What to Look for in a Top-Notch Pet Sitter

No matter what type of pet you have, hiring a professional pet sitter ensures safety, care, and maintenance for your companion. The key to finding a reliable sitter comes down to their experience, knowledge, communication skills, and trustworthiness. These are essential components of what to look for in a top-notch pet sitter.

Experience

While it’s true that everyone was once a beginner, you want to find an experienced pet sitter for your animal. Managing tasks such as dog walking, feeding, cleaning up lawn waste or litter boxes, or even bathing can be unmanageable for a new sitter. Your pet may need special treatments or medicines that the average person wouldn’t know how to administer. Someone who has experience performing these duties will be able to care for your pet efficiently.

Knowledge

It’s important to find someone who is knowledgeable on different animals. Cats and dogs are the most common household pets, and each has its own breed varieties. These breeds have different manners and tempers with which your sitter should be familiar. Try to find a sitter who’s comfortable with uncommon house pets such as rabbits, reptiles, amphibians, birds, or even farm animals. The more knowledgeable your sitter is, the more relaxed you’ll be leaving your pet in their hands.

Open Communication

A quality pet sitter will talk to you openly and constantly about your needs and your animal’s needs. They should be on call to arrange dates and times for their services that match up with your schedule. This person will become a part of your family dynamic, so open communication is necessary. Likewise, you should be understanding if they can’t provide their services due to be conflicts with their own schedule, such as in the case of a family or medical emergency. So long as everyone communicates freely, you should face no major issues.

Trustworthiness

Open communication establishes trust and a strong working relationship. Trustworthy pet sitters will respect your wishes and demands. Pet sitters should account for feeding, maintenance, cleaning, and walking according to your instructions, yet they should also act according to their professional judgment in case of emergencies. They should talk you through their care procedures and plan of action in case your pet gets sick, ingests a foreign object, or has any other issues.

We at Everything and the Dog are experts in dog walking and pet sitting in the Ashburn, VA, area. Check out our staff in Ashburn—we’ll provide you with the best-quality pet sitting service around.