At Home Pet Sitters, Dog Walking and Kitty Care

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. We do vacation visits, for when the owners are on vacation. Dog walking for long work days. The dogs need an exercise/potty walk too! Kitty care, for felines who want to feel like royalty! Pet transport to the vet or groomer. Overnight pet sitting service, hotel pet sitting, and even puppy visits.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Customers should always ask for proof of insurance coverage and bonding coverage if a company has employees. Customers homes, belongings and pets should always be protected.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. I wish customers knew how much we really care about their animals. We become part of their family. We may only meet the parents once, but we see the pet a lot more during our professional relationship. We do not do this for the money, but for the love of the animals and the desire to provide them with the care they deserve

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. Customers should ask for experience, how long a sitter has been a sitter, is this their full time job or a "side" job, are they insured and bonded, do they have a license to do business in the city, do they require continuing education for their employees and themselves.
There are hundreds of questions they should ask, if it is a concern to the customer, they should ask before hiring the company.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. Buyers should have a clear idea of how they want their pets cared for. At Home Pet Sitters will not visit any pet less than once in a 24 hour period. We have a lot of requests for this and we just don't feel it's safe to leave a pet unattended for more than 24 hours at a time.
They should also have a complete list of any medical issues or medication needs. We need to be aware of any condition that may present itself while the owner is away.
Also, pet parents need to tell us all details of their pets and home care. We provide more than pet care, we water plants, bring in mail, alter lights, even some light housekeeping. We need to know where the supplies for cleaning up pet messes are located.
There is a lot of information needed before we can provide service and pet parents should know that we need this information to provide that care. They should be ready to supply us with all of the info we need to keep a happy client/sitter relationship.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. We have many years of professional pet sitting experience. We don't use our personal pet parent experience to give a false appearance of having more experience. We have been pet sitting since the year 2000 and that is quite a bit of experience in a professional capacity.
All our sitters are required to become certified and to engage in continuing education in the care and welfare of pets. We are continually educating and testing our sitters on various aspects of pet health, nutrition, behavior, etc. We would not be considered professional if we just went out and walked your dog without knowing exactly how to deal with any situation that may come up that would put your dog in danger or ill health.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. My favorite part of running a pet sitting business is the pets become part of our family! We think of them each as our own pets and we develop a wonderful relationship with the pet parents too! We miss each pet when they move away. We would love to take each pet home with us and just hang out with them all the time. Unfortunately, we can't do that, but we would love to!

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. The questions that should be asked are usually not asked. I think we have only been asked once or twice about insurance and bonding. I think that is a major issue and should be addressed at the initial information visit. Other that that, we get very varied questions about experience in the industry, what would we do in an emergency situation, and what would we do in a disaster situation. Of course we have a disaster plan and we have tested it a few times and it works wonderfully! No pet will ever be left behind in a disaster situation such as a hurricane, etc.

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. I don't really have a favorite story, there are so many! I have lots of pets that I call my favorite, but truthfully, when I go to a home, I tell each pet they are my favorite! And they are! Each one is so special and I like to treat them like they are the only pet in the world that matters. I also only hire sitters who look at the pets the same way!

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. I wish customers would realize that taking pets into our homes in the city of Savannah is illegal. Especially in residential neighborhoods. This is the reason we do not offer this service. We are professionals and we don't break the law!
I also would like people to know that we, as professionals, take our jobs very seriously. We are not the kid next door! We provide much more than throwing the dog food, letting them out for a few minutes and then leaving them. We truly care about them and we spend quality time with them. We also make sure your home is secure and safe.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I decided to open a pet sitting business after running into the pet sitter of a friend of mine. She was away and I was staying at her house. Her pet sitter came over to care for her dog and I started talking with her. We chatted for about 15 minutes and then my mind was made up. I went home, did some research and the rest is history! Twelve years later, I am still at it!

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. I will tell you about a job that a new sitter I hired just completed. She is a great sitter! And the proof is when the customer emails you as soon as she gets home to tell you that! This sitter went to do some dog walks for a repeat customer of ours who needed last minute visits for their two dogs. Betsy went to their house and even never having met the dogs, she took them out for their walk, fed them and followed the owners directions perfectly. She then sent them a text picture with an update, even though they never asked her to do that. She sent me the picture too. When the owners came home, they immediately sent an email saying what an awesome job she had done and how happy they were! To me, that is the best!

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. My sitters and I are continually engaging in continuing education. I find and print an article every week on pet care, behavior, health, etc, then we make up a test. Each sitter must pass the test. If there is anything available in the community for pet education, I make sure the sitters get to go to the training. They are all pet first aid/CPR trained and certified. We want to make sure we are all well educated in our field.

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. Our pricing is very easy to understand and full details can be found on our website. We charge our basic visit fee and then if you have more than one pet, there is an additional, but very small charge.