A professional pet sitter takes care of your pets when you’re away-right? Right! But they also do so much more.
1. To give you peace of mind, professional pet sitters want to make sure the home is as secure as possible.
For instance, employees of The Well-Trained Dog & Pet Care don’t make keys or pass them from one sitter to the next and risk losing a key. Our clients have a key box or hide-a-key with a specific code they’ve determined, so they are in control of the key at all times. Some clients leave the hide-a-key or key box out all the time; others put it out where we can find it when they need service and then take it back again.
2. A professional pet sitter pays attention to details and will do a visual inspection of the property before entering the home or apartment. A few months ago, one of my sitters found a downed line. Fortunately, it was a phone line and not a power line.
3. The professional pet sitter will enter the home in a way that a loose dog or cat won’t escape. Then the actual work begins of walking the dog(s), taking them out to potty, feeding them, and scooping the litter box.
A lot of what we do depends on what the clients wants during that visit and/or what animals the client has. We’ve had clients with chickens, turtles, fish, and, of course, dogs and cats.
4. At some point during the visit, sitters with The Well-Trained Dog & Pet Care do a walk-through of the home, just to make sure everything is OK.
At one visit, there was thumping coming from the basement. One of the client’s indoor/outdoor cats had brought in a live bird that was trying to get out. The client was contacted and the bird was shooed out. How much damage would the bird have caused coming up to the main part of the house and living there for the week the client was gone if no one would have investigated the thumping?
We all have stories of funny things that have happened during our visits but also some not-so-funny stories. Again, paying attention to detail, one of my sitters picked up on the fact that an elderly cat’s mouth was swollen. After we contacted the owners who were out of the country, we took the cat to the vet and found the kitty needed several teeth pulled.
5. Does the garbage need taken to the curb or brought back in? Are there packages piling up at the door?
Professional pet sitters will go beyond taking care of the pets to make sure the home looks lived in, including bringing in the mail and packages, taking out the trash or bringing in the garbage and recycling containers, rotating lights or opening and closing blinds.
6. Professional pet sitters give the client feedback after every visit, by email, text, or by a hand-written paper log.
We at The Well-Trained Dog & Pet Care send feedback via email through our pet sitting software. The client can respond to the email with any questions or concerns. We also forward that email to the next sitter so they can be on alert to look for soft stool, or if one of the pets is acting differently, so they can be sure to follow up.
7. Pet sitting software eliminates inputting visits into a paper calendar which makes it easier for clients to submit visit requests, cancel or change a visit schedule, and pay their invoice.
8. And finally, a professional pet sitter makes sure the home is secure by locking the door as they leave.
***If you have any questions or would like to know more about pet sitting services through The Well-Trained Dog & Pet Care, please call (540) 353-2485 or email us at info@thewell-traineddog.com
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