usual. It is very likely that, at the time, they were unsure and embarrassed to be having to let you know of all the accidents that had occurred. No one likes letting people know that their beautiful furbaby has been not quite perfect. They have been minding for us for years and we always get wonderful feedback about them so your comment about them was extremely surprising for us.

As you have mentioned you found the service we provided amazing for your previous booking and we are sorry that you did not feel the same about this last one.

verified email - 09 Jan 2015

I will never use this service again. Very expensive, you provide everything including food. They seem to just get anyone to look after your dog. They promise a "holiday for your pet" but our minder did not even walk our Labrador & staffy (even though she had promised to do so)the whole time they were with her which was a whole week!! They were just stuck in her yard the whole time. I seriously wonder if she even went out there (to give them any sort of attention) other than to feed them! That was no "promised holiday" for my beloved pets!! I even emailed them to express my concerns after I brought my dogs home, but have not heard back from them. Do not use this service, I am extremely unhappy & disappointed with them.

Approximate cost: $497

leahg1 10 Jan 2015

Glad you reviewed this so others can avoid it.

DM1970 10 Feb 2015

Unfortunately, it took Don't Fret Pet over 2 weeks to respond to my repeated emails about my dissatisfaction with their service. It cost me $71 a day for my dogs to be just left in someone's yard for 1 week, with NO Walks (& we provided all food etc) They only offered me a $50 credit to use next time I use your service, & I was not satisfied with this. I think because their service did not live up to what they had personally promised me & it did not "provide a holiday for my dogs" & my dogs came back to me very stressed & unhappy, I feel I should have received a refund of some sort not a $50 credit to only use towards a future service with them. I will not risk it again, plus I do think it was a very expensive service. My advise to other dog lovers, use Animal Welfare League Boarding instead, they only charge $25 p/day including using premium food & they will guarantee to walk your dog everyday & give them lots of attention, they will even wash your dog too. MUCH BETTER!

verified email - 14 Aug 2013

We picked up Evie this afternoon from Ken who minded her for the weekend, and I just wanted to say a huge thankyou! This was the first time we have used Don't Fret Pet and it was so wonderful, we will definitely be using you guys again and spreading the word to everyone we know! Ken is so lovely and Evie just loved him! He even gave her a new toy to take home!

Don't Fret Pet 31 Aug 2013

Thanks for your feedback, Bree, and we are glad that you were so pleased with our service. Thank you for spreading the word as well.

Ken wrote only two words on his feedback about Evie, "Absolute treasure", so I think we can safely say that he enjoyed her as much as she enjoyed him.

verified email - 10 Aug 2013

We were very pleased with Alan and Sandy's care of Ronan over the long weekend in June. They looked after him with excellent attention after his leg surgery and followed our instructions perfectly. We would be very happy leaving him again with such capable minders.

Don't Fret Pet 05 Aug 2013

Thank you for your feedback, Colleen. We will certainly pass this on to Alan and Sandy.

Mylady 10 Aug 2013

Helpful Review

troys9 11 Aug 2013

Useful to know of a caring vet in the area

verified email - 03 Jul 2013

They looked after our little Gracie so well we thought she might not come home! Seriously absolutely great they cared for her like she was their own, felt really comfortable with the family from the moment we met them which was a fantastic thing as we are new to all this and we were very confident they were the right family to look after our puppy.Very happy, definetly will continue to use their services if they'll have us again !!

Don't Fret Pet 04 Jul 2013

thank you so much for your lovely feedback, we are so pleased that you were happy. We know Gracie had a great time and was a beautiful house guest, she is very welcome back anytime. thank you again for using our service.

verified email - 25 Jun 2013

I just wanted to pass on how pleased we were with the family who minded our Dog for five weeks. Kobi was spoilt by the entire family and looked so healthy and happy when we collected her. Although Kobi was happy to be home she missed her 'other' family for a few days-a sure sign of the care she had!

Don't Fret Pet 25 Jun 2013

Thanks for letting us know how pleased you were with Kobi's care. We appreciate you taking the time to do so.

verified email - 01 Jun 2013

Don't fret pets' Janene, Tony and Kay have been great. Very friendly and prompt service provided. The booking process and forms were user friendly and easy to use. They have provided us with a great Family to mind our dog when we are on holidays. Staying in a family home is a little more exy than the kennel, but so worth the money. Tom was spoilt at Karen's house and he was so happy and relaxed when he returned home after his holiday. We have already booked his next holiday. We can leave him knowing he is safe and being loved while we are away.

Don't Fret Pet 04 Jul 2013

thank you for giving us your feedback. We know Karyn loved minding Tom and he was a very good boy. Thank you again for using our service.

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