5 Tips to find a good pet sitter in Australia

Tips to find a good pet sitter in Australia

Photo: Andrew Branch/Unsplash.com

When it comes to finding a good pet sitter in Australia over the holidays, it can be a nerve wracking and stressful time. Your pet is a member of the family and while it would be great to be able to take them away with you wherever you go, from time to time we need to make alternative arrangements.

Finding a great pet sitter, with whom you can entrust your beloved pet, might seem like a challenging experience but once you break it down to a few key elements, you’ll find that it’s actually pretty easy.

We asked Tiahn Wetzler from findadogminder.com.au to share her top 5 tips to find a good pet sitter in Australia.

1. Make a checklist

As with anything important, a good idea is to layout exactly what you need and exactly what your expectations are. This way, you can ensure that you/your pet doesn’t miss out on any of the necessities or the daily comforts they’re used to.

2. Use a trusted pet sitter service with verifications

Finding a pet sitter with whom you can truly entrust the life and happiness of of your pet to is extremely important. You don’t want to hand them over to just anybody and given that you’ll also likely be giving them access to your home, verification and certification are two extremely important points. For these reasons, it’s a good idea to use a service like findadogminder.com.au, where you can match with perfect potential sitters and find exactly who you’re looking for with the comfort of knowing they’re legitimate.

3. Meet with the pet sitter first/trial

For your own peace of mind, and that of your pets, a meet-and-greet or trial is a great idea. You might like to invite the potential pet-sitter over to your house to meet your pet and see how they get along. If you’re looking specifically for a dog-sitter, you could try going for a walk to the park together, given that walking your dog will be a significant part of their role. Once you’ve met a good match, you’ll feel much more confident leaving your pet in their care. You’ll immediately get a sense of whether you’re happy with the person, but a few key traits and qualities to look out for are honesty, commitment, experience and rapport with your pet.

4. Put an emergency plan into place

While verified and qualified pet sitters should be well versed and experienced in dealing with emergency situations, it’s a good idea to have a specific plan that you are comfortable with. This way the sitter will know exactly how to react to any situation, small or large. You will also be able to rest easy knowing that if an emergency situation does arise, a plan put into place by you can be carried out immediately.

5. Provide a schedule/information sheet

Just as it’s important to create a checklist to determine what you’re looking for in a pet sitter, it’s equally important to provide your new pet sitter with a schedule and an important information document from which they can work off. This handy list should list include everything from feeding instructions, medical instructions (if necessary), play time and treat time to a walking schedule and any other services that might be included, such as light housework.

About the author: Tiahn Wetzler is a journalist, writer and editor. She writes for various newspapers and websites, and blogs all about dogs at findadogminder.com.au. You can follow her on instagram @tiahnwetzler