Pet Sitter

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

A. As of now, almost all of my jobs have been staying at the homes of my clients while they were traveling.

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

A. For customers looking to hire a pet sitter, I would advise people to make sure their sitter has insurance, to make sure they've got some references, and to insist on the sitter meeting you and, more importantly, your pets before you decide who to hire.

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

A. If I were a customer, I would make sure to ask any potential pet sitter if they carried insurance. Obviously, insurance isn't free; however, if people are serious about offering pet sitting services then they should carry insurance coverage.

So make sure to ask (and verify!) about insurance coverage.

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

A. Before hiring a pet sitter, clients should shop around... make sure that you like and trust the sitter... and more importantly, make sure your pet likes and trusts your sitter too.

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

A. Being disabled, I am on-site much more than those for whom pet sitting is a second job. On a typical overnight stay, the longest I'm away from 'home' is roughly 3 hours.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. My favorite thing about pet sitting is probably the moment I walk through the front door of places I have been to before. It's so nice to see how excited my 'part-time-pets' are to see me and to know that they won't have to spend time in a strange place while their owners are away.

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

A. The most common question, after 'what do you charge?', seems to be 'how long have you been doing this?'

I've been caring for pets in one way or another for most of my life. My father is a veterinarian and I worked for him from age 8 until I went to college. During college, one of my roommates was a reptile breeder and I cared for his animals whenever he wasn't home. And then I started pet sitting as a 'business' after I became physically disabled in 2004.

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

A. I would like people looking for pet sitters to pay attention to how much time your pet will be alone... since I'm disabled, I am 'at home' the majority of the day and, as a result, I think the pets I care for are happier than they would be if I were only there overnight and gone all day.

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

A. I have been disabled since the fall of 2004. After the first several months of my disability, I realized that I would not be able to return to my former career (sociology professor). I needed to find something that I could physically handle. Pet sitting seemed like a natural choice - I've always been an animal lover... Growing up, I worked for my father, a veterinarian, for about 10 years... and there is a need for reliable, responsible pet sitters.

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

A. Whenever one of my clients (or friends) recommends a book, blog or article, I make sure to take a look at it and, if I think it will be valuable information, I read the whole thing. I read 6 to 8 books a year about various aspects of pet keeping (training & obedience, pet first aid, behavior and keeping pets calm and happy, etc)

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. This can be a difficult business to 'balance'.

I wouldn't advise anyone with a 9-5 job to get into this business; I think it's better for sitters to be 'at home' more than that, so I would advise pet sitters to look for work-at-home positions that can be done from your clients' homes.

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. What are the most important qualities for a person providing your service?

There are two, almost identical, qualities. Find someone who you like and trust and who your pet likes and trusts too.