Is anyone taking precautions due to COVID-19? What are you doing?

Overall, I'm really glad to still have a handful of clients booking with me, even though most have canceled. All my house-sitting bookings have canceled, so I'm only talking about dog walks here.

Obviously sanitizing my hands and all my tools in between each visit, changing clothes and shoes more frequently, and touching no surfaces in or around clients' homes. I'm also doing paw wiping using pet-safe disposable wipes (as opposed to reusable towels) with each dog after each walk as thoroughly as if it were a full on mudstorm. And I've been in good communication with my regular clients about the kinds of things I usually do that I'm NOT doing now, like the occasional dish-washing or bringing the garbage can up. I like giving above and beyond service but those little extras aren't so important right now.

I've asked my clients to please let me know if anyone in the household is symptomatic, and have refunded those walks. Everyone has been incredibly understanding about that and glad to protect their neighbors.

Everyone's situation is different. With a few of my previous clients where I know their dogs well and they have a fenced yard I have arranged to pick the dogs up from the yard & return them there afterward with no human-human contact. I have also accepted ready-to-go leashed dogs through the front door. Several of my clients even though they are now working from home have asked that I still come as regularly scheduled and we have taken a socially distant walk together! (Basically free talk therapy from me, heh, heck of an add-on). I haven't had anyone ask about grooming, but I've been trying to think about how to make that as safe as possible.

I'm really hopeful that our industry (pet service) will rebound much more quickly than many others. What else can we be doing to adapt our services to a changed world?

99% of my bookings have cancelled - I primarily do dog boarding and some doggy day care. But I'm still technically open because I know some people have urgent needs (I have 1 client that had to go to another state for a medical procedure). I have posted a little of the precautions I'm taking on my profile and Facebook page. Here's what I'm doing in general but we're definitely cleaning and sanitizing more!

Health Lisa and Diane are both healthy and showing no signs of COVID-19. If that changes, we will immediately shut down for new bookings and if we have dogs in our care we will let the owners know so we can make safe arrangements for pick up (we won't require immediate pick up and will work with you on the best time, even if that's the original time).

Sanitizing Products Like many of you, we only have what is on hand, but luckily we had some Lysol, disinfecting wipes, a bit of hand sanitizer, and other disinfectants, plus a lot of soap.

Coming and Going We don't have many people coming or going, but we are prepared. :) We ask that you text Lisa at least 10 minutes prior to coming over so that we can make sure we have our hands washed, etc. We will wash our hands thoroughly before and after anyone comes to drop off or pick up their pooch. We ask that you not touch the door handles or any surfaces, if possible. We will happily open the door for you. If anyone other than us touches anything we will sanitize it after they leave. We will wave and/or smile in greeting and to say good bye. As much as we love them, no hand shakes or hugs will be given. If multiple families will be here in the same day we will ensure the humans are not here at the same time. We will clean our door handles every day that we've had people here.

Day-to-Day We will still take the (walkable) dogs for walks. We will use our leashes. We will ensure that we are at least 6 feet away from anyone else that may be outside at that time. We will thoroughly clean food bowls after each meal (as we usually do). We will keep the water bowl clean. Your dog(s) will likely be the only ones here at the time. If that is not the case I will let you know. We have dog wipes and will happily rub them over your dog. They are safe, non-toxic, and have essential oils in them. We will wash our hands throughout the day (another thing we usually do).

If you have any questions or if I missed providing any pertinent information you need please message me.

We hope that all of our clients and their furbabies are healthy and getting through this crisis as well as you can.

Thank you! Lisa

On my community's NextDoor site, a number of people have posted about supporting their regular dog walkers even though they are home and technically don't require their services. However, they are encouraging people to continue to use them since these are the people they rely on day in, day out in all kinds of weather and circumstances.

I have an overnight booking on Wednesday for one of my repeat clients. After accepting the job, I'm having second thoughts about doing it due to the coronovirus going on. I've already accepted the job so I'm not going to cancel on them now. But I've already taken myself off of the availability list for the next 3 weeks after that job.

I shut down my business, it's the right thing to do to keep your family, clients and community safe