Are you and your Pet Care Specialist prepared for: Extreme Weather, Travel Delays, Car Accidents, and more?
Lately we have been dealing with Winter weather in the Northern Virginia area. I was thinking about an issue with a client that caused way more stress than either one of us wanted to experience as she was out of the country. I was watching her two dogs, who had very special needs with another sitter splitting the job.
We were concerned that the weather was going to get very bad, ice and snow accumulations which would make it very difficult to get to her home with a very long driveway. When we asked her and the company owner about emergency plans if the sitter could not get to the house, the business owner recommended boarding the dogs overnight and when I conveyed that information to the Owner she panicked. We did not have some of the information that we needed to make decisions, such as the detailed physical condition of one of the dogs which prevented her from being transported in a car, the anxiety issues with the other dog which prevented her from being boarded, and the fact that they did not have current shots, so they would not be accepted at a boarding facility. What to do next?
There were no neighbors that they trusted to go check in on the dogs, there were no provisions such as leaving pee pads in case the sitter did have to take extra time or precautions to be able to be there for her animals, it was a difficult situation all the way around. Fortunately the weather did not turn out to be as bad as was predicted, and I was able to get out to take care of the pets with little difficulty, but the stress that we went through to get there was not something I would want to repeat!
While we, as Professional Pet Sitters take the well being of the pets in our care verys eriously, we also have families, responsibilities, and the need to be concerned for our own safety and well-being. For this reason, here at Seventh Heaven, we take making sure that our Owners update their Pet’s and their own Emergency Contact Information very seriously. We also have our Clients fill out an Emergency Plan if they will be out of town for any period of time. This plan considers contingencies that no one wants to think about such as Emergency Guardianship for their pets, who could be called on if something happened to the Sitter and it took some time to work out a replacement, but once we have it all down on paper and in the database, it gives me as the Owner of Seventh Heaven, peace of mind as well as the Clients!
I hope that this gives you some ideas about what to communicate to your Pet Sitter before you go on your next trip, and of course it would be great if you chose Seventh Heaven Pet Care to provide those services!!