005- Drop-ins

We talk about all the things you should think about when doing drop-ins. We end the episode discussing communication, setting boundaries, and dealing emotionally as a pet sitter.

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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE

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Collin 0:16

I'm Collin.

Meghan 0:17

And I'm Megan. And

Collin 0:18

this is pet sitter confessional.

An open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter.

Welcome to episode number five, where we're going to cover

Meghan 0:29

drop ins.

Collin 0:31

Drop ins is where you go over to the client's house to check on the pets.

Meghan 0:35

Some quick follow up from our last episode on dog walking. Do you want to be prepared so if you're going to be out doing walks for a long time, you want to stock up on essential oils, like we talked about with the food and the drinks, and you want to keep those in your car in a little bag. And you want to make sure that your phone is charged as well. It's also a good idea to maybe carry the phone charger in your car with you and then some discussion on staying organized, so you want a place for all of the house keys that you're going to be getting. I know a lot of people will do like a big board, and they'll tack like a big cork board and they'll tack some keys up there and have them labeled with names. You want to figure out a place for all the door and alarm codes. So whether that's a note on your phone or on a big wall calendar, you will make want to make sure that you don't forget those because those are very important.

Collin 1:30

Also making sure that those are secure and protected so that you are not responsible when they get stolen or compromised in some other way.

Meghan 1:39

Labeling leashes is also a good idea. If you're going to be walking a lot of dogs, you want to make sure that if two dogs have the same type of leisure, same color of leash, you want to make sure you know which is which. And then knowing your travel routes as well. didn't give yourself a buffer to account for traffic and unexpected things. And then you also want to make sure that your backups To call in case there's an accident, you're in an accident or there's an emergency. That's always good to have or if you go out of town on vacation as well.

Collin 2:09

Moving on into our main topic of drop ins, a quick note our platform or not our platform, but the one will use was rover, and they standardize and they automatically will do a set 30 minute check time, but if the client wants more or wants longer or shorter, depending on how many pets that they have, those can be adjusted and will need to be communicated ahead of time. So you definitely want to be adjusting your price accordingly. You don't want to set just a drop in price as standard and have and be charging the same price for someone who wants an hour long drop in versus someone who just wants a 15 minute quick check on their cat to make sure it's fed and all that while the services provided during a drop in are going to vary. Some things that you're going to want to Consider and make sure that you're doing our double checking that the dog is going poop or pee outside, cleaning up inside, if that happened inside while the owner was away, and obviously playing with him as much as possible if the dog is okay with that some don't want to be bothered and just want to go back to napping. So that's something to consider as well. You'll want to look and make sure you are topping off their food and water bowl if they are grazers or feeding them if it's a feeding time when you're checking on them. And I always like to refresh the water even if it doesn't look that low just to make sure that the water is always nice and clean.

What are you doing

Meghan 3:39

to get better? Okay.

We have a dog at our feet. You record this podcast and he's a regular here so I was just getting a picture of him

Collin 3:52

during drop ins you may be asked to do or administer medication and so making sure that that procedure has been walked through and shown to you ahead of time, we just finished doing drop ins with a client a week or two ago. And they the dog required insulin shots. So I had the owner walk me through that process, how to calm the dog, how to hold the dog, and how she administered the shots for the dog. And that was very helpful when it came time for when it's just me. Something that I know we like to do is even if the owner will say Don't worry about the litter box while we're away, we will still clean it. That is something that we will do to add a little bit of extra value and that goes a long way for the TV owner to know that we are noticing those things and taking care of them without them having to ask, again making sure you're giving endless hugs and cuddles. It's not all just going out and doing lots of aggressive or hyper activity out the yard and running around and chasing balls, sitting on the couch to cuddling with them giving lots of pets, maybe brushing them if they enjoy that note some some don't. So you'll have to go See how far that can go. We always like to ask during drop ins or other services, if they're expecting any packages or mail and to go ahead, and we'll bring that in and put it on the counter and let them know that we brought it off the porch for them. Because a lot of times, that can be something that people are pretty touchy about is, you know, they're concerned about packages being stolen and that kind of thing. And so it's just again, another thing to add and to think about that you can give them while you're taking care of their pets. Depending on what time you're going to be over there, it's a really good idea to think ahead of for when the owner is going to be arriving. So if you're checking in the middle of the day, and you know the owners not going to be there until the evening, go ahead and rotate those blinds, turn on some exterior lights so that they have light and can see whenever they're getting home and all the blinds aren't open whenever they go in and do something if the client asked you to also walk their dog during a drop in, make sure as we talked discussed about last episode, and a little bit of the Beginning of this one, that you're prepared and ready for that for the for that walk, and that you again charge appropriately. So you can decide whether you want to charge for a drop in and walk or just do the drop in and the walk is included or however you feel like you need a price to make sure that you're competitive in your market is what you need to make sure you're doing.

Meghan 6:19

And you can go back and listen to that episode was episode number four about dog walking. But ultimately, you just want to make sure that the house is just as clean as when you found it and maybe even cleaner. So usually these visits the drop in visits are done in the middle of the day while the owners are at work. So you want to be sure that the pet gets a lot of attention and gets their energy out, especially if they're puppies or if they're in their crate while you're away. Or their big dogs and they need a lot of exercise and running around or droppings and how sits you'll want to keep track of your mileage using an app like mileiq it's good to know your mileage so that you can adjust your prices accordingly and Awesome be written off on your taxes.

Collin 7:02

For us, we went in and set a radius around our house just kind of arbitrary for us what we were comfortable with of what we were willing to travel for for housesitting and drop ins. And that's something for you to consider as well. So to make sure that you're using your time appropriately, and you're getting the best bang for your buck out of these,

Meghan 7:20

and also depends on your location, so five miles in New York City as a much larger population than five miles in rural Kansas, so you want to think about that too. And travel time as well. So you've been hearing us talk a lot about our game, and we really love their products and I want to highlight a specific product. There is simple clean bars. These bars have just a few ingredients like dates, peanut flour, almond butter, chia, almonds, really, really good. And they are vegan, dairy free, soy free, non GMO, organic We just love them so much. Our kids love them. We love them. They're a great snack on the go. When we're out walking dogs or doing drop ins, they come in three different flavors, chocolate, almonds, sea salt, blueberry, almond, and chocolate peanut butter. My personal favorite is the blueberry almond. I really like blueberries, and it's just a delicious way to get in all that protein. So if you would like to order from or gain calm, you'd get 30% off and free shipping with the code ambassador to five for this is an ongoing discount, not a sale that ends. So if you order every month like we do, and then you can keep using the code, and it's ambassador to five for for FREE SHIPPING AND 30% off at our game calm. Now we're going to switch gears and talk a little bit about communication. So you want to take and send pictures of the pets. While you're doing a drop in. You want to take a picture or two or three and send those pictures and an update of the pet to the owner. Don't be afraid to report bad behavior. If a dog has peed on the floor or thrown up, the owner is probably going to want to know that.

Collin 9:13

And that can be intimidating when you're trying to break bad news. But know that open and honest communication is always better than no communication and trying to hide it. Because if you don't report bad behavior, you will find yourself not reporting more and more things and that's a bad road to go down. And the owners going to respect and appreciate when you are being honest with them about things that are happening with their dog because that's why they hired you is so that you would be there to report on how their pet is doing.

Meghan 9:42

So let them know if something seems off about the dog or the cat. And especially if anything is physically wrong, because the owner will probably want to take them to the vet or get them checked out. With apps like rover and wag you can log how many times a dog has gone to the bathroom or eaten But if you have your own business, you want to be sure to include that in your update to the client, since they'll likely want to know what happened when you check in on their path.

Collin 10:09

Let's take a few minutes to discuss a few more things about communication. One of the key things about this is that being a pet sitter means you've got to be great at interpersonal communication, it is absolutely key. As much as you think you are taking care of somebody's pet, what you're actually doing is you're dealing with people, you're dealing with the owner, and so you're going to find clients that aren't good at interpersonal communication, either, and that's fine, but it doesn't give you a pass. You're the professional here and you've got to set the bar really high. So this includes active listening, making sure that whenever you are talking with the client that they have your undivided attention. This includes being responsive to them whenever they have questions and being timely with that. This includes having proper body language All of that goes into this and can't really be neglected. Whenever you feel like you just want to focus on the pet, and it's all about the pet.

It is that, but it's also dealing with the owner.

Meghan 11:11

And another part of this is setting boundaries with the clients and for yourself. So can they contact you at 3am? Have you set those kind of bad expectations already, you know, it's different for each client because some client might be traveling to Europe. And so the time differences there will be off. So you want so you want to lay this out early and often and remind them as necessary to that maybe you have set times that, like a lot of a lot of kennels and a lot of businesses have set times of when you can drop off and pick up your pet and you know, they're only open from 7am until 7pm. Maybe you want to do the same thing for your business

Collin 11:53

or just to setting those expectations of if you text me at three in the morning. I don't think response until eight, or six or whatever you feel is comfortable for yourself. But that way you don't always feel like you're having to respond immediately.

Meghan 12:09

Another part of setting boundaries is don't feel like you have to drop everything just to take a booking, if it's not going to work out or if it's going to be too stressful for you just say no. Remember, you have the power to say no, you're not at the whim of the client. Although some clients are a little needier than others, some will request a lot of updates and want to be in constant contact with you and that's okay but you need to recognize your boundaries and your limits so that you aren't stressed out and get burned out easily.

Collin 12:40

And if you don't want to take those needy clients anymore,

Meghan 12:43

you don't have to you don't have to,

Collin 12:44

and that's something great. Another side of this coin is dealing emotionally with being a pet sitter. You will get attached to pets. You will be so mad at some owners. You'll see a horrible living conditions You'll have clients and pets die. And that is just the harsh reality of this is that you deal with these very close relationships with both pets and the owners. And you really build a lot of trust, a lot of respect for them, and things happen. And and so that's where you really need to make sure you've got a great support group people to talk to, to reach out to whether they understand it or not just making sure that you know that it's okay to text somebody and let them know, man, that cap that I've been sitting for three years just died from cancer, and it makes me sad because I'm never going to see him again. You know, that's, that's okay, too. That's okay to do. And this is where coming in making sure that you are taking breaks periodically, even if it's just for one day, and knowing that you have that backup center that you set up beforehand to push clients too, so that you can take a break, and you're not taking care of any pets. You're not doing any scheduling, no nothing. It's just it's just you time you and family time, something other than the pet related business. And that's really hard to do because as pet sitters, we make money when other people travel, we feel like we have to be available at all times. So that we can take advantage of those opportunities. But people take vacations from their normal jobs. If pet sitting is your normal job, know that it's okay to take a break and step back and take a vacation every now and then. And don't be afraid to refer clients to somebody else. This comes up all the time where if you've got a client that you love, and they're great and they love you, and if you can't meet their needs and you you have to refer them to somebody else that can be hard that can you can really feel like you're you're betraying yourself and that you may you may feel like you may lose them to some What if they like them better? What if they like their house better? What if they like their yard better, or the notes that they send better, and you just can't go down that rabbit hole, you've got to make sure that you're confident enough in your services and know that you are providing the absolute best service that you possibly can. And that's the end of the story. And if someone else decides to go with another with another sitter know that that's for the best, and that that's a decision that they've made because some some need of theirs as being mad, that doesn't speak negatively on you.

Meghan 15:35

And some clients just love having more than one sitter, just in case these kinds of things happen. So we have a client that has three different centers, one for dog walking, one for drop ins and one for daycare. That's okay, because we cannot fulfill all of those obligations to that client.

Collin 15:55

Yeah, and we don't want to have to feel like we need to recover All that because that's an awful lot of work, and would actually mean that we would be neglecting other clients are not able to meet their needs

Meghan 16:08

or our responsibilities

Collin 16:10

or our other responsibilities. And so, knowing that clients like to have several options, and we'll, we'll move between those should, should help you feel comfortable of knowing that you are a part of meeting their needs and taking care of the pets. And you know, it's just one big community and we need to be make sure making sure we're supporting everybody that's doing a great job and rocking it out there. Because we need that for ourselves to

Meghan 16:39

thank you for joining us on this episode talking about drop ins. And stay tuned for next week. We have something really exciting coming up. We've

Collin 16:46

got a really great interview with Alex and Beth. They've been pet sitters for several years now and they are a no home based pet sitting service. So they travel constantly to other people. homes and care for their pets. And it's a really great interview we cover a lot of different topics. So I really hope you guys join in and listen in on that. So make sure you're following our Facebook page, pet sitter confessionals. You can also follow us on Instagram at pets are confessional. You can reach out to us on Twitter at PS

confessional. And you can subscribe to us wherever podcasts are played, because we're there

Keywords: services, pets, clients, owner, drop ins, pet sitter, sitter, travel, check, people, communication, walk