Looking for anyone who has experience using a pet-sitter?

Did you use a person you know or a “stranger”?

We are considering going out of town for a week and we do not have reliable friends/family to watch our dog while we are gone. We also find the dog-boarding businesses to be a bit steeply priced (and unfortunately our dog has no experience in a kennel). So we are looking into a pet-sitting exchange.

Does anyone have experience with this and can offer any tips?

Would you let someone into your house to take care of your dog? What would you do to ensure safety of your home (i.e run a criminal background check on the person, make sure your valuables are put up, just not do it, etc..)?

I’m just looking for a variety of perspectives on this idea of having an unknown pet-sitter, or other alternatives, as we are fairly new pet owners.

P.S. Dog is 1.5 years old (we’ve had her for a year of that) and she is a Collie/Aussie Mix (we think).