Hiring a pet sitter was a big decision.   I remember being nervous that I was going to let someone into my house while I wasn’t home. I’m usually a very private person and while there really wasn’t much of value to steal or damage in my house at the time, my privacy was just as much at risk as my possessions. My home is and always has been my safe space.  When life is crazy at work or the family is at it again, my home is always where I retreat to.  So you can see that I didn’t take this decision lightly.

I asked questions like how will I know when you’re in my house. Mind you, this was when cell phones first became a thing that everyone had.  Back then, you had to push the number one three times to get to the letter C.  There was no such thing as a touch screen.  Texting was not something that everyone did and certainly wasn’t unlimited like now. This was when phones were just phones. 

The reality was, I had a new puppy and she was a handful. I worked long hours and she needed more attention than I could give her.  That meant I needed help.  I looked up pet sitters in the yellow pages (yeah, I’m really dating myself here).  I called a couple and I invited one to come to my home for a consultation. 

She was so sweet and right away I could tell that she loved animals and my wild puppy adored her from the instant she walked in the door. 

Who Knew?

Who knew at that moment that I’d one day own a pet sitting company. I learned a lot from that experience and even more with other pet sitting experiences. Being a pet owner first has helped me to know how to create policies and procedures that I would want in my home and with/for my animals.  I have integrated many of those into Barkly Grove.

Here are a few things I learned and wish I knew when hiring my first pet sitter:

Is the Pet Sitter Insured?

Insurance is an absolute must.  While the pet sitter will certainly be cautious and careful inside your home, accidents can happen.  Insurance was one of our first business expenses. Rest assured that Barkly Grove is insured.

What’s the Key System?

I gave a key to a housekeeper once who completely ghosted me.  She stopped showing up for her scheduled cleaning appointments and never returned my calls and repeated attempts to get my house key back. Safety and security at home are incredibly important to me.

Here at Barkly Grove, we don’t keep keys to our client’s homes. We install a key lock box on the client’s property and their key stays on their property at all times. 

This is both a security measure and a time saving measure on our part.  We don’t have to worry about hand-offs of keys between sitters or our sitters having to make a special trip to the office every morning to get their keys for the day.  They simply get their route in their app and their off. 

When Will the Sitter Be at My House?

We use an app that has a timer.  When the pet sitter arrives, they start the timer. They can’t close out the visit without starting and stopping the timer.  You can see exactly when they were in your home.  The app is super cool because you get a full report emailed to you when the sitter closes out the visit.  You know whether your pet went to the bathroom and at what time.  

We have taken great care in creating a business that is both secure and convenient to use for our clients.  If you’re curious about how to best work with a pet sitter, please call us. We are happy to talk with you and even stop by to meet you and your pets.

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