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How much information to give a sitter?

How much information, as a sitter, do you expect is reasonable from a client about their dog?

We recently had someone sit our dog. Our dog has some particular habits, some of which can potentially be risky for her health. Specifically, she has a thing for eating gum and any scraps of food on the ground, in particular tomatoes (toxic in large quantities). It's something we are actively working with a trainer to train her out.

Given this, we mentioned to our potential sitter to look out for gum as our dog has the habit of going for it. We also asked if the sitter minded moving their overgrown tomato plant in their yard back into its planter if possible (note, we didn't ask them to cut it back or get rid of it). The sitter responded that this wasn't possible, but she keep an eye on our dog, which we said was fine.

The sitter later cancelled on us because she said she didn't like how we mentioned the gum and tomato plants since this showed that we didn't trust her ability to take care of our dog and pointed out that she's had dogs her whole life.

We're now looking for another sitter, and was wondering if we should hold back on these information about our dog's particular habits (gum and tomato scraps) that we're still working on to train her out of? We initially thought that we should be sharing this, but are unsure what to be sharing with sitters.

What would you, as a sitter, want to know? Is that too much micromanagement?

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yes, for sure, as a sitter i would like to know any particular dangerous habits so I can provide a safe environment for the animal.

3 Answers

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As a sitter I feel I need to know anything that the owner thinks is important. I definitely would want to know if your dog is addicted to eating up any scrap of trash food and whole tomato plants so that I could be extra vigilant even though I know that dogs shouldn't be eating gum and tomato plants! Yes, some owners can get overly-precious and give information that is not needed, but that is normal. I'd rather have too much information than not enough.

Do not hold back information that you feel is important.

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I definitely would want to know all quirks about the dog. This is one of the questions I ask owners when we first meet. As mentioned above, I too would rather have too much information than not enough.

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I completely agree. The sitter you choose to entrust with the care of your dog (or any pet) should want to know anything that is important to caring for that animal and should not be offended no matter how many they've cared for. Much like humans, each one is uniquely individual with different preferences, needs, habits, etc. This sitter was not a good match for your dog. Consider yourself lucky that you found that out before leaving your precious pup there and then having issues. The right match is out there.

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As a sitter I want to know every potential issue with you dog. As I say in my profile “ There is never to much information provided to a sitter” also as a sitter I have a list of questions and update as new information given from owners I find helpful for other owners in my profile. Never scale back info. You want a healthy safe environment for your pet!! If that sitter felt those 2 issues were to much, they should not be a sitter. Move on and find a responsible sitter.