Interview with a Pet Sitter with 10 years of experience

Pet Sitter: You kind of have to have it written out, and -

Interviewer: I was gonna say, do you get written - ask for written instructions from people?

Pet Sitter: Pretty much, and I ask for an itinerary and written - if there's a lot written instructions, otherwise I made notes. You know, and I think I told you, also, that the last thing I say is that you have to shut the door and leave it and go have a good time, or I can't come back. (Laughter) Because I will call if something goes awry, and that's something that I would train - I want people to be comfortable when they're gone. I mean I know the value of vacation. I didn't take one for so many years, and when I go now I like to - yeah - feel very, very comfortable.

So if I was training somebody I would first interview them myself, and then we would walk through my house as a potential client, and it's a lot of hands on. Just walking through what I would do when I walk through with you on your - in your house. You would - oh, that bathroom's - don't use that, or - you know, just walk through the house with them, and watch to see what they absorb. There's no quiz, but I will ask questions. (Laughter)

Interviewer: Absolutely. All right, so if somebody is thinking about doing this and getting started they'll need business cards, right? I've read that sometimes it's a good idea to offer a few free pet sits just to build up a client base and be able to get references.

Pet Sitter: It's a service, and if they want to go that route they can make a really good price, and then tell them the next time it would be - I would go with my regular price, actually, now that I've been there. I would just do my regular price just right off. If they want to get started, they can start at a lower rate and build a clientele. It is real hard to come to your regular clientele and say, well, now I'm gonna be charging this much more.

Interviewer: Okay.

Pet Sitter: For me it's hard to do that. The young entrepreneurs now, they don't seem to have any problems with that. "Mom said I had to charge $15.00" And I'm like, "Mom did, did she?"

What else about house sitting?

Interviewer: Well, if someone was thinking about doing this, what would they need to know?

Pet Sitter: They would need to know that there's a commitment involved, and when you make the commitment to somebody, to a household and to the creatures you must fulfill it or take care of it if something comes up in your life, which sometimes that can happen. It's about being responsible.

Interviewer: Three feet of snow or not.

Pet Sitter: That's right.

Interviewer: Okay.

Pet Sitter: You have to get there, you know? They have to eat. You have to make sure the pipes didn't freeze.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Pet Sitter: I have had the most awful experience - a house sitting disaster. It was 1994 and I was house sitting at a very nice house with two dogs. I had cleaned up, secured the dogs, and closed the door. By the time the woman got home the washer hoses had burst. The pressure hoses, you know, because those are pressure faucets, and when she walked in and opened the door the water just poured out. The hoses burst about three hours before her arrival, because that was the time I left, and it was thousands of dollars of damage. Probably $57,000.00 worth of damage in her home.

Interviewer: Oh my God.

Pet Sitter: She had some priceless Oriental rugs. You know those things happen, and there was no blame or anything, but that was the most horrendous experience I ever had. The dogs were secure in the backyard, so they were okay. They didn't need their rubber rafts, but that's - you know, it just - I - that is a hard thing to hear, "Oh, when I came home..." That's the only time that ever happened, because now I will turn the washers - the water off on the washer if I can.

Interviewer: You will?

Pet Sitter: Yeah, if I'm not gonna be using it, it can be turned off. Because those are pressure hoses and -

Interviewer: You'd only have to go through one of those experiences to turn off the washer?

Pet Sitter: Yeah.

Interviewer: Are there other things you do to secure the house?

Pet Sitter: Right, if I'm not gonna use - I unplug unnecessary lamps and microwaves, things that - it's not that I'm afraid that they're gonna do - it's just an extra - it's like leaving the tea pot on the stove.

Interviewer: Sure.

Pet Sitter: I went and bought a kettle so that I - that goes off automatically and only use it for water, and I can leave the house knowing I did not leave the stove on.

Interviewer: Good idea.

Pet Sitter: I've done that several times, come back - before I got my kettle I'd come back because I couldn't go and do what I needed to do without that thought that I'd left the kettle, the stove on. I don't know. You know when there's a house with lots of plants I always make a note to myself to water them on a certain day.

Interviewer: Most people probably go away for like four days or so. Do you have to change strategies a little bit when they're away for two weeks or three weeks or something like that?

Pet Sitter: No.

Interviewer: No?

Pet Sitter: Not really. I have a friend - you know Sandy and Marilyn - they go away for two months every winter. They take their cats with them, but I still go and I still watch their house, and they were having some trouble with Ntran one time, and so -

Interviewer: Oh, they have that radiant heat system.

Pet Sitter: Yeah. No more, but they had some major damage.

Interviewer: Oh dear.

Pet Sitter: Yeah. So for them like when - I'm not just watching the house, I pick up the mail and walk through the house and -

Interviewer: Look for the puddles.

Pet Sitter: Look for the puddles, splish splash, but that is over now, so - (Laughter) But I have house sat for them up to three months.

Interviewer: Okay.

Pet Sitter: Once with their cats. I'm on their second generation of cats, and - but when they're in their RV they take their cats with them, and then it's very lonely at the house.

We've become really, really good friends, and so I'm the... if something should happen to them, the cats come to me. (Laughter) Actually, I had several families, two, three, that if something happens to them 'cause they travel a lot, I'll either take their animals or place their animals for them.

Interviewer: Wow.

Pet Sitter: Which I feel is a very high honor.

Interviewer: It is. You're like their godmother or something.

Pet Sitter: Yeah, my babies.

Interviewer: Absolutely.

Pet Sitter: You know I live in a pretty nice home, also, and sometimes it is a real - on the longer house sits it is hard to not be at my own house - in my own space, and that was one of the reasons I kinda quit doing it for a while. I'll do the stop ins, and with Sandy and Marilyn, I can see their house and I can see my house from where - so that one isn't so hard. There's a couple at the far end of El Dorado that - well, they take more time. More driving, and I've noticed the gas really is affecting when I have to drive to the far end twice. The last few months I have noticed it's just easier and less expensive to just stay there at the house.

Interviewer: Yeah, but after a few days I'm sure, you know, you'd want to go home. (Laughter)

Pet Sitter: I wanna go home, or I move my stuff to where I'm staying, and you know I have my projects, and I bought a little laptop that I can take with. Most everybody has wireless now, so that's a good thing. So you know I guess the main thing I could say to somebody wanting to do house sitting, it is a real joy, and you meet a lot of nice people and a lot of nice animals, usually, and it's not for everybody. I think because I moved around in my youth so much I can have that flexibility, but now as I'm getting into the later years I really enjoy my stability, so - you know, I mostly say five days is the limit unless I know it's gonna be the two or three monther. Five days is an ideal length of time.

Interviewer: Okay. That's about all I can really think to pick your brains over, so -

Pet Sitter: Well, if you have any more, just let me know.

Interviewer: Okay.

Pet sitting interview

page 1: pet sitting as house sitting, worst dog sitting experience

page 2: walking dogs, insurance, and pet sitting companies versus solo sitters

page 3: accessing client's needs, dogs in crates overnight, charging for overnight stays

page 4: how many animals and households is too much

page 5: injections, emergency numbers & menageries

page 6: written instructions, turning off water and unplugging appliances, long term house and pet sitting