How Do I Find a Reliable Pet Sitter?

My cousin is getting married (congrats Lindsay and Colin!) and I wanted to offer her some tips on finding a good pet sitter.

She said that someone suggested Rover.com.  Yes, I said, you can find a good pet sitter on Rover-- but how do you know the good ones from the bad ones?  What prevents someone from taking your money, and never turning up to take care of the dog?  We have all heard horror stories of a friend who was watching someone's dog and...  At this point, Colin spoke up.  He knew someone whose dog was being watched by a friend and the dog got loose and got killed by a car. That is one of the reasons it is worthwhile to hire a professional: we are experts in the art of door-blocking, having practiced it with multiple pets for days and years.

I've talked before about the dangers of hiring a non-professional, so in this blog I want to focus on how pick out the very best of professionals.  The price of professionals seems to vary only slightly, but the services can be quite different. Here are some things to consider when talking to a potential pet sitter:

Insurance: a good pet sitter will have insurance to protect your home and pet. Pet sitting insurance covers accidents that happen to your house as a result of pet sitter neglect, although is not very common. An example of this is newly ruined floors from pet accidents. Some pet sitters get insurance riders that cover damage to a customer's property-- for instance, if I break a client's expensive vase, my insurance will pay for it.  If the pet sitter has employees, make sure the employees are bonded, as this will protect you from theft.

More importantly, the insurance will cover something that happens to your pet on the pet sitter's watch.  For example, if your dog gets bitten by another dog on a walk, or if your dog ingests a toy that requires him to have surgery, insurance will reimburse the vet costs.  Pet sitter insurance does not cover if your dog injures other people, pets, or the pet sitter. It only covers accidents that happen to your dog.

Contracts: surprisingly, some people feel comfortable handing over the keys to their home and entrusting their pet to a stranger without a written contract.  If something happens without a contract, you don't have any legal recourse. Nobody wants to think about bad things happening, but for goodness sake, protect yourself!

References: potential clients seldom ask for references.  I always feel a little weird asking good customers if they will provide references for me; instead, I have a list of written testimonials on my website. Realistically, anyone can make up "written testimonials" on a website, and anyone can make a website that makes their business look amazing. I now encourage my customers to leave references on google and yelp-- it is more difficult for business owners to fake. If you want to get the straight scoop on a potential pet sitter, ask for references and then get in touch with them directly. Don't trust a pet sitter's marketing just because it looks professional.

Communication: my company has a software system that allows us to email our customers after every single pet visit.  I insist on sending pictures and notes for every visit. The owner might not be able to check email immediately, but if she does check, she will be certain we were there and the approximate time of the visit.  There are many professionals using these types of software systems, which may include options to schedule online and even payment online. If your pet sitter uses a paper log, you can see the activities when you come home, but it won't reassure you while you are gone.

Once you have found a potential pet sitter, you should schedule a Meet and Greet. A professional will always insist on meeting your pets at your house before you leave.  Most pet sitters do not charge for the meet and greet, although

some charge a modest fee or a refundable deposit. Your pet sitter should pay careful attention to your pet's routines, finding out what, where, and how often to feed your pet, your pet's exercise routines, and get several emergency numbers.  You generally need to leave a key with them and they should have a reliable method of tagging the key so they recognize it as yours, but in the event the key is lost nobody else would know "Oh, that's a key for Phoebe and Atlas's house!"

With these tips in mind, you should be able to find a solid professional pet sitter who will be available to you for years to come and provide reliable pet visits without fail.

Bright Star Pet Services: Customer Service Award for 2015/16

Gordon Larsen Business Achievement Awards

The Business Achievement Awards are presented annually by the Lake in the Hills village board.  Each year, the board recognize businesses that have made a positive impact in our community. People from Lake in the Hills and surrounding areas are encouraged to nominate a local business that stands above the rest in one of three different categories: customer service, community service, or employer of choice.

Judy playing with Lucca and Brisby.

Anita snuggles with the puppy Gee-O

We were thrilled to be nominated by several clients for the award in the field of customer service. It was even more exciting yesterday when the village President, Paul Mulcahy, presented the 2015/16 award to us. We are proud of our business and will always work hard to be responsive to our customers' needs.

Nick shares some love
with Gannon and Blarney.

We now have a web page with testimonials and pictures of happy client pets on our website,
http://www.brightstarpets.com


We want to say thanks to the Lake in the Hills village board for presenting us with this award, and to our many wonderful customers who nominated us. Most of all, we offer our heartfelt gratitude to our outstanding employees who work hard, every day of the year, and provide exceptional care and love to so many pets.

Product Reviews: Lighted leashes, collars, and doggy safety lights

During winter in the Northern latitudes, there never seems to be enough daylight.  I worry about walking along the sidewalk or street in the dark, and I have tried a lot of different products to make sure I am visible. Here are some helpful hints for making your night walk a little brighter:

Lighted Collars

Nite Dawg LED collar by Nite Ize

Lighted collars are a poor choice for dog walking at night.  If your dog has any significant amount of fur, it will partially obstruct the collar, and depending on the direction your dog is facing, may not be visible to oncoming traffic.  Lighted collars are a good choice if you want to keep track of a loose dog in a secure or fenced area, but definitely not the best choice for dog walking.

Nite Dawg LED Pet Leash by Nite Ize

Lighted Leashes

Lighted leashes are wonderful inventions for making dogs and walkers more visible to oncoming traffic. I have personally used the Nite-Ize lighted leash for 6 months of nightly dog walks, and it worked very well and was water resistant.  I have used it during several downpours, and many snow flurries, without any problems, although it does not claim to be waterproof.   When the light gets dim, the button-cell batteries must be replaced using a screwdriver.   The leash appears odd because it only lights from the handle to halfway down the lead, but that is more than enough to let someone know you are coming, plus it has a reflective stripe running the length of the leash for added visibility.

Dog-e-Glow lighted leash

I recently purchased a Dog-E-Glow lighted leash, and that also seems to work well, and I love the variety of styles and colors.  Note that the Dog-E-Glow leash has a tiny switch on the side of the light housing to connect the circuit. I was very frustrated when the second time I tried to use the leash I couldn't get it to light up because I had forgotten about this on/off switch.

Litey Leash

I also tried out the inexpensive Litey-Leash.  It worked well for about the first half of my dog walk, but then my 70-lb. dog apparently pulled the circuit apart and it no longer lit up.  Admittedly, the Litey-Leash says it is for dogs under 75 lbs, and my dog can pull a bit, but I was disappointed with the results.  Perhaps for smaller dogs it would not be an issue, but on the other hand, neither the Dog-E-Glow nor the Nite-Ize leashes had any problems, even with a 100 lb. dog.

UPDATE: (October 2014)  Dog-E-Glow has become my regular nighttime leash.  One caution, though: this leash is quite sturdy, with a heavy-duty clasp, and simply does not make sense for walking a dog less than 20 lbs.   Also, because of the thickly-padded handle, it is difficult to hold 2 leashes, and the 6 ft. length means a dog can really move away from you, which is not ideal at night in the dark.

Collar Lights

PetLit by Nite-Ize

Collar lights are designed to clip on to the dog's collar and help light the way.  In general they are small and the light is ineffective if you need to figure out where your dog just pooped, but nice for a little ambient light. I bought several Nite-Ize SpotLit (or PetLit) carabiners, which have two major product flaws.  The button is extremely difficult to turn off and on-- nice that the dog won't accidentally turn it off (or on), but frustrating when I had to literally step on it because I didn't have enough hand strength to turn it on.   The light worked great until the battery died, but after replacing the battery, it would randomly turn off after about 3-5 minutes. This happened with not one, but several of the SpotLits.  I was extremely annoyed to be left in the dark!

Miscellaneous

Puplight

The greatest light of all, for me, has been the PupLight.  It looks incredibly awkward, but the design is ingenious. It is basically a spotlight-type of light hinged to a plastic holder that allows the owner to bend it to any angle vertically.  This small light is designed to either be worn on a lanyard around the owner's neck, or worn on an elastic collar which slides over the dog's head as shown here.  Out of all my lighted tools, this is the one I found indispensable.  It was literally bright enough for me to wear as a lanyard and see several feet in front of me, as well as allowing enough light to pick up poops. I also felt confident that if anyone tried to mug me I could shine it in their eyes and temporarily blind them-- it was really bright! The light requires two AAA batteries which are easily replaced without needing a screwdriver.   It is definitely not waterproof, so if you put it on your dog make sure he isn't about to take a swim.

SlapLit by Nite-Ize

With me in my black winter coat, and my two black Giant schnauzers, high visibility is important not only from the front but also from the back.  For this reason I like the 360 degree visibility of lighted leashes, and usually supplement it with a SlapLit bracelet on either puffy sleeve from Nite-Ize.  I was worried about them falling off, but so far they usually stays on pretty well.

What about you?
Do you have any other tips or recommendations for high visibility during these cold winter nights?