For years our dogs would go to my FIL’s and he lived watching them. When he passed, my MIL did some watching but after she passed, we started taking vacations separately and actually found that we enjoy that, some of the time. We tend to like different types of vacations, my wife love sitting at the beach or around a campfire and relaxing. I like to do things and see stuff and like a different activity or destination every day. My son gets 2 separate vacations and my wife and I get a little break from each other. Once in a while, like when we went to England for 10 days a couple of years ago, we will get a pet sitter but it’s rare.