The majority our pet sits are enjoyable. We usually love the pets were are visiting and we get to enter a lot of homes we’ve always admired from afar. Every once in a while however one comes through that we really don’t enjoy. I’ve gotten a lot better over the years asking questions from callers before we agree to meet with them to weed out the undesirables.
I recently received a call from someone looking for pet sitting for their four dogs. I explained our services and asked questions about what would be involved. They said they are normally home with the dogs all the time, but they only wanted two visits per day.
They were going to set up the garage and leave the dogs in the garage.
We have occasionally had people do this and some garages are nicer than some homes, but we’d really rather your pet stick to their own routine, which is usually in the house. When I asked why I was told because the dogs tend to pee/poop all over when they are home, so they wanted to contain it to the garage.
So let me get this straight. You want to leave your four small dogs who pee and poop at whim in the garage with visits from a pet sitter every twelve hours?
We have had this arrangement before. Back when I first started the business and didn’t know any better we agreed to a sit with three huskies, contained to a garage between our two visits per day. It was AWFUL. Every visit we went the garage needed to be shoveled out and hosed down and smelled terrible.
I had to explain to this caller that I was sorry, but that arrangement would not work for us.
I couldn’t help myself and explained that we were pet sitters, not janitors.
In addition to cleaning the mess every twelve hours, we would need to walk the four dogs on leashes because they didn’t have a fenced yard. We would also need to tend to other pets that were kept in the house.
It simply couldn’t be done to our standards in a twenty minute visit, twice a day.
We have NO problem cleaning up the occasional pet accident. It’s part of our job. But to know that every twelve hours we’d be walking into a disaster zone? No thanks.
I suggested that if they went with three visits per day we would consider it, but not with two. They didn’t call back and frankly, I was relieved.
We are a premium service. We aren’t for everyone and that’s ok. We want clients that want the best for their pets, just like we do.
It’s true people expect us to be miracle workers because they pay us to do so, we love animals but really we are pet sitters and not janitors! I love what I do I also need enough time to do what I do best as a http://www.studentco.co.za/house-pet-sitters.html
Great post! I’ve had my share of clients like this and luckily I’m to the point now where I don’t feel obligated to do them anymore :/