How House Sitting Works

Planning on going away any time soon? Let's talk about one of our most popular pet sitting services, overnight house sitting. Most importantly we want to talk about the changes we made recently.

Previously, we had two different levels of house sitting. The main difference between them was how they're scheduled on our end and what it looks like for our team. In level one, our sitters were booked for other services. That meant that in addition to the overnight they were also scheduled in the resort or would provide in-home services just like they normally would. Level two, the sitter was not scheduled for anything else. However, in both versions, the sitter would fit in walks and potty breaks where they could in their schedule. Both levels had the same basic services: overnight care, feedings, medications, getting the mail, watering plants, neighborhood walks, and litter box scooping.

That was how we ran our house-sitting service for a year and a half. What we discovered was that we needed to make a change. The way we were doing things prevented us from providing the high-quality care we pride ourselves on all of the time. In level one, the house-sitting pets weren't getting as much time with the sitter as we would of like because the sitter was busy with their regular schedule. It just never felt like we were giving them enough time to make them feel special. With level two, on the other hand, we took a staff member away for an entire stay. That made it difficult for the rest of the staff to cover everything that person would normally do. It also had us cutting back the number of visits and walks we could offer to our regular clients who depend on us every day.

That didn't seem fair either so something needed to change. We sent a survey out to our clients asking them what was most important for them when it came to our house sitting services. We took that feedback and used it to revamp our services to best meet those expectations.

The number one thing people cared about? The amount of time that their pets were home alone. Bearing that in mind, level one will stay pretty much the same. Your pets will get approximately twelve hours of overnight care from their last meal of the day to their first meal. There will also be potty breaks as the sitter can manage to work them into their schedule. Level two will also provide that overnight care but they will get visits/walks every three to four hours throughout the day.

Additional services will still be available for an additional fee. We have developed a sheet for your convenience to sign up for additional services for your pets. This saves us from reaching out and interrupting your trip to ask to care for basic husbandry issues that can come up like tangled coats and mud-loving dogs.

All these changes may seem pretty minor to you but they are major for us. What does it all mean for you and any upcoming stays you have planned? We sent an email to our upcoming house sitting stays asking whether they wanted to change their level based on these changes. If you haven't replied to that please do that as soon as you can. Other than the new service sheet there isn't much that is going to change with the booking process. You still get to see your sitter before every trip if you would like to make sure everything is covered before you go. You still get the reassurance that someone is with your pets at night and making sure they get the care they need.

So, what questions do you have? Do you have any feedback on what you'd like to see offered with a house-sitting stay? Drop them in the comments and we will answer them as best as we can.