Dog Sitting & House Sitting in Suffolk
Calm, professional in-home care for dogs in Suffolk, as seen
in The East Anglian Daily Times
Insured • Canine First Aid Qualified • One Household at a Time
Professional, One-to-One Care in Your Dog’s Own Home, serving Ipswich, Woodbridge, Hadleigh and surrounding Suffolk villages.
When you search for pet sitters near me for a trusted dog sitter in Suffolk, what you are really looking for is peace of mind.
Dognanny provides professional pet sitting and house sitting in Suffolk for owners who want their dogs cared for properly – not just supervised, but truly understood.
Whether you are away for the day, travelling for work, or heading off on holiday, your dog remains in the comfort of their own home, following their usual routine, cared for by a qualified and insured professional.
This isn’t high-volume dog sitting. It is calm, structured, one-to-one care designed around your dog’s individual needs.
A Professional Dog Sitter in Suffolk — With Higher Standards
Many pet sitting services focus primarily on availability and price. Dognanny focuses on standards.
Every booking includes:
- One household at a time — no juggling multiple clients
- Enrichment sessions built naturally into care
- Gentle training woven into everyday routines
- iPet Level 3 qualification in Canine First Aid, taught by a vet nurse with real dogs (not online)
- Full insurance and clear professional processes
- A former primary school teacher — bringing structure, reliability, and trust
Your dog is not simply “looked after”.
They are engaged, mentally stimulated and supported while you are away. This is ideal for puppies, who need positive experiences in the first few months of life in order to set them up for life. Many puppy parents don’t realise how critical this time in their life is and often miss crucial enrichment and training steps that leads to fearful or reactive behaviour later.
Dognanny private in-home petcare is more like what you’d expect at a commercial ‘board and train’ facility – but brought your home, and carefully measured and tailored to your dog, whether they are an adult or a young puppy.
This high level of care is often impossible to achieve in commercial kennels, and rarely (if ever) brought to you by casual petsitters found online or by apps.
Daytime Pet Sitting in Suffolk
The alternative to doggy daycare
Doggy daycare centres can be very prescriptive about their hours, making drop off and pick up more tricky. At Dognanny, pet sitting bookings are defined as three hours or longer, and you can request just the hours that suit your schedule. You can choose the length of your daytime session from three hours to an all day petsit, or blend it with overnight care.
This ensures your dog receives meaningful engagement – not just supervision.
Daytime pet sitting is ideal if you are:
- Working extended hours
- Travelling for the day
- Attending an event or wedding
- Supporting a puppy who needs guidance
- Managing a sensitive or high-energy breed
Each structured session is tailored to your dog’s individual needs and may include:
- A walk, where appropriate
- Purposeful exercise
- Calm companionship
- Mental enrichment
- Reinforcement of training
- Settling support before departure
- Images and videos of your pets sent to you, with a summary of their day
There is no need to book a separate dog walking service. Where a walk forms part of your dog’s routine, it is incorporated naturally into the session.
This approach is particularly beneficial for:
- Puppies learning household routines
- Dogs with separation sensitivity
- Working breeds requiring mental stimulation
- Dogs who do not cope well in kennel environments
- Dogs who love to be with a human for company
- Pet parents who prefer their dogs to have an enriched life, with additional training time
Your dog remains in familiar surroundings, supported with calm, consistent handling throughout the visit.
A Typical Session
Enrichment-Led, Structured Care
Every pet sitting session is adapted to your dog’s temperament, energy level, and developmental stage.
Where appropriate, your dog may enjoy walks along local nature trails, time exploring new scents, and structured engagement that keeps both body and mind active.
Enrichment is not an optional extra — it is built into care.
Depending on your dog’s needs, sessions may include:
- Calm, purposeful walks
- Loose-lead walking practice
- Recall reinforcement in suitable environments
- Scentwork games such as “go find”
- Hide-and-seek using natural search behaviours
- Structured play and confidence-building exercises
- Obedience training and providing breed-specific opportunities, e.g. retrieving objects for dogs in the retriever group, scentwork for hounds, or herding games for those in the pastoral group
For dogs who struggle with pulling, sessions can gently reinforce loose-lead walking over time.
For dogs needing mental stimulation, targeted enrichment activities are incorporated naturally into the day.
The aim is not simply to exercise your dog, but to support behavioural wellbeing, confidence, and calmness.
Each session is thoughtful. Intentional. Adapted to your individual dog.
Overnight House Sitting in Suffolk
Consistent, In-Home Care While You’re Away
For holidays, business travel, weddings or extended trips, overnight house sitting provides complete continuity for your dog.
Rather than adjusting to a kennel environment, your dog remains in their own home — with their usual bed, familiar surroundings and established routine.
Dognanny stays overnight, ensuring:
- Evening and morning routines are maintained
- Walks and enrichment continue as normal
- Calm supervision throughout the night (including waking through the night for puppies during the potty training phase)
- Meals, medication, and training consistency
- Your home remains lived-in and secure
This service is particularly suited to:
- Dogs who struggle in kennel environments
- Puppies needing routine stability
- Elderly dogs requiring careful monitoring
- Sensitive or anxious dogs who rely on familiar surroundings
House sitting offers reassurance not only for your dog, but for you.
Your home is occupied, cared for, and maintained.
Your routines are respected.
Your dog is supported with calm, structured care.
Areas Covered in Suffolk
Dognanny provides professional pet sitting and house sitting across Suffolk, including:
- Dedham
- Woodbridge
- Kesgrave
- Martlesham
- Hadleigh
- Layham
- Stratford St Mary
- Stoke by Nayland
- Surrounding villages within reasonable travelling distance of IP7
Bookings are accepted within a defined service radius to ensure punctuality, reliability and consistent standards of care.
We do, on a case by case basis, welcome weekend petsitting enquiries from further afield in areas such as Southwold, Bury St Edmunds, and surrounding villages. If you are located outside of Suffolk – we may be able to accomodate.
If you are unsure whether your location falls within the service area, you are welcome to enquire.
Professional Standards Matter
What to Look for in a Pet Sitter
Choosing a pet sitter should feel structured, transparent, and reassuring.
In-home care requires trust — not only in how your dog will be handled, but in how your home and routines will be respected.
A professional pet sitting service should provide:
- Insurance and safeguarding
- A formal consultation process
- Clear communication
- Understanding of canine behaviour
- Reliable routines and consistency
- Professional accountability
- Home security
At Dognanny, care extends beyond feeding and walking.
Each visit includes mental enrichment, behavioural awareness, and reinforcement of positive training, ensuring your dog remains calm, engaged, and supported while you are away. In addition, the presence of an occupant in your home ensures that the risk of leaving your home empty is negated.
Experience Beyond Pet Sitting
Before establishing Dognanny, Catherine worked at Ukutula Lion Sanctuary in South Africa, providing hands-on care to endangered species including lions, cheetahs, and giraffes.
This work required:
- Close behavioural observation
- Calm handling under pressure
- Understanding stress signals
- Responsible welfare practices
- Educating the public about animal welfare
Working closely with wild animals required careful observation of behaviour and stress signals — skills that now help Catherine recognise when dogs are relaxed, anxious or overstimulated, allowing care to be calm, responsive and supportive.
Combined with a background in as a primary school teacher and investigative wildlife journalist, along with volunteer work for the RSPCA, this creates a rare blend of structure, responsibility, and ethical awareness.
These experiences, alongside a natural affinity and deep-rooted understanding of different dog breeds, behaviour, and medical needs means that your dog’s care is our priority.
Who this service is best suited to
Dognanny is typically a good fit for owners who:
• prefer in-home care rather than kennels
• value structured routines and enrichment
• want calm, professional handling of their dog
• are seeking reliable long-term support
Investment
Caring for a dog in their own home is not simply a quick visit — it involves full responsibility for your dog’s welfare, routine and environment while you are away.
Professional in-home pet sitting in Suffolk varies depending on the duration of care, number of dogs and level of support required.
At Dognanny, services are designed as structured, one-to-one care in your dog’s own home, with enrichment and routine support built into every booking.
Typical services include:
• Daytime pet sitting – structured sessions (minimum three hours)
• Overnight house sitting – evening arrival through to morning departure
As a guide, professional pet sitting in Suffolk typically ranges from £90–£150+ per day for one adult dog depending on the service provided.
Additional factors such as multiple dogs, puppies requiring additional supervision, or travel distance may affect the final fee. Households with additional cats are welcome to apply.
Full pricing is provided following your initial enquiry so that care can be tailored appropriately to your household.
Availability is intentionally limited in order to maintain one-to-one standards of care.
Booking Process
Calm, Clear and Structured
1. Initial Enquiry
All new enquiries begin via email.
Please email:
enquiries@dognannysuffolk.co.uk
with a brief introduction to your dog, including:
Breed, age and temperament
Location
Dates or typical care requirements
Any medical or behavioural considerations
This allows us to determine whether the service is a good fit before moving forward.
2. Consultation Booking
If suitable, you will be invited to book a consultation in your home.
During this visit we discuss:
Your dog’s routine
Feeding and exercise needs
Behaviour and training
Veterinary information and medication
Household routines and expectations
Consultations ensure care is fully tailored to your dog and that both owner and sitter feel comfortable before confirming services.
3. Trial Session
For new clients, a trial daytime or overnight sit may be recommended before longer bookings.
This allows your dog to become familiar with the routine while ensuring everything runs smoothly for future care.
4. Confirmed Bookings
Following the consultation (and trial where appropriate), bookings can be scheduled with confidence.
Clients receive:
Written agreement
Clear communication before and during the service
Photo or video updates during care
Follow-up after your booking
Availability is intentionally limited in order to maintain one-to-one standards.
If you are seeking professional pet sitting or dog sitting in Suffolk, please email:
enquiries@dognannysuffolk.co.uk
Ready to book your consultation?
Private, one-to-one canine care in Suffolk
Every dog is different, and the right choice depends on their temperament, routine, and the level of continuity you would like to maintain while you are away.
For households in Suffolk who prefer discreet, structured, one-to-one care within their own home, Dognanny provides private live-in canine support tailored to your dog’s individual needs.
If you would like to discuss your dates and whether private in-home care is the right fit for your dog, you are welcome to enquire about availability.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
House Sitting & Dog Sitting in Suffolk
Dog sitting prices in Suffolk vary depending on the duration of care, level of experience and whether the service is professional or informal.
Professional pet sitting in Suffolk typically costs more than casual arrangements because it includes insurance, qualifications, structured care and full responsibility for your dog and home.
At Dognanny, services are structured to provide one-to-one in-home care, enrichment and calm supervision. Full fee details are shared after your initial enquiry so we can ensure the service is the right fit for your dog.
For many dogs, in-home house sitting can be significantly less stressful than kennels.
Remaining in their own home allows dogs to keep their familiar routines, environment and sleeping spaces. This can be particularly beneficial for:
- puppies
- older dogs
- anxious or sensitive dogs
- dogs who rely heavily on routine
Professional house sitting in Suffolk provides continuity of care while keeping your home occupied and secure during your absence.
A professional pet sitter in Suffolk provides far more than feeding and letting a dog into the garden.
Professional pet sitting typically includes:
- maintaining your dog’s normal routine
- providing appropriate exercise
- monitoring behaviour and wellbeing
- administering medication where required
- communicating clearly with owners
At Dognanny, care also includes mental enrichment through sniffer games and breed appropriate activities, and reinforcement of positive training, ensuring your dog remains engaged and settled while you are away. For puppies, we will wake in the night (if needed) to toilet train them and provide appropriate puppy training all through the day. If your dog needs a refresher on loose lead walking for example, we can train this for you whilst you are away – so you come home to a better trained dog – and a tidy home.
Yes – puppies often benefit greatly from structured in-home pet sitting.
Because puppies are still learning routines, house training and calm behaviour, longer pet sitting sessions allow consistent supervision and reinforcement of training.
In-home care is often more suitable than kennels for puppies because they remain in their familiar environment while continuing their normal routines. For pups that haven’t yet completed their vaccinations, it is the most appropriate form of care to ensure their health and wellbeing.
While friends or neighbours may occasionally help with pets, professional pet sitting provides accountability, structure, and safeguarding.
A professional pet sitter offers:
- insurance cover
- training and qualifications
- behavioural awareness
- reliable routines
- clear communication
For many owners, this provides reassurance that their dog and home are being cared for responsibly while they are away.
No. Dognanny works with one household at a time. This is different to other pet sitters, who may leave dogs unattended for hours at at time in order to care for multiple households. Our services are exclusively yours for the period of time you have booked.
This ensures each dog receives calm, focused attention without competing demands from other clients.
This one-to-one approach allows care to be fully tailored to your dog’s needs, personality, and routine.
Dognanny provides professional dog sitting and pet sitting across Suffolk, including:
- Ipswich
- Woodbridge
- Kesgrave
- Martlesham
- Hadleigh
- nearby surrounding villages
Bookings are accepted within a defined service radius to ensure punctuality and consistent standards of care. We are able to cover the whole of Suffolk including Bury St Edmunds and Southwold for long weekend bookings.
If you are unsure whether your location falls within the service area, you are welcome to enquire.
All enquiries begin via email.
Please contact:
enquiries@dognannysuffolk.co.uk
with a brief introduction to your dog and your care requirements.
Suitable enquiries are then invited to book a consultation in your home before services begin.
This ensures the care provided is the right fit for both your dog and your household.