As I was planning my exit from the high school classroom in retirement, I was also planning my next chapter in my life. Obviously, I have always had dogs and when we left the farm and moved to a neighborhood, I no longer had my parents nearby to watch my dogs when they couldn’t go along. I tried the boarding scenario, and I just wasn’t happy with the environment in that setting, even in the best situation. That led me to a notice on the bulletin board at my vet’s office for a lady that did in home pet sitting. I made an appointment for her to come to meet us and because I’m big on first impressions, I decided she wasn’t what I was looking for.
That was my “Eureka” moment and I determined that I had the qualifications to start my own pet sitting business when I retired. My teaching background gave me experience for the business side and my experience with animals made the job a perfect match. I started researching online and found a plethora of information with my best resource being a website and group forum at petsits.com. I got my LLC established, opened my bank account, created my simple webpage, developed all my paperwork and all I needed were pet clients to be a legitimate business.
Obviously, I started slowly and admittedly it took a couple of years to get a client base. Because of my dogs, I had good relationships with the five vets in my area and before long, word of mouth, my web presence, and some print advertising started to pay off. This is my fifth year in business and with two part time employees to help out when I want days off and during the busiest times, I am very comfortable with my client base and have almost as much as I can handle. Admittedly, I always welcome new clients because occasionally one of my regulars moves away or loses their pet and it’s nice to have another one to fill the spot.
This is leading up to my caption, “what to do with your puppy while you work”! I only do in home pet sitting which means when my clients travel, I make scheduled visits during the day to their house to care for the animals. The other service I provide is mid-day visits for folks who work long hours. Depending on the situation, I take the dogs for a walk and give them playtime in a fenced yard. This is perfect for my clients (and for those of you) with puppies because I can exercise them, let them potty, plus do a little basic obedience training so the pup is ready to nap until their owner gets home.
Check out my webpage at www.puppyluvpetsitters.com and to find a reputable pet sitter in your area search on www.petsits.com or www.petsit.com. That might be the answer to moving your puppy through it’s potty training and adolescent years into being a dependable adult dog.
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