Start with the household your dog will actually live in
A long stay with family while you travel for work is not a longer weekend visit. Your dog will eat, sleep, and wait by a different door, in a house with different noises, children, pets, and rules about sofas and gardens. Preparation works best when you rehearse that specific household rather than hoping familiarity with the people is enough. Visit together first, let your dog explore room by room on lead, and note where he settles, where he paces, and which doors or stairs worry him.
Rehearse the stay in short, honest stages
Build up with an afternoon at the house, then one overnight, then a full weekend if the work trip will run for weeks. Use the same bed, blanket, and feeding spot each time so those anchors stay constant while the address changes. Have your family, not you, give the meals and evening walk during the trial, because your dog needs to learn that food and outings reliably come from them too.
Watch the trial for specific clues. Does he eat normally away from home, toilet in their garden, and sleep through in the new room? Does he shadow one person, guard a toy from their dog, or bark at their front window? Write down what you see together and change one thing at a time — a different sleeping spot, a baby gate, a quieter feeding corner — then test it again.
Pack for continuity, not just for the suitcase
Send enough of his usual food for the whole stay plus a buffer, measured out or clearly labelled by meal, so there is no mid-stay switch that upsets his stomach. Pack the familiar bed or blanket unwashed if possible, a worn item that smells of home, his lead, collar, poop bags, grooming basics, and any regular care items your vet has already advised for him. Include vaccination and microchip details and your vet's contact information in one folder.
Add a one-page note written for this family and this dog: feeding amounts and times, walk routes he knows near their house, toilet cues, commands he actually responds to, fears such as storms or fireworks, and what calms him. Note house-specific risks too, like a gate that must latch or a cat he must not chase.
Agree the daily rhythm and the emergency plan
Walk through who feeds, who walks, and who is responsible on work and school days, and agree how your family will tell you about problems. Decide in advance which vet they will use if yours is far away, who can authorise urgent care, and how costs will be handled, so nobody is improvising during a worrying moment. A brief daily photo or message is usually enough contact; constant video calls with your voice can unsettle a dog who is just learning to settle without you.
For the first days of the real stay, keep departures low-key and keep his routine boringly predictable. Novel treats, extra-long exciting walks, and lots of visitors can wait until he is eating and sleeping normally in the new house.
When the plan needs adjusting
If the trial shows real distress — refusing food for more than a day, persistent pacing or vocalising, toileting indoors after settling, or tension with resident pets — do not simply hope a longer stay will improve it. Shorten the planned stay, add more rehearsals, ask your vet for advice about his anxiety, or consider a professional sitter in your own home instead. That is a successful preparation outcome, not a failure.
Keeping the feeding chart, quirks list, and emergency contacts in KinsLe Family Sharing means every relative helping with his long stay works from the same current details, rather than from memory or a fading message thread.