Food and Gentle Feeding Notes for a Collie's Stay
Pack a Collie's food in labelled daily portions for the whole week, plus a small reserve for a delayed journey home. Write the meal times and the exact amount per meal, and note whether your dog eats best in a quiet corner away from household traffic. Many Collies are sensitive souls at feeding time, and a sitter who moves the bowl into a busy kitchen may find a normally reliable eater picking at meals.
Include the treats your Collie usually has and a clear daily limit, plus a note about any foods you avoid because they upset your particular dog's stomach. Add the usual bowl and a stand if one is used at home. If your Collie tends to eat quickly when anxious, mention the slow-down method you already use rather than letting the sitter invent one during an unsettled first evening.
Grooming Tools for a Long, Dense Double Coat
A Collie's coat drives much of the packing list for a week away. That long outer coat over a thick undercoat tangles behind the ears, in the chest ruff, and along the feathering on the legs if it is left unbrushed for days.
Add a cloth for wiping mud from leg feathering after wet walks and a note to dry the coat before bed if the dog comes in soaked. Explain that a Collie should not be clipped or trimmed by a helpful sitter, however warm the weather looks. Include a spare collar, because a wet collar left on under a heavy ruff can rub and trap damp against the skin unnoticed.
Walking Kit and Herding Instinct Warnings
Pack a Collie's lead and a well-fitting harness or collar you trust, because herding instinct can appear suddenly on an ordinary walk. Note the cue and reward that bring your dog back to focus.
Write down the exercise balance your Collie needs across the week. This is an athletic, intelligent breed that settles best with a mixture of proper walks and thinking work, so include the puzzle feeders, training games, or scent searches you use at home. A purely physical routine often produces a fit but still restless Collie pacing a strange hallway at midnight.
Sound Sensitivity, Barking, and Evening Calm
Include honest notes on a Collie's likely barking and sound sensitivity during the stay. Many Collies alert readily to doorbells, passing dogs, and household noises, and some worry at thunder, fireworks, or raised voices.
Pack the comfort items that anchor the evening routine: the blanket from the usual sleeping place, a worn item of your clothing, and the chew your Collie settles with after the last walk. Describe bedtime in sequence, from final toilet trip to where the bed sits, because a sensitive Collie reads routine as reassurance. A sitter who keeps evenings predictable will usually get a dog who sleeps through in a strange house far sooner.
Health Watch-Outs and Contacts for the Week
Finish a Collie's bag with vet details, an emergency contact who knows the dog, and written permission for urgent care if you are unreachable. Add Collie-specific watch-outs in plain language: tell the sitter to report persistent squinting or eye cloudiness, repeated digestive upset, a sudden drop in appetite, or exercise that ends with unusual exhaustion. Ask for a message the same day so you and your vet can decide what needs attention during the stay.
Check the packed bag against a real day in the sitter's house: measured meals, a coat brushed before tangles set, a walk managed around herding triggers, and a calm evening copied from home. When that plan is stored in KinsLe as a Care Pass, the sitter can revisit the grooming order or the barking notes midweek without relying on a doorstep briefing.