| answered a question | What type of food we should give to the dog to make them healthy? Look into the brand Orijens. It's quality and very reputable. Side note on dog food. Food is best when it is fresh. This is true across the board for humans and dogs. Common sense right? So please think twice about ordering your dogs food from sites like AMAZON. Think about it. The products Amazon sells including food products sit in wearhouses for who knows how long before it gets shipped out. You are much better ordering direct from manufacturer or buying from a good pet store. And check the date. Same reason why you shouldn't buy coffee from Amazon. You'll be lucky to get a bag that was roasted less than five years ago. No thank you. |
| answered a question | Dog won't potty outside at all-- sometimes uses pee pads for urine and crate for poop- what do you suggest? Check out the small but effective book titled "Way to go! How to house-train a dog of any age" by Karen B. London and Patricia B Mconnell. As far as training goes I would recommend reading books, or looking up online lectures/classes by any of the three following experts: Dr. Ian Dunbar, Karen Pryor, and Patricia McConnell. Of course there are plenty other good resources and trainers out there. |
| answered a question | drop in service? I often take late night booking especially on the weekends |
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| commented question | Can I charge extra for constant accidents? I had a similar situation and the owners volunteered to hire carpet cleaners for me. Of course I absolutley sent them a thank you card, goodie bag of treats, toys and bones for the dog and gave them 30% off a future booking. Now I walk their dog 5 days a week every week. Just be kind to people. 😁 |
| commented question | Can I charge extra for constant accidents? You can ask the owners in a very nice way of they would mind chipping in. It was just an unfortunate situation probably because the dog was stressed from being boarded. If you word it correctly and place no blame on the owners or dog you might get lucky. People can be sympathetic if you are nice. |
| commented answer | Can I keep my dog from catching worms from my clients dog? I wouldn't accept a dog that has a transmittable illness if I owned a puppy. But I always get an emergency contact from the owner before boarding a dog.I tell owners it should be someone in town that can come get the dog Should something happen and i couldn't complete a booking. |
| commented question | Can anyone offer some advice for soliciting customer feedback? I wouldn't stress about it. It could be for any number of reasons like cheaper rate, other sitter has a dog that is their best buddy, closer to owner, other sitter is married to a vet (you never know!), etc. They may just not want to be confronted as to why they went elsewhere and that's ok. 😃 |
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| answered a question | I have a client who wants to book me for 8 nights of boarding over a holiday. Her dog is dog-aggressive so I won't be able to book any others. Am I better off to decline ? I wouldn't take a dog with aggression issues if you are not an experienced trainer who knows how to safely handle such animals. What would you do if You encounter another dog on a walk? Is the dog only aggressive towards dogs? Do they display resource guarding? Can they be handled safely? Do they bark a lot? Often aggression comes out in more than one way. Unfortunately some owners downplay issues their dog has so that a sitter will accept a booking. They drop the dog off and then jet out of town for the holiday for 8 days then you find out on day 2 that there are a lot more issues than the owner let on . Then youre either suck with that dog for the whole booking or you have to cancel and make other arrangements for this dog (which will probably be very difficult) and you miss out on having any bookings for that holiday. If the holiday is in the near future try lowering your rate to attract customers and potentially be able to book more than one. If it's far enough out just wait, people often book last minute. Whatever you do please don't book this dog then down the road when you get other requests for the same holiday, cancel this booking so you can accept the newer ones. That's not fair to do to someone, leaves the customer in a bind and is very unprofessional. |
| commented question | How does house sitting work? Look for sitters who are independently insured and bonded. And ask to see their policy to make sure they have coverage for pet sitting (housesitting with a pet present) and/or housesitting (no pet present). These sitters are typically going to be the more professional and safest bet for the job. |
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| answered a question | My client wants me to take the dog to a park to walk them., is that ok? Don't do it. I have my own insurance policy with more coverage than rovers (rovers liability for a walker/sitter is very low) and I won't take a dog to one. Way too risky. |
| answered a question | What boarding Insurance do you guys extra outside of Rover? I have my insurance through http://petcareins.com. it was the only one that upon investigation had BBB A+ Rating and actual reviews from customers you could find online. Added bonus is they have AMAZING customer service. I mean that's rare these days. Was very happy and impressed. Super simple to sign up and has all the coverage options you would possibly need with options to customize. Also once you have a policy they give you assistance and a discount on incorporating your business (LLC, S-corp). Online dashboard with your policy, documents, etc and the website is very user friendly.. I heard the Carolinas is fine too, though the coverage options are different and you have to also become a member of another organization first. Bad website and not very helpful. But I know trainers that use them and say it's fine. Hope this helps. |