Getting Started Pet Sitting
If you love animals then it might sound really fun to start your own pet sitting business. What could be better than getting to cuddle with animals all day long? Pet sitting is a great way to make money, but there is a lot more to it than just playing.
In order to become a pet sitter and have people hire you they will want to make sure you know enough about animals to do a good job. They love their pet and want their furry friend to have the best care possible.
That means you should have some experience caring for animals. If you have your own dogs or cats that is a good head start. If you’ve never had a pet you might want to visit a friend or family member who have one so you can see if pet care is something you are good at. You might even volunteer to take care of your own pet without your family’s help for a couple of days, or volunteer to take care of your friend’s pet.
Taking care of a pet means:
• Feeding it on time
• Making sure it has enough water
• Taking it out to go to the bathroom
• Making sure it gets enough exercise
• Taking care of it when it gets sick
• Knowing what the pet likes and does not like
• Sticking with the pet’s routine
A friend, neighbor, family member, or client might hire you to do these things for their pet when they go away. A lot of people would rather hire a pet sitter than send their pet off to a kennel. You’ll usually go to their house to sit for the pet, which means the pet will get to stay in its home environment. Sometimes the pet might stay with you in your house instead.
If you are too young to start your own business this might be something you can help another pet sitter do. Sometimes pet sitters who have their own business like to have an assistant to help with things like going for walks or feeding.
If you are old enough to start your own business there are some things you need to do to protect yourself and get clients.
1. First, you need to learn all you can about taking care of pets. There are several different books on the market that can help you. “Pet Sitting for Profit” by Patti J. Moran is an excellent one to start with.
2. You or your parents need to think about protecting yourself in case something goes wrong while you are sitting. Sometimes things do happen, and pets get sick. A professional pet sitter with a business needs to be bonded and insured. See this link for more details: http://www.petsit.com/content316684.html.
3. You can also get accredited by joining at PSI. This definitely encourages more people to hire you so you can grow your business. You can find more information about becoming a professional pet sitter at this address: https://www.petsit.com/members/register_step1.php
4. Since you want to provide the best service possible, it’s a good idea to find out what people consider to make up a good pet sitter. This humane society article on choosing a pet sitter gives you a good idea of what people want: http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/choosing_a_pet_sitter/
5. National Association for Professional Pet Sitters (NAPPS) is another resource you can look at to become better in your business and get more credibility: http://www.petsitters.org/index.cfm
6. It can also help to read about how other people’s pet sitting businesses are going and how they handle the daily life of caring for pets. A great example is: http://www.charlottereed.com/images_press_print/2001_0305_cnnmoney.pdf
Pet sitting can be a hobby that you do to help out friends and family members, and to make a little bit of extra money. Or, you could make it a very profitable and long-term business by becoming accredited, getting insurance, and advertising for many customers. It’s hard work, but it can be a lot of fun too!