Pet Sitting Service. UPDATE LOCATIONS listed in post #1

[myfester]

As a Professional Petsitter in PA, I am not registered with the BBB (I or my husband are the only ones that do the care), nor do I have a criminal background check. You may or may not want to keep those questions in for future inquiries to petsitters. But you can ask if they are "bonded". It is different than a criminal check, but it protects you from theft from the petsitter. I never mind questions from prospective clients, but having SO many questions in an email might have put me off too. A lot of questions are usually answered thru a website (if they have one..many sitters do not) or during a free meet-n-greet. I'm sure you don't want to waste time interviewing sitters and want to "weed" them out, but I would cut down the number of questions (at least in the initial email). Usually just the response from the initial email from them will tell you if they are mature or professional sounding (like if they have a ton of typo's or just the way they address you). Any petsitter should offer a FREE meet-n-greet. A lot of sitters may not want you coming to their house to check our their setup. I don't know...it would make me uncomfortable for some reason, like if my animals act up or coop isn't quite as clean, the client may think I'm neglectful. Although, once someone is a client, I don't mind them coming over at all. I do hope you find someone...but 2 sites you can visit are www.petsitters.org and www.petsit.com. Those are usually professional petsitters and not fly-by-night folks.

 

[myfester]

Oh, and as far as charges...it really depends on locale. For example, I charge $16/half-hour visit with $10 for each additional 1/2 hr. Some will charge up to $20 for first 1/2 hr (depends on local income).

For some clients that have a lot of work to be done, it might be hard to quote exactly how time it would take me. I tell them I will leave an invoice on my last visit (otherwise I request payment up front - but I'm flexible). If someone really needed to know how long...for a fee, I can schedule a dry-run while they are still home when I can do the whole routine myself and the owner can just stay inside and relax one morning

But 1/2 hr char

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I do a little pet sitting on the side and I've gotten most of my jobs through word of mouth. Right now I'm taking care of three horses, some outside dogs, and three chickens and I charged the people ten dollars per visit. Just these past two weeks I was taking care of a cat and watering some plants and the lady paid me $20 per visit. She asked me to stop in once a week, but I actually went three times because the cat would hide and I wanted to make sure it had been eating since I only saw it once during my visits.

I know I personally would not want a client (Well most of my clients are friends or friends of friends) visiting my house to look at my animals. This is mostly because I still live with my parents and they would NOT allow a stranger over to look around our property. Personally, I only have a crested gecko and a fish that are completely mine, but I also care for our horses and chickens.

I don't think a responsible pet sitter should have any problem providing references. I know I would be able to get a vet reference with no problem because I usually go with my animals to the vet and I worked at a vet office for a year. However, personally I do not have any animals that I bring to the vet on a regular basis because the dog and cats belong to my parents. Same with the horses.

What I would do is ask your friends who have farms or animals who they use. That seems to be a pretty good place to start. I know I come highly recommended because I will take care of just about anything AND I will medicate pets. I also have a lot of experience with emergencies. I've even been hired to just give people's pets their medicine while they are home because they couldn't do it themselves! It's also amazing how many people will pay to have their pet's nails clipped at home, rather than pay to bring them to a vet. However, like I mentioned before, I mostly pet sit for friends or friends of friends. I know I do feel strange entering someone's house if I do not know them well. That feeling goes both ways!

Most pet sitters are a lot more expensive than what I charge. Sometimes I think I charge too little, but I'd rather work for $20 an hour watching animals, than $9 an hour at Walmart! LOL

 

[sunflowerenvy]

that seems a lot at first $75 a per trip and she coming out twice a day.and she lives 30 min away so that is total of 2 hours of drive time only. what about her stay at the house at night so she could do the night time n am jobs easier less gas and her time. just make sure you put double water out maybe put a timer on the chicken doors to open them up. but it is not a bad price with all of the work she will do

do u have neighbor that could keep tab on her too.
what is the sitter going to do with the eggs any ways?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Thanks to the link that NellaBean posted, I was able to find a few pet sitters in my area. Thanks NellaBean!!!

There were about 6 pet sitters in my area and only 1 indicated that they cared for farm animals. Some did and some did not have websites but that was no biggy. I checked out the one that indicated that she cared for farm animals. I made a few calls and asked a few people at work did they know of her. A couple of people said that they knew her and said that she was nice person and gave information about her. From what they told me, I felt comfortable calling her. I called her and spoke to her over the phone. I explained to her and asked her a few questions over the phone. She passed the initial list of questions. If she hadn't, then I would not have wasted my time with a "Meet & Greet". I asked her to come out to my home to check out my setup. I would not have asker her over if I hadn't already completed a pre-background check on her from a few people. In addition, I was not afraid of her coming out because i'm not a person who is afraid and because I do have camera surveillance that tapes 24/7 and I do own a firearm. I also planned to have a male there with me. So we decided on meeting at 10:00 AM on Saturday at my farm. She called about 9:45 AM on Saturday to let me know that she was about 10 minutes away. When she called, I was leaving the bread store. I was picking up free bread and treats for my animals.

When I arrived at home, she drove up about 10 minutes later. Before she drove up, I told my cousin that I hope that she is wearing boots because it was quite messy outside due to the rain.

Well when she drove up, I had a little emergency. When she got out of her Jeep, I noticed that she was wearing flip flops. Flip Flops and visiting a farm?

. I asked her did she have any boots and she said yes. So, she went back to her Jeep to put on her boots. WHEW !!!

Anyway, my day old ducklings had jumped out of their nesting boxes and escaped and were running all over the place. So my cousin and myself were running around trying to catch 20 ducklings. She asked if she could help and I told her yes. So, she jumped right in there and helped us catched the baby ducks. After we caught them and placed them back in their duck stall, we proceded to talk. She was amazed at how many animals I had. We walked around and I showed her everything that needed to be done. She asked questions and then said that she usually writes things down as far as what needs to be done. I told her not to worry about writing anything down because I have a typed doument/How To - Step-by-Step Manual. She was shocked when I told her. I explained that I am a VERY organized person and that is the only way that I am able to conduct my day to day business is by writing things down.

. I also explained that the possiblity of having a stranger care for my animals is scary and in no way would I throw someone into something of this magnitude without some type of written directions/instructions. She was relieved because she said that just about all of her clients do not have instructions, so she has to write things down. She was concerned about all of the chickens not going in as I mentioned to her on the phone. I told her that I only had about 5 chickens that don't like going in but I know the ones that do not like to go in and I know where they hide. It's like clock work. I told her that the types of chickens and their hiding spots is also listed in the Manual. She was surprised when I said that. I explained to her that twice a day checks are needed and mandatory. She said that it would be no problem.

At the end of the Meet and Greet, she told me that she was sure that she could do the job. She wanted to know when was I planning my vacation. I told her that it depends on how quickly I find someone and how fast they catch on. She said that she would have to come back out and actually do the evening chores so she could do exactly what I do. I told her that what may take me 1 hour to do would probably take her 1 1/2 hrs or more. She said that she understood. We exchanged business cards and I told her that I would contact her to let her know of my decision and when I decide to take a vacation. She said that her price would be a FIRM $75.00 per day. She said that she could get her references to call me because she does not give out her client's names and phone numbers. I was like oooooooooooooooo' kay. I'm sure it's for privacy reasons. I guess that's understandable.

All in all, she was a very nice person. If this is the person that I choose, then I will email her my How to manual and have another meeting with her about the animals. I will continue to search for someone. I read somewhere that high school students who are in the club FFA (Future Farmers of Amercia) at school, would be a good choice as well. I will call my old high shool and talk to my teacher who is now the principal and see if he can refer someone to me. I know that it's a lot of work to do but $75.00 is too much for me to spend. If I'm gone for 4 days, that is $300.00. I think that's a bit too much for me. At the same time, I know nothing is free and you get what you pay for. I understand that this is her business and she will have to drive 60 miles round trip twice a day, so her gas and travel time is included. I totally understand but for me that is way too much if I can find someone who lives in my hometown.

Forgot to mention, the only thing that turned me off about her was that she she said that she likes to take pictures and she would like to take pictures of my animals and farm. THAT IS A NO NO !!!! I didn't ask her why and I would hope that the pictures are not to post on her website or to use in her brochures for advertising my mini farm to show that she has worked with a large farm animal group. That is a BIG NO NO for me. I guess this is equivalent to our thread discussion when some of us mentioned being against or being ok with having someone go over to our homes (or pet sitter's home) to check out our set up and how we care for our animals. Would you all agree? To have my personal home/farm/animals photographed and posted somewhere is a BIG violation of my privacy. Now, she didnt' exactly say that is why she wants to take pictures, so I don't want to judge her so fast. But what other reason could there be? Anyone want to comment on that?

Well, the search continues.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Quote:
That looks like a PART German Shepherd. Anyone else see the wolf in there????

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
That looks like a PART German Shepherd. Anyone else see the wolf in there????

You are absolutely right about part wolf!!! I found an ad on Craigslist where this same person was selling this breed that was part wolf. I think they called it Wolf Hybrid or something like that. Does that term sound right? I don't have the ad in front of me, so I can't remember exactly what the term was but I think they said Wolf Hybrid dog.

 

[NellaBean]

My petsitter asked the same thing.....if they could take pictures. I said they could take a picture as long as it did not identify me or my location. Just the other day I went to their website to be nosy and they do have pictures of tons of pets they have "petsat" and mine are included in there. I don't see what is wrong with that? It was nice to see how MANY different ones are listed......and also, that my dogs looked so normal and happy when I was not around

If you were looking at websites and saw pix of "farms" they had 'petsat' wouldn't that make you feel better that they DO have some experience doing that? They were really generic pictures. Just the dogs in the living room playing (you can only see dogs and carpet), one of my cat in the laundry room......they did have pix of ducks on a pond with a note "we even will feed your ducks!". Which was nice

 

[hipeatall]

Quote:
My farm sitter asked to take pictures of my animals and I didn't have any issue at all with it... I didn't see it as a violation of my privacy at all - she asked and I said sure, why not

. I would have no problem with her using these pictures on her website or in a brochure to promote her business. I guess it's all how you look at it... personally, I really want her business to be successful so she can keep doing the wonderful work she is doing and so I that I can continue to take a few weeks off with my family every year

.
$75 sounds really reasonable for a professional farm sitter when you take into account the number of animals you have and the amount of work you need done daily.
I'm glad you found someone... hope you get to take a break!

 

[Jajika]

Kuntrygirl:

You are doing the right thing by being extremely careful about who knows where you are and your cirumstances. No, you can't be too careful, ever.

References are a very good thing. If someone does not have references or give them, hang-up and cross them off of your list.

I was lucky. The chicken sitter I found was taking care of chickens in my community and I knew the family. I was lucky in that I knew the person and her standards. I knew if Francine (Aunt Effiie) was working for my friend, she was good....and she is.

Keep to your paranoid standards. Hopefully you will find a trustworthy person. Possibly advertising yourself and then you can vet the people who meet your list of standards.

Geri