The meet and greets are also for your evaluation of the dog and owner.

I've had my own business for 33 years in Silicon Valley and I made a vow to myself 10 years ago, never work with people who are unpleasant, want to negotiate everything down to the penny and ask for more work without paying.

It has served me well, as there are wonderful people out there who will appreciate and love what you do.

It's just like dating, you have to reject the inferior candidates.

Blessings!

This is how I feel: the cats are often more work than the dogs. Cats react in different ways to a person living in their house who is not a family member. They may try to get away and cause more trouble by disappearing or worse hiding under a car outside at midnight just out of reach.

You might be kneeling in your pajamas in the road to try and get this cat out. Like I did.

I also feel that being paid to clean out their litter boxes is not something I want to do for free.

So I always charge extra for cats and if they don't want to pay then that's fine, that client isn't for me.

If they value your great work, they might pay extra for the cats rather than break in a new person who isn't all that easy to find.

Thank you I really appreciate this, I thought it would upset the owners if I sent a photo of him completely bummed out that they are gone. He looks so terribly depressed. But it helps to hear your speedy response. Thanks again.

I did the meet and greet and all went well but when I showed up to the house to sit after the owners had left and I came in with a key, the dog didn't want me to pet him, won't go out side, and just sits on a couch and sulks. The owner said he does this all the time but to not want to go out at all is concerning me. He has't eaten much either. I am not interested in getting bitten and the feeling is that he will do that if I try to pet him or pick him up - I don't want to alarm the owners but I am concerned. What to do?