i was wondering if anyone uses a dog walker or cat sitter at all? if so what do you expect them to do and what do they charge you? i have used the service a few times when we're gone for the day and can't make it back at lunch to walk the dog. this person is bonded and insured but now has a key to our house.:eek:
what are your thoughts on this?
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I have used the pads they sell for dogs to pee on when I have to be away for a long time and unable to walk the pooches.
I put a few layers of newspaper near the door and cover that with a couple of the pads and the dogs go there. The pads have a scent to them.
Works fine for me and them. :)
thanks for that
I used to have a job that took me out of the country a lot, I looked at these services and they usually charged around $7 for a cat visit and a little more if you had a dog that needed to be walked. This was when I lived in Ottawa and was about 3 years ago. I decided it was probably better to ask one of my friends that lived nearby to do it instead.
I was reluctant to give my house key to a "stranger". I did have the keyless door locks so it would have been simple enough to re-program the lock for the sitter but I guess it wasn't the key that bothered me but a stranger would have access to my house when I wasn't there. Luckily I had an alternative but sometimes you just don't! If you have neighbours that work or are afraid of dogs or you don't like/trust your neighbours, then you don't have alternatives.
Being bonded means that the person has a squeaky clean criminal record so there are a couple of ways to look at that, they haven't been caught yet OR they haven't done anything so far so it might be unlikely they would break the law at this point. Usually in these kinds of services if you are bonded and insured it means if they cause property damamge while in your home or something goes missing, their insurance will cover it. I used to be an insurance broker and the cost of this insurance is a lot of money - in the thousands per year, so I would check to see a copy of their policy and call the insurer to verify they do actually still have coverage with them. But, who wants to go through that potential hassle of all that?
It's one of those moral dilemmas each person has to decide for themselves, I don't think there is a right or wrong answer.
Fortunately for me, my dog can hold it for 12 hours, I learnt that when I got very sick one time and couldn't get out of bed.