Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A. The number one thing to look for in hiring a pet sitter is to look at how long they have been in business. In our case we have been in business for more than 15 years. The longer a business has been around the more references they will have. This doesn't mean the newer business will not do a great job it is just there is more to look at in an older established business. I know we were a new business at one time, all I am saying is do your homework. The other thing to look at is the rate structure if the business is charging a fee that is out of line with the rest of the businesses, buyer beware. An example is if everyone is charging $20 per visit and someone else is charging $12. There is to much of a difference. Most of the time the business will not be a professional service(part time or on the side) or they will have just started. Do yourself a favor and check references very carefully. You want to make sure that the pet sitter will be there no matter what, whether they are sick or not, holidays, emergencies no matter what. The pets always come first. A professional pet sitter will always be there for your pets. Most pet sitters do a great job.
Q. What do you like most about your job?
A. The thing we like most about our job is getting to spend time with the animals. We have 4 cats ourselves and we also foster puppies and cats. We love all animals, fish, lizards, snakes, cats, rats you name we love to be around them. The other thing is that we get to meet so many different types of animals that we normally wouldn't get a chance to take care of. We have taken care of poisonous frogs, snakes, birds, tropical fish, iguanas....
Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?
A. My favorite story about our business is the time we got locked out. We had a new customer that had multiple locks on the door. We didn't have keys for all the locks so the customer said that they wouldn't lock the one that we didn't have a key for. (that was our first mistake).
We went for our first visit and guess what? the lock was locked and we couldn't get in. The customer had 3 locks on the front door and the garage was locked. We walked around to the back and guess what we saw? There was a bedroom window open and a ladder was sitting right next to it! I helped Elizabeth(my wife) up the ladder and through the window.
The pets were a little freaked out but they all came around pretty quickly. The funniest thing was that was the very first pet sit that we had ever done. Our first customer over 16 years ago.
