003- The Meet and Greet
If you're doing boarding or daycare, you definitely need to let the owner know if their dog is going to be around other dogs. Some owners do not want this and would prefer their dog be by themself and so they may have to look elsewhere for care. Other owners couldn't care less and Some owners may be a little bit timid, but be excited that their dogs will have a playmate.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
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Collin 0:15
I'm Collin. And I'm Megan. And this is pet sitter confessional. An open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter.
Meghan 0:24
Today, we'll be talking about the meet and greet a
Collin 0:28
little bit of follow up before we get there. At the end of last episode, I totally forgot to tell you how to follow us on all of the social media platforms. We are at pet sitter confessional on Facebook and Instagram, on Twitter, we are PS confessional. We really look forward to you guys joining that Facebook group and contributing to some great discussions in there and getting wonderful feedback. Our website is pet sitter confessional.com. You can listen to past episodes on there, as well as leave additional feedback On each of those, and see the show notes for each of these episodes as well.
Meghan 1:07
So let's dive into the meet and greet.
Collin 1:10
What is a meet and greet? And what's all the fuss about? Should you even have one?
Meghan 1:16
Well, we would say yes, the meet and greet is where you meet the potential client and their dog or cat or a bird or whatever. And this meeting allows you to get to know the client and their schedule. And so you can ask the owner any questions that you may have, we would say this is really important because you're going to be dealing with a skittish or timid dog or potentially an aggressive dog, you want to make sure that you get to know them and their schedule before you're sitting them. It's essential to knowing whether you're comfortable with the dog and the owners expectations, but sometimes you can't. So you have to decide if you're comfortable to do that. Usually, this is when you have last minute bookings or emergency bookings. Something's happened with the owner and they need to go way. And so usually it's very important to do the meet and greet beforehand. But that that always, that's not always the case, or that's not always possible.
Collin 2:09
One of the first things you'll need to decide is where you're going to do the meet and greet. If you're only doing drop ins and walks, then you could do it at the client's house or a third party location like a park is a really great place to do that. However, if you're doing boarding, it's going to need to be in your house. Or if you're not comfortable to do it in your house or something's not quite working out. You can always meet at a park or outside of your home before bringing the dog in. Most clients who are going to be boarding with you are going to want to see your house your backyard, make sure that they feel safe and comfortable in that area, so that their dog or cat or whatever can be safe there as well. Usually, if it's a cat or some other exotic animal like lizards, or whatever, you'll most likely be going to their house so that you can see where all of their belongings are and where they're stored.
Meghan 2:57
During the meet and greet you'll definitely want to have a list of quiet Ready to go? These these questions can include where their vet is does the pet have any medications food as far as how much and how often the pet eats does the pet have any allergies? If it's a dog Do they like walks and if so do they pull or a pretty a pretty easy Walker and then where where does the owner typically walk them or if you live near a park you can say you know we were we typically walk around this park or around this block of our house is the pet microchip them some other questions include is the pet of bolter so if you open your front door if you need to be aware of the cat or the dog bolting out of the house if loud noises scare them, like fireworks or gunshots or thunderstorms, and if thunderstorms do scare them if they if the pet requires a thunder jacket or if they take a special pill to help them with the anxiety. Other questions can include if they're up to date on their vaccinations and as always important to have an emergency contact information Just in case the owner cannot be reached or if something happens and you need to get somebody who's close by their contact information. If the dog or cat has me any separation anxiety, usually cats don't have too big of a problem with this, but it's really dogs if they're super anxious, and they need to be in a kennel or if they need just lots of extra love. And then if they do have separation anxiety, how do you calm them down? How does the owner typically do that? Is it with a thunder jacket if they're scared of storms, or just lots of cuddles? Or if they have a special blanket or toy that they use? This
Collin 4:39
list of questions can either be typed up and given to the owner beforehand, or just asked during the meet and greet?
Meghan 4:45
And this is, this is not an exhaustive list by any means. Certainly lots more questions that you can find out about the pets and their schedule.
Collin 4:54
But having it written down some way, whether you write it down afterwards or it's done beforehand is a great way to have it as a reference point. For whenever the dog is in your care, you have something to look up and look back to to make sure that you're handling the situation correctly. I think another good question that you might want to ask is the dog know any tricks or commands, so that you can continue that training methodology or so that you know how to stop a dog or cat if they're getting out of hand. Something else to bring up during the meet and greet is whether you're going to demand a certain type of harness or leash if you're going to be doing walks. This bother some people, other people couldn't care less. But it is definitely something to think through whether you're comfortable walking on all kinds of leashes for all kinds of dogs, or you're going to require a certain kind of harness to make sure that the dog doesn't break free and run away.
Meghan 5:41
And we'll talk more about this during our dog walking episode coming up.
Collin 5:44
If you're doing boarding or daycare, you definitely need to let the owner know if their dog is going to be around other dogs. Some owners do not want this and would prefer their dog be by themself and so they may have to look elsewhere for care. Other owners couldn't care less and Some owners may be a little bit timid, but be excited that their dogs will have a playmate.
Meghan 6:04
Another critical aspect of the meet and greet is to look professional. So yes, we dogs it and we get dirty from puppy paws and puppy slobber. But you don't have to look like that. At the end of the day, you want to be professional. Maybe you want to make a T shirt with your logo on it, or you want to have hand out business cards to the owner. It's always important if you're having the meet and greet at your house to have a clean house and remove the clutter. And this could include sweeping and mopping. vacuuming beforehand just making sure that everything is picked up and looks nice. You also want to think about what you want to do with current dogs during the meet and greet if you're sitting other dogs. Sometimes pet sitters will have the other dogs outside if it's a nice day, or they'll have them in a separate part of the house either upstairs or just away from the meet and greet dog or dogs. This is really for the safety of everyone. So ultimately you want to think of this as a job interview because essentially that's what it is. You want when when you meet the owner, you want a firm handshake, you want to look them in the eye, and all the other things that you would normally do at an interview. You want to exhibit those at this meet and greet as well because ultimately you're being interviewed by the client and the dog. So if you're a pet sitter, you know just how exhausting it can be to keep up with all the dogs and sometimes even the cats do. It's always important to eat healthy during especially during those times where you're watching many, many dogs and so we use or gain. We drink the vegan shakes every day. And our kids eat the kids bars and we eat the adult bars and they're all delicious. We really believe in these products you can get 30% off and free shipping at or gain calm with code ambassador to five for for 30% off and free shipping at Oregon. com use code ambassador to five four. And this is an ongoing discount, not a sale that ends so if you buy it Every month like we do, you can use the discount as often as you buy.
Collin 8:04
School you have to develop will be to know how to introduce yourself to the dog. This can include getting down on eye level with the dog, making sure you use lots of treats, maybe even taking the dog on a practice walk. Usually this is not such a big deal. But every now and then you'll meet a very timid or skittish dog. On one occasion that we did that it was a it was a Burmese mountain dog and poodle mix that was very skittish and very hesitant to go along with me. When this happened, I had the owner leash up the dog, and we both went on a walk together around their house. gradually over time, I kept talking about the dog using the dog's name, slowly reaching out and petting the dog. And then I took control of the leash, and we continue to walk and talk together. Finally I started to give the dog commands and he eventually listened to me. This is a great way to help show the owner that I would know how to take care of the dog as well as just getting the dog to Calm down and get in the car so that we could go do this day. Something it can be uncomfortable yet is absolutely necessary to talk about payment, you'll need to talk about payment. And before you even start rendering services, this is because you don't want to get into a situation where you're already two or three days in, and then the owner starts talking about asking for a rebate or not wanting to pay full price. Definitely be ready for them to ask for a discount, and have a pre determined amount that you're willing to go down on. If it starts to go down that road.
Meghan 9:30
During the meet and greet, you will want to talk about your communication expectations and the owners communication expectations. How many pictures when they like to see during this day? How many updates would they like to get? Some owners want a whole lot we've had owners requesting update every couple of hours. And we've had other owners who didn't really want any at all. We've actually had one client tell us that they know what the dog looks like. And so they didn't really want any pictures. In those cases. I still send An update and a picture a day just so they know that everything is okay. And they may not want updates because they'll be traveling and they won't have data access. Like if they're going to go out of the country, you know, it costs a lot to send and receive pictures and so they may not want to pay for those. So that's just something to keep in mind and to be respectful of,
Collin 10:17
if you're doing drop ins walking or housesitting, you will absolutely need to know how to get access to their house. Do they have a key? Do they have a gate? kind of more importantly, do they have an alarm system? Will it be armed? How do you disarm it?
Meghan 10:31
You remember that one time when we didn't know the code to it, an owner's house
Collin 10:37
and I got the cops called on me.
Meghan 10:42
They had just changed the code. And so they had forgotten to give us the new code. And so Collin had started entering the old code and entered it too many times and the cops got called
Collin 10:52
Yep. And by the time they were on the phone with me, the cops were already there asking me questions and having to say that no, no, you're really the dogs that are You're here to take care of their dog. You definitely get some weird side looks. So fortunately, the owners were on the phone with me so I could hand it over to them. And nothing ever happened about that. But Yep, that's basically set on the front porch and just waiting for the cops to roll out. If you're doing drop ins, you'll want to know what time you should start and and typically drop ins are somewhere around 30 minute mark, but they can be longer shorter depending on what the client is wanting. Or if they want it exactly at 8am, one o'clock and 3pm or if the times are flexible, you'll need to determine about what that is. If you're going to be staying in their house. You should ask where should you sleep? Do they have a spare bedroom, their couch? Do they care? Are there any other extra duties that they would like you to do? Getting the mail watering plants getting packages off the front porch? or something else you should ask is is there going to be anybody in or around the house that you should be aware of? Do they have a lawn mowing service a roofing guy coming over or a landscaper just so the thing or Yeah, or a house cleaner so that whenever you come in and find some random person standing in the middle the house with a feather duster, nobody totally freaks out, make sure that they have informed the neighbors as well that you are going to be sitting there dog if you're going to be at their house, so that you don't get the cops called on you. Again, it's all about making sure you don't get the cops called on you.
Meghan 12:20
So all of these things you're discussing with the owner as you're trying to get the dog comfortable with you, or if they're at your house, getting the dog comfortable with your house.
Collin 12:30
And if after all of that the dog or cat or whatever you're sitting is still slow to warm up to you suggest a trial night, a one nights day, or a trial walk or one trial drop in to be needed. That way the the animal the pet is used to seeing you around and doing those kind of activities. It's especially going to be good if the owner is going to be traveling for a long period or going to be out of contact with for long periods of time. So that everybody's comfortable with that situation going into it. It's really making sure that the pet is comfortable and going to be able to recognize you and you'll be able to work out any kinks before you get to that extended stay. Because you don't want to be on a two month watching of a dog when all of a sudden you realize there's no way you can actually handle this. You want to get those worked out before it comes to that.
Meghan 13:18
That kind of covers all the basics as far as the meet and greet. Thank you for joining us on this episode. And next episode we'll be talking about
Collin 13:27
walks, knowing your limits and how to do it properly. You guys can follow us on Facebook and Instagram at pet sitter confessional Twitter at PS confessional. Our website is pet sitter confessional calm and we'd love to get some feedback and stories from you either at our email feedback at pet sitter confessional com Or join that Facebook group and start discussing with other pet sitters. Until next time.
Keywords: dog, owner, meet, greet, house, pet, pet sitter, sitter, walk, cat, client, questions, comfortable, code, important, include, cops, skittish
