Another Pet Sitting Issue For Pet Sitters

Sometimes it's hard to draw the line between being a compassionate friend and a pet sitting business owner.

This can become a problem when you've been petsitting a dog for years and he's become old and needs extra care and extra time. What do you do? I mean, you love that little guy and you want to do everything you can to help make his time left on earth comfortable, but on the otherhand... you are running a business.

When you find yourself doing more and more within your allotted time frame, that's perfectly okay. You are being paid for that half hour. The exception to this would be if you have to lift the dog and he's a big one. Obviously you have to look after your own health and draw the line.

If you find you're doing more and more for the dog and it is taking longer than the agreed upon time frame you have 2 options:

1. Have a talk with the owner and explain your time committment and figure out a solution within that time frame. Perhaps the owner will take back some of the duties, or ask you to make an additional (paid) daily visit.

2. Have a talk with the owner and lengthen the time of your visit along with additional payment. If your visit is taking your 45 minutes, you should be paid for 45 minutes, not 30 minutes.

Either way, communicate your concerns with the pet owner. You can both figure something out. This is better than letting resentment build up. Lots of times the owner has no idea of what's going on and how you feel about it unless you tell them.