The Guide to Professional Pet Sitting

Pet sitting can seem a dream job to many people, and it truly has many advantages. Although, it is naive to think that it’s the job for everyone. It does require some expert knowledge, love for animals, kindness, responsibility and patience. Some pet sitters offer their services only to owners of cats and dogs, others willingly provide care for all kinds of pets including exotic ones. The working schedule of a pet sitter may vary from fixed to flexible, his services can be used on a regular basis or in the period when clients are out of town for business or vacation. When the business of a pet sitter grows bigger, he may hire other specialists and expand the services, or even create a franchise company and license other pet sitters under his own brand name.

The perfect pet sitter is…

Well, what do pet owners normally expect from a pet sitter? First of all, it’s basic pet care in the absence of clients at home. Such tasks include:

•  feeding;
•  walking;
•  various types of grooming, including fur and teeth brushing;
•  providing exercise and play time;
•  litter box cleaning;
•  cleaning up other pet messes;
•  providing treatment and giving medicines, if required;
•  providing much tender and love!

 

A good pet sitter is always there on time to feed and walk the animal. If anything goes wrong and the pet suddenly feels sick or gets injured, he immediately notifies the owner thereof and provides more care and supervision for the pet, takes the pet to a vet, if necessary. Professional pet sitters do their best to eliminate the stress of the animal that might be missing the owners. These people must enjoy what they do and treat animals gently. They also must be reliable and trustworthy. Pet sitters should always be there when you need them, this profession assumes working on weekends, holidays and staying overnight, when needed.

Why hire a pet sitter?

Keeping a pet is serious responsibility, but it’s not the reason to transform your life and always take the pet with you wherever you go. When you go to travel or have to leave for business, you may rely on professional pet sitters.

Pet sitters are those people who come to help you out when you leave for vacation and your pet stays home. They provide care for your lovely cat or dog, typically staying on your territory. This option is preferred by most clients because changing places can be stressful for pets. Normally it is not a problem to ask a pet sitter for some additional services – to collect mail, for example, or to vacuum pet hair.

How much do pet sitting services cost?

The wages of pet sitters depend on geographical location and the scale of business. Services offered by firms are normally more expensive then of independent animal caretakers. According to the data provided by the American BLS, pet sitters earn from 8,7 to 17,9 per hour. Additional costs of pet sitters may include marketing, insurance, travel and others.

Pet sitters are normally not expected to have any special education or training, but they have to be knowledgeable in various aspects related to animal care and behavior. Many pet sitters have the previous experience of a veterinary assistant or a vet technician, for example. Knowledge in marketing helps pet sitters to attract new clients and upscale their business.

How to become a pet sitter?

This job can be fun and rewarding. You may have a pet without actually having a pet! And get paid for that! If you have love for animals and free hours, you can try yourself in this profession, why not? This business is growing, and if you devote yourself to this job seriously, you can be rewarded financially pretty much well.

Starting your own pet sitting business, better get licensed, insured and bonded. It will help you to protect yourself against risks and win loyalty of clients. There are many insurance companies to get bonding and insurance from.

If you don’t plan to devote all your time to pet sitting but render your services on a part-time basis, you can find clients at Rover.com, a popular pet sitting website with a huge database. Websites like Rover.com help to get a pet sitting job, to gain more experience by watching useful tutorials and videos, to find answers to your questions. Decide on the services you are willing to offer and on animals you are going to provide care for. If you do the job successfully, you are likely to be mentioned in conversations with other pet owners and consequently to get more clients. Keep owners of pets informed, send some photos or videos to show that the animal is safe, healthy and happy.

More about insurance

Starting any type of business involves certain risks. What do you personally risk when you decide to sit with pets? You risk your time, energy, some other opportunities and even your health.

Pet Sitting insurance will protect you and your employees if any accident occurs, it will also ease the mind of clients. You may use General Liability to protect yourself in case of bodily injuries or property damages caused by business operations. But if you wish to protect yourself from liability, General Liability is not enough. It only protects you against third party claims (it’s the crucial condition – somebody besides you) caused by your own negligence of your employees. For example, it will protect you from the claims of those who have been bitten by the dog you were sitting, or whose property suffered from this dog while the animal was under your supervision.

Bonding is different from insurance, it protects you from stealing or sudden disappearance of personal property belonging to your client. Just imagine the nightmarish situation – you have been sitting with a dog and the owner blames you that his watch was stolen. With bonding your business will be protected from such situations.

There are some other types of insurance to strengthen your protection as a pet sitter. For example, worker’s compensation will cover your staff if they get injured while working; auto insurance will help you to solve problems caused by automobile incidents; umbrella policies will provide additional protection in those cases which are not covered by other insurances.

Professional dog bathing – another specific kind of job

Dog bathing is a specific sort of grooming that assumes washing animals in a special grooming facility or an animal spa. Dog bathers wash cats and dogs applying special cleaning liquids, blow them dry and thoroughly brush their fur. The latter task can also be performed by special washing services, not a dog bather himself.

Some dog bathers also offer nail trim or tooth cleaning services to return the fully trimmed pet to the happy owner.

This profession requires certain technical skills, knowledge of drying techniques and basic animal anatomy, especially nose, eyes, ears and feet. That is why, dog bathers should undergo special training to offer this kind of services.

Conclusion

Driven by the love for animals, you can get some education and experience to acquire the job of your dream. Having invested the best of your qualities, your knowledge and time, you can build a strong and profitable business in the growing market of pet grooming. When you love what you do, you are destined to succeed!

Looking for pet sitter jobs? Here's the link - https://jooble.org/jobs-weekend-pet-sitting