Thoughts from an owner of a pet sitting company

I recently took a 10 day vacation/business trip and got to experience what the clients of Guardian Pet Sitters experience when they travel and leave their pets at home with one of our trained, competent pet sitters. I thought I would share my thoughts with you.

I traveled with a couple of friends on a road trip to visit my family in Kentucky. We stopped the first night in Memphis to visit Graceland. With our busy schedules we left late afternoon and arrived late evening. First thing the next morning we had breakfast and then headed to Graceland. We were at Graceland from early morning until afternoon. Then back in the car for our last leg of the journey to Kentucky. We stayed in a hotel and did a lot of sightseeing as this was the first time my friends had visited Kentucky.

I missed Chrissie, but was comforted to know she was home and being cared for while I was traveling. As a pet owner I had the thought “If I had just brought Chrissie with me.” But then I thought of how hard the trip would have been for her. Just stopping for dinner the first night would have been hard. Although it is spring, the temperature has been warm and it would have been too hot for her to stay in the car. When we arrived in Memphis she would have gotten a short potty break as it was very late and we would have gone to bed. The next morning she would have gotten a walk but then she would have been in the crate to stay in a strange room for the next 6 hours while we were out sightseeing and visiting Graceland. Then she would have been back in the car for the rest of the journey to Kentucky.

Instead she was home stretching out on her bed or favorite chair, running in her backyard letting the squirrels know the yard was hers or going for a walk in her familiar neighborhood. She was the center of attention for the pet sitter. What more could a dog want!

Once we made it to Kentucky we would be gone for hours visiting family, touring horse farms, going to Keeneland and sightseeing. My thoughts would be, “I miss Chrissie and wish she was here”.  But then I would say to myself “I am glad Chrissie is home in her familiar routine as it would not be much fun staying in this hotel room by herself.” or “Chrissie would not have liked my young nephews (she is not fond of children) and she would not have gotten much attention as I was spending long overdue time with them.”

Basically for Chrissie the trip would have been riding in the car for 12 to 14 hours and staying in hotels alone. Yes she would be with me at night (sleeping) or in the car. Yes, I missed her but overall the best place for her was “AT HOME” getting lots of attention.

I started this business 21 years ago because of my own needs when I traveled for business and had to leave “Precious”, my feisty Shih Tzu at home. It was because of her that I started Guardian Pet Sitters. I found out today the reason has not changed. Pets do like staying at home. I can travel without stress and worry! If you would like to travel without stress and worry about your furry companion, contact me. I know a great company who provides the kind of service I want for my pets!

Give chocolate or stuffed rabbits for Easter gifts!

Easter is here! Many of us give gifts to celebrate the gift of life. In the spring our focus turns to baby rabbits and chickens as gifts. Although they are adorable they do grow up into mature rabbits and chickens. As with any pet, they require special attention and have special needs of their own regarding their diet and housing. Let’s explore the needs of rabbits so you can make a wise decision on whether this is a pet for you and your family.

You never want to rush into purchasing any type of pet! Why not give chocolate or stuffed bunnies or chickens until you research if a live rabbit is right for you and your family.

Rabbits are social animals that need affection and can be wonderful companion animals. They are intelligent and can be litter box trained and taught to walk on a leash. Rabbits need to be kept inside (especially in Texas during the summer).

The benefits of spayed or neutered rabbits are many. Like other pets their hormones can cause them to “mark territory”. By spaying or neutering your rabbit, this improves litter box habits, decreases territorial aggression, lessens chewing behavior, and helps your rabbit have a happier and longer life.

Rabbits can have free run of the home but it is best for most rabbits to start with a cage.  To litter box train your rabbit, start by fastening a litter box in the corner of the cage that the rabbit uses for a “bathroom.”  As soon as she uses the box consistently you can give her more freedom. Use only positive reinforcement (treats and praises)—never punishment.

Your home needs to be bunny proofed! It is natural for rabbits to chew on furniture, rugs, drapes and electrical cords. The electrical cords must be concealed so that the rabbit can not reach them. For cords that you can not conceal you can encase them in vinyl tubing.

Give your rabbit lots of attention along with safe chewables and toys. This will distract her from chewing the rugs and furniture. A wonderful play box is a cardboard box stuffed with hay.

Some major health problems rabbits can have are intestinal blockages, bacterial imbalances with the stomach, and infectious bacteria that causes colds.

You want to have an experienced rabbit doctor as they will know the needs of your pet. You want to regularly check eyes, nose, ears, teeth, weight, appetite and droppings for signs of illness.

This is the beginning of our information on rabbits. Watch for more regarding caring for a rabbit in the next blog. We will cover danger signs to watch for, housing, feeding, grooming and supplies needed.

When you are away is your home secure?

When you leave for vacation or business trips you make sure you lock the doors and secure your home. You think “everything will be okay”—will it?

Malfunctions with the home don’t just happen when you are there. In the 20 years Guardian Pet Sitters has been in the pet care business, we have seen more malfunctions with the home than we have had pet emergencies.

What can you do to really secure your home when you are away? We recommend you have a reputable company visit your home either daily or every other day to check on your house. It not only makes your home appear lived in but also means if there is an issue immediate attention will be given to resolve it.

Some of the services to benefit you and the security of your home:

1.        Bring in the mail and any flyers on door

2.        Bring in the newspaper and any packages left on the doorstep

3.        Alternate lights and/or blinds

4.        Water plants

5.        Check on the pool (summer)

6.        Monitor thermostat

7.        Walk thru of the house to ensure all appliances are working or have not been left on accidently

8.        We ensure there is no water leaking anywhere in the house

Some common situations that we have had to handle when caring for pets and homes:

1.        Drain clogged in the bathroom not allowing proper drainage from the air conditioner; water filled the sink and was found dripping in the garage. If situation had not been handled the ceiling would have fallen on the car in the garage and water would have damaged the house and garage.

2.        The number of hot water tank malfunctions we see is frightening. We had many different situations of this happening when we are in the home caring for the pets. We arrive to water coming out of the front door, hearing water running or noticing dripping from the ceiling in the master bedroom (hot water tank is in the attic).

3.        Sprinkler systems malfunction in the summer, flooding the client’s yard, neighbor’s yard, and the street.

4.        Refrigerators malfunctioning–spilling water on the floor in the kitchen and all the food is thawed and hot.

5.        If you have fish tanks with automatic feeders and automatic timers you can still have problems. We arrived at a house, opened the door, and were greeted with smoke. The automatic timer had malfunctioned.

6.        Air condition or heating system malfunctions.

7.        Alarm system struck by lightening.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know someone has been to your home and done a thorough walk-thru of your house and made sure you have not left on any appliances (curling iron, electric rollers, coffee pot, etc.) and ensure all windows and doors are locked?

Wouldn’t it be nice to know that if there was a malfunction with your hot water tank or plumbing the issue will get immediate attention?

Wouldn’t it be nice to know that if the weather drastically changes such as in the state of Texas where temperatures fluctuates greatly (60 ̊̊one day and 32 ̊the next) your thermostat would be adjusted to keep pipes from freezing?

Wouldn’t it be nice to know that if your sprinkler system was to malfunction, attention would be given so it would not disturb your neighbor or ruin your yard?

Isn’t it nice to know your home has a lived in look and your mail and newspaper has been brought in the house and is secure?

With our “residential” services you can have “Peace of Mind” knowing your home is being cared for. You would also know that if we arrived at the home and were faced with a situation we would immediately start resolving the problem.

There’s no better security measure for your home then a monitored security system in conjunction with daily home visits.

Your home needs someone watching over it when you are not there!

 

 

Is your pet care fail safe?

Are your arrangements for your pet’s care failsafe?

Why do I ask this question? Recently we have had several situations where pet owners found they did not have pet care they could depend upon. Here are a few of the scenarios:

  1. A call for service starting the same day. The person was leaving in a few hours. The person calling had two individual pet sitters but neither pet sitter was available- one was out of town and the other had surgery.
  2. Another call for service for the weekend from a person whose friend was going to watch the pets but got sick and couldn’t.
  3. While talking with someone at a networking meeting, she told me this story that happened to her over Christmas time. She had just moved to the area. There was a death in the family and she could not find a boarding facility for her dogs as they were all booked  nor did she know anyone to care for her pets.

If these had been Guardian Pet Sitter’s clients they would have had pet care.

If you are new to an area one of the first things you want to establish is pet care. It is good to have an in-home pet care company as you never know if you will be able to board your pets when you need to. Even if your pets would do better boarding for extended periods, most pet care companies will offer transportation to and from the kennels so that could be arranged.

Weekends are busy for pet sitters. We allocate our time and resources to the clients who have booked us. If possible we try to help people at the last minute but Guardian Pet Sitters will not compromise our service for the clients who have booked us in advance.

  • A client of Guardian Pet Sitters had a father who was in his final days of life. The client called Guardian Pet Sitters and she had pet coverage for as long as she needed.
  • A client of Guardian Pet Sitters had moved from one community to another and had not gotten set up in her new home. She became ill and was hospitalized. We were able to meet with a friend and get keys to the new home and provide service.  We are there for our clients!

As a Guardian Pet Sitter’s client you would not have to worry about your pet care as we have a backup system to ensure our clients have coverage when needed. After all you don’t know when you could have an emergency or need to leave town.

Guardian Pet Sitters offers:

  • Bonded and insured for your protection
  • Clients are kept confidential
  • “Peace of Mind” program (ask about our program when you call or talk to us)
  • Our backup system enables us to give our clients the attention needed in an emergency.
  • Being available to our clients 365 days a year however our pet sitters are given time off to be refreshed and ready to give their best to each client.

Don’t delay in getting setup as a client of Guardian Pet Sitters!

If you don’t live in our service area find an in-home pet sitting company in your area that will be there!

 

Now is the time to make plans for your pets!

Have you started making plans for spring and summer vacation? There are many questions to answer during the planning especially when you have pets involved. Are you traveling to visit family, friends or are you staying in a hotel? Are you going out of the country? Are your pets going to be welcomed at your family or friends? Are you going to be leaving your pet in the hotel room for periods of time while you are out having fun sightseeing and enjoying the attractions? Is there a quarantine period for pets for the country you are traveling to? Does you pet travel well in the car or by plane? Will the airlines fly your pet?

The biggest question you must ask yourself is what is best for my pet? Everyone enjoys their pets and wants to be with them but in reality is it best for your pet? If your decision is not to travel with your pet, then your next step is to decide what type of arrangement is best for your pet. Today the pet owner has many options for pet care. You need to choose the one that best suits your family and your pet’s needs.

Why not make plans for your pet(s) to stay in the comfort of their own home? There are many options but the one most pets prefer is staying at home. The benefits you receive – knowing your pets are happy because they are in their favorite spot (home), sleeping on their favorite bed, eating out of their own bowls, playing with their toys, napping in their favorite spot, playing in their own yard and taking the familiar route for their walk. It is the best way to keep your pets on the routine you have established. An added bonus is your home will be getting the attention it needs as your mail, newspaper and flyers will be brought in, lights alternated, blinds open and closed, giving your home a lived in look.

Now is the time to choose who you are going to hire to care for your pets and home. There are numerous pet sitting services, so how do you choose? We know there are many questions you need to ask about the service you pick. We have made sure that when you ask those questions, we can say,” Yes we have that.” or “Yes we offer that.” After being in business for over 20 years we believe that our company model gives us the edge over many.

How is Guardian Pet Sitters different from most pet sitting companies?

  • We are not a one man operation and if something were to happen to one of us our service continues.
  • We have a team of pet sitters! They are employees and have been carefully selected and thoroughly screened.
  • Each client has a primary pet sitter but with our team we have a backup in case there was an emergency.
  • Clients work with their pet sitter on each assignment to ensure there is no miscommunication with the details.
  • We do not overbook our pet sitters as quality of service is our upmost goal (we have heard of pet sitters doing 25-30 visits a day during busy seasons). Our pet sitters typically do 12 visits max, but most are 7-8 visits or less.
  • We have pet sitters living in the areas they service and typically they do not have to drive long distances between jobs.
  • We have built our company to benefit our customers. We understand you want consistency in who is taking care of your pets and we provide this by assigning a primary and a back up pet sitter to each client. However, if your particular pet sitter is not available then you know you have a trained knowledgeable pet sitter taking over and providing the same quality service.

Guardian Pet Sitters has been providing “Peace of Mind” since 1992. Our track record proves we have been there for our clients and we will be there for you.

Don’t delay on making plans for your pets!

What does being #1 really mean?

In December we received emails from the Dallas A-List that it was time for their contest! What was the contest—who can be named one of the best local businesses in the DFW area! Guardian Pet Sitters® participated in this several years ago and when it was over we placed in the top five. Not bad considering we didn’t follow through with the campaign. I learned a very valuable lesson which is what this blog is about.

During the campaign I saw how others in the running got their votes-they solicited on yahoo groups for pet sitters (and I am sure other lists they may have been on) and sent out massive emails almost daily (I was on one or more of the email lists). I fell into some of these gimmicks also. I sent out an email to our newsletter list asking for votes, and I personally sent out emails and even got business cards that I passed out when I attended meetings, asking for votes. 

I recently was throwing out the business cards (we had a lot left as I didn’t hand out many) and the idea of the topic for this blog “What does it mean to me and Guardian Pet Sitters® to be the #1 in-home pet sitting company in the DFW area?”  Once I received the email that the voting had begun I knew it was time for me to write this blog. 

When we participated in this campaign I didn’t feel comfortable asking people to vote for us. Why? I want us to deliver our customers the most excellent service and a great experience that they naturally want to tell others about. 

I did enjoy what people said about us and was glad they wanted to comment when voting but it is not the same as when we get an email saying how glad they are to have found Guardian Pet Sitters®. 

Until they come up with a #1 in-home pet sitting contest in which a high list of standards needs to be attained, we will bow out of the contest and work to be #1 with the clients who choose us because of our high standards. 

For us we will not be soliciting your votes for #1 Dallas A-List but will cherish every time we hear from you that our service exceeded your expectations! 

 

In-home pet care business models–which is best for you?

When I was making pet sitting visits last week, I got to walk the sweetest dog on a short walk in the neighborhood. Due to all the storms a lot of roofs were being replaced or repaired.  I was stunned at the number of different roof companies the different neighbors employed.  How did they choose from so many?  This got me to thinking about the in-home pet sitting industry and what it is like for pet owners to choose pet care for their pets. There are many options today from boarding to in-home pet sitting. In the 20 years we have been in business boarding facilities have made many changes. What was once referred to as “warehouses” for dogs and cats has now become “pet spas and resorts” that pamper your canines and felines.

The same goes for the in-home pet sitting industry. You have those who are trying to make as many visits a day as they can possibly squeeze in.  Then there are those who spend time with the pets pampering them and doing what we believe in-home pet care should do… “reduce the stress” on the pets when the pet owner is away.

This blog is to help pet owners choose from the different structures of professional in-home pet care companies. This is an attempt to help start the process of selecting and we will follow up with another blog to address other issues in finding an in-home pet care company. We begin with the different business models.  

First, the largest group of pet sitters is what’s called the “one man show”.  This type of structure limits the person on how many clients they can service at a time so when they are booked they have to say no even if you are an existing client. This structure has the pet sitter doing  10-15 visits daily during the busy season and working 7 days a week. You hear the sole proprietor say she does not take a vacation or if they take a vacation they let their clients know that they have to make other arrangements while they are gone.  Back up in the event of illness, car wreck, family emergency is usually a family member of the pet sitter.

The second group of companies is the ones who sub contract to other pet sitters to get clients covered. This may mean that the same person is coming into your house or different people depending upon who is available. What happens if the sub contractor pet sitter has one of her own clients call and needs service? The owner of the company can not train or tell the sub contractor how she wants the visit done, nor can she have any control over the number of visits the sub contracting pet sitter can do.  The sub contractor has the right to sub contract to another pet sitter. The question is will she be as diligent on checking out the person she sub contracts too?

The third group does have employees. The companies that have employees can fall into two categories:

 #1     Company with employees does not operate much differently than the companies with sub contractors except they have more control over what the pet sitter is doing and the employees can not go outside the company to find coverage for clients.

#2      Companies that realize how important the employee is to the company’s success (the employee is the one performing the service) will place investing in the employees as a high value of the company.  You will see training, team building and systems in place to benefit the employee and empower them to do the job. The company shows concern for the employees. There will be systems that show employees are valued such as not overbooking the employees, ensuring that employees can take vacations, have family time and have the tools and knowledge needed to perform their job.   This company structure allows for the employee to enjoy what they do.  When someone enjoys what they do and feels appreciated they will perform at a high level giving the type of care and concern we all would want from a service provider.

Guardian Pet Sitters® is structured to benefit the clients and the employees. We want our employees to be knowledgeable, relaxed and engaging on each visit. We offer our employees quarterly meetings, team building and an in-house certification program. We also encourage them to take vacation or to be there for an important family event. We don’t overbook our pet sitters as this is more than a job-it is a vocation. With the team building the pet sitters know who is covering their clients (yes our pet sitters are territorial as they get attached to the pets) and know that when they have their back up covering for them the pets will have the same quality service they provide. Each client has a primary and back up pet sitter. We never want our clients to find themselves without a pet sitter when needed so with our team structure we can offer our clients service 365 days. Our clients ALWAYS know their pets will be taken care of by a trained knowledgeable pet care provider.

Pet Sitting is a NEVER-ENDING Responsibility

The last letter in our name says it all! N—It is a NEVER-ENDING responsibility to be thorough, conscientious and helpful to our clients, always going that extra mile to make them satisfied! Guardian Pet Sitters values our relationship with our clients-human and animal. We look for ways in order to serve and bring more value to benefit our clients.

Who would have thought 20 years ago we would stay so busy looking for ways to provide services to our clients. Wouldn’t you think if it was working you wouldn’t change it? Look how much has changed in the past 20 years. When we started, people didn’t use email, cell phones were limited and life didn’t seem as hectic. What we have learned is there is always a better way to do things. We want to ensure we are always offering the best to our clients.

Several years ago we switched our business model from focusing on a visit to focusing on the pet. What does this mean? We used to allow xx minutes for 1-2 pets or xx minutes for 3-4 pets. Today we allow xx minutes for 1 pet, xx minutes for 2 pets, xx minutes for 3 pets and xx minutes for 4 pets. We allow the time in the schedule, charge accordingly and thus are able to give more time and attention to each pet on each visit. The pet care provider is not rushing to get everything done in a visit so they are conscientious and thorough each time they make a visit. We want to do what we say in-home pet care is all about—reduce stress on your pet when you are gone.

Our back up system is not only in the event the pet sitter gets hurt, injured in a car wreck or becomes ill but works in the event there is a pet emergency. Arriving at a house with a sick pet whether minor or serious, our back up system allows the pet sitter to handle the emergency without concern for other pets that might be on the schedule. The pet sitter has an extra pair of hands if needed to help in the situation or to take over other visits if that is needed. Not overbooking our pet sitters’ aids in our ability to handle emergencies without compromising our service.  

Our business philosophy is pet care services require a team. We are working with live animals who must be cared for no matter what the circumstances. We offer our service 365 days and will be there when YOU need us.  Our clients need to be able to depend upon knowing their animals will be cared for in a top notch way when they need service. There will not be a note left saying I am unavailable from such and such dates. What happens if you have a family emergency and must leave town during those dates? With a team of trained professionals you know you can rely upon them to offer the same consistent quality service if you have a family emergency or you became ill and hospitalized. You know that your pets are cared for and watched by a trained pet sitter.     

Today, life is hectic for us. We have added services to help add time into the day. We offer home services (waiting for a repair man), cat brush-outs and nail trims, sub q fluids and allergy injections. This keeps the pet at home (reduces stress) and saves time for the owner as they do not have to make a trip to the veterinarian or groomer.  

As we said, it is a NEVER ending responsibility we have to our clients—human and furry. We love it that way as it means we must stay on our toes to provide quality service!

Ongoing education is important to Professional Pet Sitters

We are down to the last two letters in Guardian.  A stands to strengthen your ABILITY through on-going training (Pet Related Seminars, Public Lectures, Videos, Volunteer Work, In-House Certification Program, Reading and Internet Resources). As I was thinking about what to write I was taken back to the prehistoric days of pet sitting (19 years ago) when I started. In-home pet sitting as an industry is relatively in its infancy. Boy I wish I would have had the awareness then I have today about this industry. When I started it was believed anyone who loved animals and had animals of their own could get into the in-home pet sitting business. This belief has continued to escalate today. For me I was already in the midst of the business when one day I had a realization. As I was wearing the many different hats of a business owner/pet sitter I was at a client’s house and I realized that I did not have enough knowledge to be caring for other people’s pets. No one I talked to as I setup the business was concerned about how much animal related knowledge one needed (they didn’t realize it either).  

I was fairly knowledgeable in caring for animals as the pets we had growing up and the bird and dogs that I had when I started the business taught me a lot. But not enough to be taking care of other people’s pets! Before I got into being a professional I took care of my neighbors and friends pets and on the day of awakening I realized that I had been extremely lucky that nothing had happened to the pets in my care. This was a defining moment in my life and in Guardian Pet Sitters®.

I set out to learn as much as I could about the animals in my care and to also pass this information along to the others working with me. I subscribed to every pet related magazine and journal, went to any seminars I could find in the area (there were very few), and asked many questions of my veterinarian and others in animal related careers. I also found others to work with Guardian Pet Sitters® who worked in pet related careers. I started attending NAPPS conferences. It was at this time that some were awakening to the need for animal related knowledge and the NAPPS conferences were a great place to hear many different speakers on various animal related topics. I attended national and regional meetings NAPPS offered even though they were out of state.

I held seminars for the people working with me and passed on what I learned. We would also have various speakers at our meetings to speak on different aspects of animal husbandry. I flew in a cat specialist from Houston to speak at one of Guardian Pet Sitters® meetings; we had a ferret specialist, canine specialist and many veterinarians teaching us emergency first aid and how to recognize different ailments and what to do in certain situations. A pet sitter needs to have a wide variety of knowledge. A pet sitter needs the knowledge of the veterinarian technician, nutritionist, canine behaviorist, cat behaviorist, and bird specialist etc.  to perform the job.    

Out of my own need, I started a group for the DFW pet sitters to help us in getting animal education. I realized that our industry needed knowledgeable pet sitters to be recognized as true professionals.  We even had pet sitters from Austin and Houston who flew in just to attend our meetings. Trying to get the meetings setup was time consuming for me and unfortunately the group did not survive.

However, out of my quest for animal knowledge and how to run an in-home pet sitting company I volunteered and found myself serving on the board of NAPPS (1996 to 1999, co-chair of the NAPPS conferences from 1996 to 1998 and regional director from 1997 to 1999). This experience gave me exposure to many aspects of in home pet sitting and knowledge needed to be the company we are today.

Today we have the wonderful world of the internet and the knowledge we can gain about animals is on-going. You do have to be careful what you read and make sure the people you follow are themselves knowledgeable on the topics they write about.  

Today I am still on the pursuit for knowledge for myself and the employees of Guardian Pet Sitters®. Attending conferences and seminars is important for me and the staff and we continue to hold meetings for the pet sitters. We have started an in-house accreditation program, we have speakers who speak on various animal related topics and we encourage our staff to educate themselves.  

At Guardian Pet Sitters we believe knowledge about what we do is a key ingredient to quality pet care services. We strengthen our ability through our ongoing training and this helps us provide excellent pet care.

How do you conduct your business?

 As we move through the letters in our name Guardian, we reach what we think is probably the most critical letter: I which stands for conduct business with Integrity and honesty.  in any business is everything, but especially when people are putting their pets and home in your care. When Guardian Pet Sitters® was started in 1992 we had high standards for our day to day operations of the company and that has not changed. 

A company that operates with Integrity is consistent with their actions, methods, principles, values, expectations and outcomes. Guardian Pet Sitters® finds with Integrity you can give reliable quality service. You can build relationships with your human clients and the pets win with responsible consistent pet care.  We are part of your pet care team! 

We value our Integrity; we want to do what is right for our clients and their pets, employees, vendors, other pet professionals and the communities that we serve. We value the principle to do what is right rather than what is expedient or will just get the job done. It usually takes longer to perform the duties when you have this as your goal. One of the reasons our service is built on time; we want to do the job completely each time we enter the home. We want each pet to have their needs met and if possible be able to add extra TLC. Our policy of treat each visit as if it is your last  means that at each visit we spend the time to do the job thoroughly. We don’t cut time on the visits and wait until the last visit to make everything perfect for the owner when they return.   

Another important aspect is being dependable and reliable. Guardian Pet Sitters® sticks to our commitments and we do not commit to what we can not deliver. Our backup system for our pet sitters is an example. We know we are human and “life happens” to us also. Being there for a client when we say we will be there is of paramount importance. It is important to us to be able to do what we say we are going to do regardless of what we encounter (life situations) while performing our services. 

Of course like all businesses we need to make money in order to stay in business. However we have the policy that we do what is best for the pet and their human above making money. This means if we don’t think in-home pet care is the right choice for your pet or if we don’t have the skills needed to provide a particular service for a pet we will help the owner find the right alternative. If we make a mistake we admit it and then we do what we can to rectify the situation even knowing that it will cost us money. Doing things right and being truthful is very important to us.   

Guardian Pet Sitters® believes that our integrity is the greatest value we can possess and it includes ethics, truthfulness, honesty, commitment, dedication, and personal responsibility. 

“Integrity is what we do, what we say, and what we say we do.”   Don Galer