Knowing the right questions to ask when checking references for a pet sitter can make or break your experience with the pet sitter you hire. My sister-in-law, who doesn’t live locally to me, recently asked for help finding a pet sitter for her sweet two pups, Buddy and Bruno. After following the steps in my previous articles on How Do I Find A Pet Sitter and What To Look For When Hiring A Pet Sitter, I asked my sister-in-law if I could call the references we were given for the two different pet sitting businesses we contacted in her area. I thought who better to know what questions should I ask when checking references for a pet sitter than a professional pet sitter with over a decade of experience.
Check out my top 12 list of what questions should I ask when checking references for a pet sitter.
- What kind of pets do you have?
- What kind of services do you use when you hire them to care for your pets?
- Did they meet you with you for a complimentary consultation before you hired them?
- Did they have you complete a detailed intake form on caring for your pets and home?
- Were your pets and your home as expected upon your return?
- Did they have a backup plan in the event of a personal emergency or illness making it so they couldn’t come to your pet sitting visits or overnights?
- How many times have you hired them?
- When was the last time they cared for your pets?
- What do you like about them the most?
- Have you ever had any negative experiences when working with them?
- Do they send you updates on your pets when you are away?
- Would you refer them to care for your best friend’s pets?
Buddy and Bruno
I truly believe if you ask all of the above questions to a minimum of 3 to 4 different clients, you will be able to make a well informed decision on whether you would like to hire the pet sitter. Based on the calls I made asking the above questions I was able to weed out the pet sitter I didn’t want my sister-in-law to use for Buddy and Bruno and to confirm which one to move forward with in setting up a complimentary consultation.
Do you have suggestions for other questions to add to our list?
These are all excellent questions (some would be great for hiring a sitter for a human baby, too!) I might add a question regarding how the proposed sitter would handle an emergency – for example, what would they do if your dog accidentally escaped from the yard?
When I write the post I also thought these tips could be useful for checking references on a baby sitter. Let’s face it, our pets are our babies. Great suggestion to add a question on how the sitter would handle an emergency. Thank you for sharing this.
What a great list. We might be in the market for a new dog walker soon , so this will come in handy.
Thank you for the practical advice and check lists. I had not thought of asking about a backup plan!
We are so glad our list of questions to ask when checking references for a pet sitter may come in handy if you will be looking for a new dog walker soon.
Yes, a backup plan is very important in the event of an emergency of illness.