As a professional pet sitter, I can tell you that often people think our job is easy, granted we do have the best job in the whole world but it's far from being easy. We are tasked with filling incredibly large shoes, yours. You hire a professional pet sitter to step in for you while you're away and because we strive to take care of your fur babies just as you would we need a multitude of information from you. You have 24/7 to know what your babies want, how they act and what they need. We have a meet and greet to establish all this information then add to that everything it takes to care of your household while you're away.
As a professional pet sitter please don't be surprised when we ask you a lot of questions starting with how do we get ahold of you in an emergency, a neighbor or contact person who lives close and knows your pets, this is in case for some emergency reason, (impassable roads, harm has come to your sitter)
We'll need to know everything it takes to care of your pets, from types of they eat, water they drink, how often they get fed, and medicated to their favorite pass times ball fetching, bone chewing, belly rubs etc. We'll need to know to watch for any sort of medical condition they currently have or have had in the past. Your sitter will ask if they're afraid of anything, thunder, fireworks, big trucks or other dogs. We'll go in depth on their standard behavior while you're out the house. Do they suffer from any sort of anxiety, are they aggressive when someone new enters the home, do they dig holes out of boredom, or chase the dog next door through the fence?
Are you getting a clear picture of the extent of knowledge we must have? This is very much just scratching the surface. I'll likely ask you to walk me through a typical day so I can adhere to their normal schedule as much as possible. I hope you're beginning to understand how much we care about taking care of your animals in the same manner you would, only a true professional pet sitter would do this, on top of the amount of responsibility we burden we also have other considerations, we undergo pet first aid/cpr training, we carry insurance, we have emergency action plans in case of natural disasters.
Another bit of information your sitter will need is veterinary contact and up to date medication instructions. Please don't be concerned or surprised when we ask if your have a plan in place in case something happens to you, we ask because there have been instances when a client passes and there is no plan in place for their pets and they're surrendered to a shelter that unfortunately may not be able to adopt out the pet because of health, age or temperament. Please don't let this happen to your fur baby. Conversely, we'll ask what your wishes will be if your pet passes while you're away. As a professional I try to consider every possible scenario and I want to adhere to your wishes.
We haven't talked about caring for your home yet but now I'll need to know how to operate the thermostat, where water, gas and electricity shut offs are located. How do want the lights set, shades alternated and where do you want packages placed. Where are the cleaning supplies located? How often are plants watered. Please never think your sitter just doesn't need this information because as I've seen through my many years of pet care the minute I fail to ask you one of my questions or I fail to get the answer, that situation comes up, Murphy's Law I believe. Now I'll go back to my opening statement where some people think I have such an easy job but clearly I don't, I have to gather all the knowledge you possess about your pets and home in a short period of time to guarantee an amazing experience for your pets and a worry free experience for you.