We may NOT be the company for you if….

Whether you choose US or someone else, we want you to be informed to make the safest, wisest choice for your pet care.

 

We, at Professional Pet Sitting Etc, VALUE SAFETY.  The safety of your pets, you, your home, our pet sitters and more.  We are very concerned about the treatment, pets and clients have received from various pet care providers. This in no way means that all non professional pet care providers are bad, it does mean that YOU have to be VERY careful and know what you are getting and paying for.

We have been in business for  3 DECADES, since 1990.  We have literally seen this industry explode.  Everyone thinks they can be a pet sitter, but very few think the idea through.  We try very hard to arm you with information, so you can make an informed choice, one that is right for you and your pets.

Here are our articles for further reading and help –

What to look for in a Pet Sitting Company

Top 3 Mistakes People Make in Choosing a Pet Sitter

 

• If you have used a neighbor, friend or relative in the past

You will be VERY happy to have a professional take your pet care seriously.  We will not forget.  We will make sure to follow the instructions on your pet care profile.

• If you have used a one person pet sitting company or another company

We may be very different in what you expect. We do things similar to some companies and VERY different to others.

Having been in business for so long, we do or do not do certain things for a variety of reasons. The MAJOR reason is because of our experience, these are things that have happened in the past and we have changed to create the best solution. Other reasons could be that we can not do things because of insurance reasons, legal reasons, employment reasons, federal reasons, etc.

In many cases it is because of safety reasons, safety for pets in our care, safety for our employees, etc.

And Now, here are a few things to think about, so you can decide if we are right for you.

 

We may NOT be the company for you if –

 

• You are looking for the cheapest pet care for your pets.

We are not the most expensive but quality does cost.  We are at the average cost for pet sitting.  We are registered in our state to legally provide services as a business.  We are completely insured, bonded, workman’s comp insurance, and much, much more that a proper business should have. If you are looking for cheap, be very careful.  Really screen them.

You do not want to give up quality when it comes to your pets and home.

 

• You want to do all the screening for your a pet sitter your self

If you have the time, know how to do it, know what to look for, have the forms and want to pay for the background checks, great (and please do ALL the checking if they are on a listing site or a one person pet sitting company).

As a company that has been in the business for decades, we take care of all the background checks, the training, policy and procedures, insurance, workman’s comp, and soooo much more to ensure that you have great pet care.

We have HUNDREDS of people apply to become part of our pet care team. The number one thing that they all cite as the reason they would be a good pet sitter – they have owned pets and love them!!!

98% could not pass our qualifications. The sad truth is that we have seen those that could not pass our qualifications on listing sites providing pet care for the public.  And have heard about a few of these individuals in the article, Top 3 Mistakes, above.

 

• I want to Meet Every Sitter before I choose a company

If you want to meet a sitter because you have questions, we do all interviews and answer questions over the phone.  Our schedules are just too busy to do Interviews and we save those schedules for loving and caring pets in our care.

Plus our website is jammed full of information that should answer most if not all questions.

We can also start you off on our Getting To Know Us email series that will answer more as well.

Generally, our amazing reputation precedes us and most people do not want to meet a sitter.

We do give you the choice to meet a sitter or not.

Once you are registered and have a completed personal pet care profile, you can make a reservation to meet a sitter.

 

• I want a pet sitter who is caring and loving

Well, you definitely have come to the right place with us!! This is something that we will definitely be the company for you!

We have had clients who have literally been with us the day they have adopted their pets until the time the pet has gone to the Rainbow Bridge.

We LOVE every pet in our care

If you have a pet problem, Dori has extensive background in rescue, behavior, training and more.  If any of our clients has a problem, just ask.  When Dori has some free time, she will be happy to call and see if she can offer suggestions and ideas.

We love your pets as if they were our own and when they pass we are just as broken hearted.

 

• You want a quick registration because it is just dog walking

We take pet care VERY seriously.  Our registration process is involved.  We have a lot of questions and most people can complete our process in about 15-20 minutes.

Why so thorough? Experience in business.

We want to know everything possible because the more we know, the better we can make the pet sitting experience for you and your pets.  Even if we are not going to feed your pets because we are only needed for a dog walk.

Why, do we need to know that? Because many times, our clients have had an emergency and needed us to come unexpectedly.  So, we like to have everything in place, just in case.  Writing care instructions when you are relaxed and can think is so much better than having an emergency and you need to be with loved ones and forgetting to leave out the cat food and medication (if needed).

 

• I just want to tell the pet sitter what I want and not go through the registration.

We care for so many pets, we never want to forget anything.  Our registration may be thorough but it gives us a full understand of your pet, the care and their personality.

Having all of your information online also ensures that if your regular sitter is not able to care for your pets, the next sitter will have the same pet care information.  There is nothing lost in translation or forgotten to be mentioned.  You have control over the online information and can update whenever you wish.

 

• You want to check up on every visit to make sure that someone was at your home as scheduled

We do this for you.  Our sitters have GPS to mark arrivals and departures, so we know that every pet in our care is cared for. This leaves you to do what you need to do, worry free or have fun on vacation.

 

• You only want one and only one person for pet care all the time

We understand that most people only want one person.  However, since starting in 1990, we have learned things do and will happen to make that impossible.  When I started my company, I did all visits all the time.  It was very hard when my car broke down, when I became sick, when my daughter became ill, when my mom and dad passed away.  Things happen.  So, we have a team of pet care professionals who help each other to always ensure that your pet is cared for no matter what happens.  This all happens seamlessly and you do not have to worry or do anything. Whenever possible, we prefer to keep the sitter that has been with the pets in the past.  It is best for the pets, sitter, scheduling, etc.  If not possible, then we always have back ups.

 

• You do not care if they have service available to you 365 days a year

Great, but even though your only need help right now for dog walking a few times a week, it does not mean that at some point an emergency may happen.  If you already have everything all set up, you can make a few clicks to make sure your pets are cared for and be concentrating on your emergency.

Emergencies never happen when it is easy, nor are they scheduled!

If you normally board, we have had clients need us when an emergency came up and their boarding facility was full.

Knowing you have a pet care provider there just in case, can be priceless. At Professional Pet Sitting Etc, once you have a complete profile, we know how much is fed, where the food is, treats, and more, even if we are just used for a dog walk, here and there.  When you have a family emergency, you can just go online, let us know you have a family emergency, make a reservation in 2 minutes and be on your way.  We will send a confirmation and start as soon as we can.  Leaving you to fully concentrate on your family.

 

• You enjoy finding a new pet sitter when your old sitter moves away, gets a full time job, goes on vacation, or just stops pet sitting.

If you enjoy this, you are a rare person.  Many times it takes weks, people do not cal you back or do not show up.  Ugggh!!

Once you are a registered Professional Pet Sitting Etc client, you will never have to worry about looking and researching another pet sitter.  Again, we have a team of pet care professionals who help each other to always ensure that your pet is cared for no matter what happens.  This all happens seamlessly and you do not have to worry or do anything.

 

• You do not like much information about a company or owner

Sorry, We are a very informational based company.  We like to give you lots of information about our company, about the owner, about pet care and more (lots on our website and in emails).  You can choose to absorb all of the information we give you or not.  It is up to you.

We believe that you should know a lot about a company and its owner if you will be entrusting your pets and home to us.

Personally, I would want more then 1-2 paragraphs about a company and its owner if I were to hand over keys to my home and the care of my pets.

 

• You want a person just starting in pet sitting or a young business.

That is very nice of you, but will they know what to do in an emergency?

Do they have back up plans?

Murphy’s law, it is not will it happen but when.

Since starting this business in 1990, we have had just about everything happen while people were away.  So, it is nice to want to help a person start out and I get it, but I would want to know that a business has experience in place for just about everything that could happen while I am away to give me peace of mind.

 

• You like using a listing site because it is fast, cheap and they check out these sitters (or do they?)

To view this FULL article – Click Here

Listing sites are starting to pop up all over and have only been around for the last 5 years or so.

BE VERY CAUTIOUS using a listing site for pet care.

Also many listing sites mix up pet sitting and boarding.  Pet Sitting is a service that will come to the pets’ home for care, Boarding is a service that provides care when the pets are brought to a place.

What is a listing site?  A listing site allows you to put in the city and state, where you live to give you a list of people to help with something.

Some listing sites are Uber for dogs, B2B, care, and now, Rover, Wag, Dogvacay, etc.

Professional Pet Care businesses refer them to as the Craigslist for pet care and warn people to stay FAR away.  

These listing sites are NOT supporting your local companies.  You are supporting these listing sites that are located out of your local community and making money off these people.  You can also look for where this listing company is based out of.  Just google “where is (name) business location)” or look for a BBB (Better Business Bureau) Business Profile.   Unfortunately, these listing sites are not experts in their fields.  They are looking for easy ways to make money and are doing just that ! Making ALOT of money on YOU.  There are many lawsuits against all listing sites mentioned and as long as they make money, they will continue and there will be more lawsuits.  I do not want you to be one of them.

Why should you be so cautious – because you are literally handing over your pet’s life and your entire house to these people.  It is a bit different then grabbing a ride (although, some people have been harmed with an Uber driver). YOUR PETS” SAFETY is a major concern.  Does that mean that all people on these sites are bad, absolutely not.  I am sure that many are trying to do the right thing

Don’t believe me?  Please Google lawsuits and Rover or Wag and Dead Dog.

There is even a FB group titled –

My Dog was Killed by a Rover Sitter

Join the group and read posts or ask questions.

The appeal of these sites are they are EASY and CHEAP. If you do not care much about pet care and want cheap and easy, then these sites are for you. Many of these listing sites have apps to make it super easy to book a reservation and these apps appeal to the younger generation. These sites are similar to craigslist but some claim they will protect you.  Really, all they are is a place for people to advertise services easily.  These sites take a person’s word that they are legal and insured but almost all are not and almost all do not pay taxes.

These sites are NOT pet care businesses, they are just a site to list people who pay to be ONheir site.  The site makes their money by keeping a percentage from each reservation.  These sites are NOT checking these people, many providers do not pay taxes or have any insurances.  This is how they can provide cheap pet care.  If you prefer to use a listing site, please be VERY careful.  Really make sure that the person you choose is thoroughly checked out and make sure that you check up so that your pet receives the proper care.  Again, I am sure there are a few people on there that may be great and are ethical, but please, make sure to really check them out.  But, then again, why worry, just do not use these sites.

 

• You just want someone who loves pets

We understand and we look for that too but caring for people’s pets and home requires much more.  It requires dedication, reliability, a come hell or high water attitude to make sure that your pets will be cared for no matter what happens.  We have heard many people say that the person they used before did not come every day for their cats because they put down three bowls of food and did not think it necessary.  Or they slept in on Saturday morning and came at 11am to let the dog out and so many other stories.

Taking on the responsibilities of pet care for others takes so much more than just loving pets.

We keep track of our sitters to give US peace of mind that all were cared for.

 

• I do NOT want anyone to have access to my home all the time

As a homeowner, I understand.  However, I have had emergencies where I had to have my employees access my home for pet care and I was unable to get home to put out a key, etc.

I was VERY happy knowing that I have a Plan A and B in place for my pet sitters to access my home to care for my amazing pets.

I was able to relax and deal with the emergency at hand.

THAT is the peace of mind we extend to ALL of our clients.

 

• I do NOT want to have a Plan B.  One way is enough.

Unfortunately, we have learned with experience that one way is not enough.  An owner or child may have used Plan A and did not put the key back or the garage pad battery has died or something else.

When we have a full pet care schedule, it only takes a few minutes to access the Plan B in file and care for the pets.  Then we are on to the rest of the pets in our care with everything running smoothly.

 

• You want to use a person who works at your veterinary office

Many people do this.  They believe that this person must be good since they work with animals.  Some may be but again, that is like wanting someone who loves pets.  If they work a job, they will need to put pet care around their hours at the hospital.  Will they take it seriously on their day off?  It is their only day to sleep in.

If something happens to this person, or if this person gives you bad service, you must remember that the Animal Hospital will take no responsibility.  The Animal Hospital does not provide pet sitting as a service.

Sometimes, people think, that if they love their veterinarian then a person working there must be good too.  Not necessarily true.  I have heard many stories that were not great with this type of pet care provider, mostly because they did not think things through.  Something would happen that they were not prepared for.  So, please check these people out, do not assume that they know everything just because they work at your favorite Animal Hospital.

 

• I want someone to live in my home while I am away

That sounds amazing! 24 hours of someone being with your pets.  This is a person I would want to be completely and thoroughly checked.  They will be in your home A LOT.  Make sure you have legal recourse that they are a business and have insurance if something happens.  You are counting on this person.  If they are just a person, you may need to create rules.  A business like mine, already has policy and procedures that employees must follow but you would be surprised at how many people out there who are providing pet care need to be told what to do and not to do. We have had people tell us of people having dinner parties in their home, pool parties and more!! Our sitters are not allowed to have any non-employees in a clients’ home.

 

• You want to receive a call or text from every visit

Unfortunately, we do not pay for employees’ phone, so we can not require any to do this.  We also keep records of all correspondence which must come through our office.

 

• You do not mind receiving a call while you are on vacation from your pet sitter stating she has a family emergency, car accident or whatever and she can not continue pet care.

I, personally would be so stressed out if that happened to me on vacation.  There should always be a plan a, b, c, d and more.

At Professional Pet Sitting Etc, we have DECADES of pet sitting business experience.  Things will happen!!

 

• You do not care if your pet sitter is a legal business or has insurance

In the state of New Hampshire to conduct any kind of business, everyone needs to be registered to do so. This is the law.

If anything happens with your pet, you would want to make sure that this person has insurance if the sitter is found at fault.  If this sitter ever fell down your stairs or got hurt on your property, you do not want to have your home owners’ insurance go up.

 

• You do not care if they do not have their own business website

It may not be important to you, but it does show that this person is serious in the business of pet care.  Creating a website shows that this pet care provider plans on being in business for a while. Hopefully whenever you need them, especially in an emergency.

Having a business website is NOT a listing on a site, it is NOT just a FB page or other social media.

Having a website is putting in a website address like www.profpetsit.com

And only that business is at that address.

Having a website, will give you some insight into the company and owner.  They should have an About Us page.  Hopefully, it will have more then 1-2 paragraphs.  A good About Us page should tell you this person’s experience, training and more.  It should create a sense that after you read it, you feel like you know her.

The owner of Professional Pet Sitting Etc, Dori Whynott, has a full life history on our website.  Yup, from about the time she was born to almost present day.  It gets added to every now and then.  Most people enjoy knowing who the owner is and they let us know all the time how much they enjoy this.

 

• You prefer someone to take your pets in their home

Sounds great!! Your pet will have a vacation too!  You see pictures of pets on the person’s couch, watching tv, snuggling.

BE VERY CAREFUL AND CAUTIOUS

There are soooo many things you need to make sure of when your pet will be BOARDING (yes, any time your pet goes somewhere to be cared for it is called BOARDING, not pet sitting).

Again, I am sure there are some great people doing this but even more things can go wrong in an in home boarding situation.  Dogs have gotten loose and lost, pets have been killed, boarders pets have been killed by client’s pets, people have been bitten and more.  When you bring your pet somewhere, many pets will try to get home, through an open door, scale a fence even if they have never done this before, dig under a fence, cry all night, and more.  Also, if there are other pets in the home, dogs may become territorial when they have never done so before.  They may guard toys, blankets, beds, food bowls and fight another pet that comes too close to these, even if they have never done so before. If your pet and the pets who live there have any issues, or your pet shows signs of trying to go home, you will have to be okay with your pet being crated for safety.

ASK lots of questions if this person is not a business.  Scared, frightening or dogs determined to get home can do some crazy things.

• Is there a barrier or pet gate so no pets can get to the door if open
• Fenced in yard with a minimum 6 foot fence (many pets who have never scaled a fence will do so to get home)
• A good barrier, extending a foot or more underground at the bottom of the entire fence to prevent any digging or escape
• If the home already has pets, introductions of an hour or two, 2-3 times before leaving or an overnight before a long vacation, may be in order to see how everything will be and see compatibility. Still, no guarantee how the pets will be in a few days being together for 24 hours per day. Sometimes they just get on each other’s nerves and pets have been killed by each other
• What will the plan be if this person goes out for errands? Will pets all be crated? Unsupervised pets can be an accident waiting to happen.
• Are there children in the home? How do they interact with the pets? Will they have friends over and interacting with pets? Is your pet comfortable with children? Will the children be going in and out to play?
• What happen’s if your dog bites someone? Will your dog be quarantined? Do you need to provide vaccine proof (you should, any boarding person should require this for the health of YOUR pet as well as theirs and any other pet that will be in their home).
• Will your pet be the ONLY boarder or could there be other pets coming and going in this home? This is a big question.  Just like in any daycare, every time a dog comes and goes, the dynamics of the group changes and this could cause stress and anxiety in all the dogs. The person providing care needs to know the signs and prevent it from escalating.
• If there will be more dogs coming and going, what are the town ordinances? Many towns have a limit to the number of pets.  One person doing in home boarding was reported by her neighbor.  The police, dog officer and humane society showed up at her door and shut her down.  There were no other issues other then the town ordinance prevented more than 3 pets in a home.
• What happens if your dog consistently barks and the neighbors report it and the person is fined?
• What if your dog cries all night or destroys something?
• What if your dog has a medical emergency? Does this person have a vehicle to quickly transport your pet to the hospital? Many times, in home boarders find this a great way to make money because they do not have transportation. This can be a terrible issue if a medical emergency occurs and time is of the essence.

Recap

So, if you prefer the above BOLDED topics, we may not be for you.

However, if you would like a company that has been in business since 1990, has a slew of testimonials, cares for thousands of pets every month, has all the proper legal documents to conduct business in the state of New Hampshire, thoroughly checks and trains all employees, has all required insurances, and so much more, Then you have chosen wisely and we would love to help you with your pet care.

However, whether you choose us or someone else for your pet care, please choose carefully, your pet’s safety, life and more are counting on your wise choice.