If you’re hiring someone to look after your dog for the first time, there are many things you need to learn. You know this instinctively because you feel like leaving the sitter with some information, but it just appears that you don’t know what. So, what do you tell a dog sitter?
Before leaving for an extended vacation, it’s important to tell your pet sitter about your dog’s feeding and exercise routine. You should also tell them if your dog has any specific dislikes or food allergies to keep your dog in optimum condition throughout your time away.
In this article, you’ll learn the correct way to prepare for your first pet sitter. From the supplies to leave to all the instructions to give, this is your comprehensive pet sitter hiring guide.
What Should I Leave for Someone Watching My Dog
Before leaving your dog with a pet sitter, it’s important to keep a checklist of the items you should leave for your dog. With a checklist, it will be way easier to determine if you’re missing something, what you’re missing, and how to get it for your pet sitter.
Also, keeping a pet sitter checklist will make it easier for your pet sitter to look after your pet. Since they also forget to ask for some things, it’s partly up to you to remind and provide them with everything they need to care for your dog optimally.
Here is a list of things you should leave for your dog sitter and why they all matter.
1. Detailed care instructions
You were probably expecting this to start with an item, but instructions are the most important things to leave when dedicating your dog’s wellbeing to a sitter. The instructions should mostly be about your dog’s routine, as keeping to that will make your absence easier on your dog.
It will help your pet sitter to know what brand of dog food your dog eats and how much food they eat daily. You can also leave specific details, such as the times when you feed your dog and the containers your dog uses for eating.
This is especially important if your pet will be leaving your home to the pet sitter. If you’re not, you only need to leave the times, as it will be very unlikely that they’ll ever need to purchase new foods for your dog.
2. Contact details
If you’re going away for some time, it’s important to leave some contact details for the person watching your dog. Dropping your phone number, email address, and some other contact information about a family member will ensure that they can reach you whenever you want.
Ideally, your pet sitter should ask you for all these details. Most pet sitters will want to update you on the status of your pet daily, but you should leave this information if they forgot to ask.
3. Where you store your pet items
For your dog sitter to take effective care of your dog, they need to access their toys, food, leash, etc. If they forgot to ask about all these things, you should readily provide the information. Dogs don’t adapt to change quite well.
4. Contact details of your veterinarian
You can’t be certain that your dog will never need to see the veterinarian throughout the time you’ll be away. To prepare preemptively for this unwanted scenario, you must ensure that you leave your pet sitter with your veterinarian’s contact details.
What to Tell Someone Who Is Watching Your Dog
There are a lot of things you should tell your pet sitter before leaving for your next vacation. While most of these will come naturally to you, it’s important to always get a reminder to ensure you’re not forgetting anything.
Your pet sitter should always know if your pet has any preexisting health conditions that may warrant a visit to the vet. If they’ll only need to keep to scheduled medications, your pet sitter should also know about it.
Your pet’s feeding and exercise schedule are also important information to leave your pet before going on a vacation with your dog. If your pet has any specific dislikes or food allergies, always try to let your pet sitter know before leaving.
If you forget to leave some of this information, you can contact your pet sitter to tell them anytime, if it’s not too late then.
How Do I Prepare for a Pet Sitter?
There’s more to preparing for a pet sitter than simply leaving a bunch of stuff and information for them. You must put some things in place before your pet sitter arrives to ensure a smooth service by the vet and a comfortable experience for your dog.
Before your pet sitter arrives, it’s imperative to keep your dog at its best to prevent any adverse reactions to the sitter. If possible, ensure the dog is well-fed and walked well to ensure they’re in their best moods while meeting the pet sitter.
You should also confirm that your dog has enough medication to last it through your time away. It’s also important to note that your pet sitter is not a vet; you must leave instructions as to how the medications are to be administered.
Always leave a set of keys for your pet sitter, even if you have a keypad. Your keypad is a computer, and computers run into errors. There is no way to determine if your keypad will work when your pet sitter shows up, and you don’t want to leave your dog stranded for such a petty mistake.
If the pet sitter won’t be looking after your pet all day long, you may want to clear the house of any objects that may be damaging to the pet.
You should also make provisions for your pet sitter if they’ll be dropping in at your home. Try to be very specific about the off-limits in the house; although, they’ll default to avoiding everything you didn’t specifically ask them to touch.
If it will be fine for your pet sitter to eat from your refrigerator, try to state that explicitly before leaving. You should also ensure there are enough supplies of toilet paper and other necessary home supplies before leaving.