Tips To Hire A Pet Sitter Or Dog Walker

It is very essential that you take care to choose a qualified, trustworthy and professional pet sitter/dog walker for your dog as you are entrusting the health and well-being of your pet to their care.

Tips to hire a pet sitter or dog walker:

Pet sitters or dog walkers are highly unregulated, so make sure you find a person that is certified to care for your pet; there are nationally recognized standards and professional organizations that set criteria and certify qualified professionals. You are paying for a professional and you should make sure the certificate is current.

If you are employing a company professional find out how they train their staff, the person who is responsible for staff training and maintaining standards and if they have internal certification process.

Next ensure whether the pet sitter looks, dresses and acts like a professional; also observe him as he handles pets in his care. He should not be texting or answering the cell phone when on duty, but be fully attentive and interacting with the pets in their charge.

Check whether the company explicitly shows their value and ethics from the company website or marketing literature; if they do what they say, it will tell you a lot how they view their profession.

Equip yourself with their philosophy on animal handling and care and the kind and type of equipment they provide and use; like whether they use choke chains. Also try to know the type of collars and leashes they use and the number of dogs they will walk at one time; the lesser number of dogs assures you of the well-being and safety of your pet.

It is very important to get client references from your potential pet care provider; they should be from both past and current clients. Most customers would be happy to share their experience and give their opinion.

Ask yourself and judge how much you like the pet sitter/dog walker and can trust them to look after your pet.  There is a special personal relationship between a pet sitter/dog walker, you and the pet, so you should be happy with the person who will be actually caring for your pets; they should be patient to answer your questions during the initial consultation.

Ensure if you can do any background checks and if the company does these checks for their employees; this is very important as you would be entrusting not only the pet to them, but also sometimes access to your home. You should also look into the background of the company by browsing on the internet to get background check service. Reputable pet sitting/dog walking companies will be happy to have you check their background.

Next ensure that the pet sitting/dog walking service company understands animal behavior, first aid, nutrition and emergency procedures. Asking some tough questions will help you understand if they have the required knowledge or not; it is easy to find out when they are or just try to simply snow you.

Lastly ensure that the pet sitter/dog walker carries appropriate liability insurance and they are fully bonded; this could cover accident that could happen.

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