564: Fur Babies and the Modern Pet Parent
Brought to you by: Pet Sitters Associates. Use ‘Confessional’ at checkout
How can we navigate the changing expectations of modern pet parents while also providing exceptional care? We dive into the mindset of today’s pet owners, exploring the growing trends of treating pets as family, prioritizing health and wellness, and valuing convenience and personalization. We discuss how emotional spending drives client decisions and the importance of showcasing the transformative impact of pet care services. Whether you’re refining your marketing, building trust, or enhancing your offerings, this episode provides actionable insights to help you connect with clients and elevate your business.
Main topics:
Pets as family members
Humanization challenges for professionals
Health, wellness, and enrichment
Convenience and social proof
Emotional spending and personalization
Main takeaway: "Your messaging should focus on creating peace of mind, enriching experiences, and making the pet owner’s life easier while addressing their emotional connection to their pets."
As pet care professionals, we often focus on what we do: walking dogs, cleaning litter boxes, or giving medications. But what we’re really offering is so much more than the task itself.
We provide peace of mind to pet parents, so they can focus on their day without worrying about their furry family member. We enrich pets’ lives, giving them the mental and physical stimulation they need to thrive. We strengthen the human-animal bond by helping pets stay healthy, happy, and loved, even when their owners can’t be there.
Your services don’t just care for pets—they make life better for both the pet and the owner. But here’s the catch: you have to tell people that! Talk about the emotional and practical value of what you offer. Share stories of how you’ve made a difference. Highlight the tail wags, the zoomies, the contented naps after a visit, and the relief in a pet parent’s voice when they know their pets are in good hands.
Because it’s not just about the visit—it’s about how that visit transforms their day and their pet’s life.
💡 What’s one way your services go beyond the basics? Share it in the comments!
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Pet sitter confessional, Instagram grid sizes, TikTok shutdown, email list, Facebook admins, pet owners, pets as family, health and wellness, convenience, social proof, eco-friendly, personalization, emotional spending, pet care insurance, modern pet parent.
SPEAKERS
Collin, Meghan
Meghan 00:02
Hi, I'm Meghan. I'm Collin, and we are the host of pet sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. We appreciate you joining us today for episode 564, we also want to thank pet sitters associates and our Patreon supporters for supporting the podcast,
Collin 00:15
and those are amazing listeners who want to keep the podcast going. They love the episodes and have learned a lot and so there are giving back financially.
Meghan 00:24
If that sounds like you too, you can go to pet sitter confessional.com/support, to see all the ways that you can help out. We have been podcasting for over five years, and want to make sure that the content we produce, the guests we have on, are still relevant to you. So we would greatly appreciate you taking just a minute of your time and filling out a quick survey that we have at Pet Sitter confessional.com/survey it's just a few questions. It's not going to take you any time, and you can be entered to win a $50 tiny horse gift card. So again, that's Pet Sitter confessional.com/survey a few things happen on the digital landscape lately that I want to cover. The first one being that Instagram grid sizes have changed. They've changed the sizes for post stories and reels. So they used to be perfect squares, and now they are more rectangle in shape. So just be aware that the sizes are different, but it has been frustrating for those of us who kind of recycle content year after year, or are on templates or that sort of thing. But Instagram and meta are free. They can do what they want, and so they have made this change. So just be aware of your posts on Instagram moving forward, that the sizes are different. Now we don't use Tiktok very much, but millions of people do, and recently they shut down for a little bit. They're back up. Now you have all your followers, but that was kind of a big crisis in the social media world
Collin 01:39
well, and it was yet another reminder to make sure that not all of your eggs are in one basket, that you may have things that are good for you. You have lots of followers and attention, but don't be afraid, and you should always be diversifying just a little bit to hedge your bets.
Meghan 01:53
Yeah, I remember last year there were times when Facebook and Instagram went down as well. So yes, don't build on borrowed land. Build Your continue to build your email list, because that is where you can curate deep and lasting relationships with your clients. I also wanted to give our annual PSA to have two admins for your Facebook pages and Facebook groups. If one of those gets hacked, you have a backup. So we've all heard the phrase fur babies. Some people love it, some people hate it, but the phrase gets to the changing views of pet owners and their pets over the past 30 years that the pet sitting and dog walking industry has existed, a lot has changed, not only from the Pet Sitter side, but the pet owner side as well, how they treat their pets, what they think of them. You know, we've known that people love their pets for a long time, but in recent years, they're viewing them more and more as a family member. We know that 70% of people would delay medical intervention in their own life if that meant that they could provide medical attention to their pets. But it's really getting even stronger than that and more emotional. We've been hearing it time and time again, phrases like, I cannot imagine leaving them alone while I'm gone, or is it safe for them to be by themselves in between visits, we've literally had somebody on the phone say that to us. It's kind of crazy. And there's even people that say, I just need someone with my dog while I go to the grocery store today. Just need you to sit with them for a few hours. I just don't want them to be lonely. Now, obviously there are medically needy and behaviorally needy pets out there, and we're not disregarding those, but for the general population of healthy adult dogs, they don't need someone with them. 24/7 these inquiries that we have gotten, and I'm sure other pet sitters as well, typically go with a boarding or daycare option instead of somebody in home. It's much more cost effective for them. Frankly, in our local market, the default and premium level of care continues to be boarding and daycare. So what do we do with that? You know that that's fine. We know that not every dog or cat is a good fit of how we provide care and we refer out when necessary, but it does get frustrating when the immediate response of a potential client is shock or horror, when they believe that what we offer is a substandard level of care. So we wanted to share some of the common themes that we are seeing among modern pet owners, and some of the dangers to the pet sitting in a dog walking industry that come from the humanization of pets in some cases. So here's what we are seeing from pet owners, and we would love your feedback as well, if you are seeing these things, or if we are just way off base. Here we'll walk through each mindset and give some examples, and then we'll get into what we can do about it. The first one is pets as family members. And this is one that we touted in our business for a long time. Pets are family. That was our tagline for a long time, because pets are no longer just animals to people, they're family. This emotional connection really influences their spending on high quality products and services,
Collin 04:39
and this is good when people are looking for high quality services, when they are looking for the best and they're looking for professionals, the danger here is when the humanization of the pet comes in and basically says, your pet can never be left alone. Should never be left alone, and you must do something about that. And people feel bad and they feel guilty when they. Have to leave their pet alone, and so they go to automatically, or by default, aborting a daycare option, or ask us to sit there for hours and hours during the day. And again, that level of care is perfectly fine, but people get shocked whenever they find out the true cost of that, or are really unhappy when we are unable to provide that.
Meghan 05:19
The second mindset of a modern pet parent is the health and wellness focus, often mirroring trends in human health. So maybe they buy their dog organic pet food or natural or sustainable when they choose those grain free or fresh pet food options. It's similar to how we shop at the grocery store when they seek out services that offer enrichment or mental stimulation, like adventure hikes, that's really what they're looking for when they use PET trackers so they know exactly what's going on and health trackers on their pet. The modern pet parent also believes that convenience is key. They're really busy. They want solutions that save time. They don't want to sacrifice the quality. So they want it right now when they want it and they want it to be the best it can be. So for example, chewy boxes, or any subscription boxes for food and treats and toys, all they have to do is press a few buttons and it shows up at their door ready for their pet to consume. And it's the same thing for their services. When there's easy to use apps for their groomer or their pet sitter or their dog walker or vet visits, they love that
Collin 06:20
they're also looking for social proof. They really rely heavily on reviews, recommendations and what other people are doing. And often we forget that aspect, that crowd mindset, of what, where are other people getting service? How are other people being served? They want to feel confident in their choices, so they do look for where it's the most popular, what's the most used service, and they start there. So again, they're going to be checking online reviews before they book a service. They're going to follow influencers friends for product recommendations. They're going to ask store clerks. They're going to ask people for their recommendations for these kind of services. And they're also worried and concerned about ethical and sustainable choices, not just for themselves, but also for the businesses that they're going to be working with. They're increasingly conscious of the environmental footprint, and they want to support businesses that align with their values. So even buying eco friendly toys or biodegradable waste bags, they want to support the companies that donate to shelters or sustainable materials. Check out the episode 531 with Austin tuck to learn more about how to set up a partnership with your local shelter. If
Meghan 07:27
you own a pet, you probably love this too. But the modern pet parent loves personalization and customization. They love tailored services and products that reflect their pet's unique personality or needs. You can now get customized pet food delivered right to your door. They love custom ID tags and specific pet food plans that cater to their dog. They also love care services that can change as their pets needs change, but one of the biggest things for pet owners today is valuing experiences over things. They valued shared experiences with their pets over the physical items, but they will love going and doing things with their pet a parade or other pet friendly events and activities, a bark in the park or a little dog bone Easter egg hunt. They also love enrichment focused activities like adventure hikes or play sessions. They really want them, their dog, to get the most out of life, just like a human would. It's no longer about just sitting on the couch and letting the dog outside. It's now about, how can my dog live the fullest life possible in the best way possible? So it's also a lot of emotional spending. For these modern pet parents, they make emotional purchases rather than purely rational ones. That's why chewy over the past 10 years has exploded. Because while your dog doesn't need 15 toys a month, or an extra three bags of treats a month. Pet owners love to see their pet happy, so that's what drives their purchasing decisions. They want the best for their pets because it makes them happy. So they may splurge on a luxury pet bed or a unique toy or a premium care service because the dog or cat deserves it. We got a puppy a few months ago. And I know I identify with some of these points, so you probably do too. But what do we do with all of this? How can we leverage these beliefs and mindsets in our own businesses? Something you should tell all of your clients about is insurance. As pet care professionals, your clients trust you to care for their furry family members, and that's why pet sitters Associates is here to help for over 20 years, they provided 1000s of members with quality pet care insurance. Because you work in the pet care industry, you can take your career to the next level with flexible coverage options, client connections and complete freedom in running your business. Learn why pet sitters Associates is the perfect fit for you, and get a free quote at petsit llc.com you can get a discount when you join by clicking membership Pet Sitter confessional, and use the discount code confessional when you go to checkout, check out the benefits of membership and insurance once again at pets@llc.com so let's start
Collin 09:47
with pets as family members. For this, we need to emphasize the personalized and loving care that we provide just like a family member would. You have to show how you treat each pet like a unique. Unique individual. It's not enough to say that you do it so you can use a message like, your pets deserve the same love and attention that you'd give them. That's why we tailor every visit to their unique needs. Share photos, take amazing videos of pets during the visits to reassure the clients. Never be okay with just saying something if you can show it in a video, if you can show it in a photo, give that gift of peace of mind to the client. You have to also highlight personal touches, like either, you know, have finding out their favorite toy for a dog and take letting them take that on the walk, or whatever you're doing, or accommodating special, unique or a little weird feeding routines, but talk about how you love to do that because, you know, it's still fitting with the dog or the cat, because the modern pet parent and pet owner are so health and wellness focused, we have to work on positioning our services as essential for keeping their pets both happy and healthy, mentally and physically. Use a marketing message like daily walks and visits aren't just convenient, they're vital for your pets, health and happiness. So offer enrichment focused walks that include sniffing games and structured training. Too often we get caught up on the exercise aspect of the walks. You can also include, and should focus and talk about enrichment and how you do that. And again, don't just say you played the game. Don't just say you did the sniffing, have a video, have photos about that. Also work on educating your clients through your blogs, through social media posts, through your email newsletters about healthy benefits of regular walks, companionships and what the owner can be doing on their own time as well. And also highlight your ability to accommodate special diets, medications and mobility issues for the pets to keep them moving and active for as long as possible. I know as Coby got older, it was harder for him to get around and be stable on his own. And we had clients, and do have clients that have pets that are in that exact same situation, being able to come alongside them and going, here's how we're going to help you have peace of mind. Buy how we work with your pets? Yes, we can help lift them up, and here's how we do that. Yes, we can help them down the stairs, and here's how we do that. We want your pet to be able to live its best life and be as active as it can, healthily and safely be
Meghan 12:14
we talked about the modern pet parent loving convenience. Well, that is key here. So make your services as seamless and stress free as possible. If you don't have software, get software. Make sure they have an app that clients can download. They can click a few buttons and you'll show up. Use a marketing message like too busy for extra errands. We come to your home so your pets are cared for while you focus on your day. Leverage this Mindset by having a streamlined booking through an app or an easy online system. Offer flexible visit schedules to accommodate busy professionals. You could also highlight time saving benefits to the client of you won't have to worry about drop off and pick up times anymore, because all you do is pick up your keys and leave the house and we show up because pet owners these days are looking online for social proof. It's important to build that trust by showing glowing reviews, testimonials and recommendations on your website. Don't just have a reviews page, but have several at the bottom of each page so that they know, Oh, okay. Well, it's not just one person that loves this company. It's many. A way to phrase this messaging in your company is see why pet parents trust us with their furry family members. But don't just do this one time regularly. Share testimonials and photos from happy clients, encourage word of mouth referrals with rewards like free visits for both parties. You can even display your credentials, your insured, your bonded, your fear free, certified. Make sure you have all of that at the footer of your website, but also on your social media as well.
Collin 13:36
Other things you can be sharing on social media are appeals to clients who prioritize eco friendly and community minded service by having marketing messages such as caring for pets and the planet one step at a time, use biodegradable waste bags and highlight this in your marketing. They're not that much more expensive, and by specifically calling it out, it's a great way to again, appeal to this mindset and help set yourself apart from others, try partnering with local shelters or donate a portion of proceeds to pet related causes, and then share your commitment to sustainability and community involvement in social posts and emails. Go to community events and then don't just go there you can. You have to both show and tell plaster that all over social media. Have it on your website, let your clients know in your newsletters about the things that you're involved in and that you're passionate about.
Meghan 14:26
I think the easiest mindset that we can leverage for the modern pet parent is personalization and customization. When we offer these tailored services based on each pet's personality, routine and preferences. They love that they think their Fido or fluffy is the best thing since sliced bread, and nothing can compare. So having a message saying, because every pet is unique, we customize care just for them, and obviously you can go into exactly how you do that, but allow clients to customize visit details like longer walks or enrichment games or feeding routines. Share personalized updates with. Photos and notes after each visit. Again, if you don't have software, it really helps with this. If we know that Baxter loves his toy shaped like a fire truck, we will make it a point in almost every update to say, hey, we played with his little fire truck for a little bit to get more of the customization. Though, you can offer specialized niche care for senior pets or anxious pets or those with medical needs and post op. And the biggest one here is Christmas time. If you go to think about what they are going to want, you know that it's probably going to be something personalized to their dog, maybe a Christmas ornament with their pet's face on it, or a blanket with their name
Collin 15:33
Megan. You mentioned updates earlier, and this is one that we actually spend a lot of time training our employees on, is how to write a good quality update, because our clients are looking for experiences over things, we need to work hard at highlighting memorable experiences that we can either create or find or pull out for their pets or their cats during our walks and visits, it's not enough to just say Fido went out on The walk and went pooped, and we came back inside and got some water, and I left him to enjoy the day. What happened on the walk, and this is where we need to latch onto one singular detail. Did you see a bird that you watched for a long time and that you and the dog sat together? Or was the wind blowing and there were lots of smells, or was the sun out? Did you see some beautiful clouds. Really work hard to bring the owner into that experience, because the owner wants to know not just what happened, because they're you know they're micromanaging you, but they want to know that their pet got an amazing experience with you. So your messaging here. We turn everyday walks, we turn everyday visits into mini adventures. Okay, you can offer premium services like adventure hikes or enrichment walks, but the the cornerstone of all of this is to document and share those fun moments, those sniff breaks, those happy zoomies that your visits, that you get to experience with those pets on social media and to the clients, so that they can feel like they're actually there. This is something they don't get anywhere else. Our updates are gifts to the clients, because that is time that we are getting with their pets that they don't and they want to know the amazing things that happened.
Meghan 17:13
The last piece of the modern pet owners mindset is emotional spending. Here's where we need to focus on the emotional peace of mine that your services bring to pet parents. You can use a marketing message, like, it's okay to miss your pets, but you should never worry about them. You see, those are two different things. Missing your pets is okay, but worrying about how they're doing. Nope, that's not okay. So some tactics here are that you can emphasize the security and comfort that you provide in their absence. Do you make sure the doors are locked? Did you put up the food on the counter like the client asked, so the dog doesn't overeat? There are these professional aspects that we take along into this industry. When you use language that conveys care and reassurance, like peace of mind or worry free care, it allows the pet parent to know that the pets are thriving under your care. Putting all of this together, you really want to position your business as personalized, trustworthy and convenient, while addressing their emotional connection to their pets. We don't want to negate their feelings or not take them seriously, because, again, pets are family to people. Focus your messaging on creating peace of mind, enriching experiences and making the pet owners lives easier and the pets too. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this and how you're connecting with your clients. Or if you completely disagree with us, you can email us at Pet Sitter confessional@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook and Instagram. At Pet Sitter confessional, thank you for coming along the journey with us and listening. Today, we also want to thank pet sitters associates. We will talk with you next time bye.
