Why lock your best friend in a cage when you leave town? Most of us consider our pets our furry children and don’t want them to experience being stuffed into a kennel, isolated and lonely. It must seem like a prison to them.
If not a kennel, then what? Have a neighbor or neighborhood youth check in to feed and water? Perhaps a tiny bit better because the pet can stay in its own home.
Now, there is a much better way and the next best thing for a pet whose parents are away. A professional pet sitter can be hired to stay with them at their home until the owners return. The sitter can observe the pet’s schedule, give it special care in areas needed and be a constant presence to keep the pet company, all at reasonable prices.
It has become big business.
The pet-sitting industry has grown rapidly in recent years. The market value is estimated to have risen from $17 billion in 1994 to $58.51 billion in 2014. One of the reasons for the increase is that more people have pets. In the Unites States, 67 percent of households have pets.
Thus, the job of pet sitting has turned into a professional career for many.
For example, Laura Harter, who works independently, will come to your home and care for your pet as if it were her own.
Her Prescott business, Peace of Mind Home and Pet Care, has been operating for 11 years.
“I had a lot of experience with animals large and small and I needed to find work,” she said. “I decided to give it a try and it worked for me.”
Sometimes, she is both a pet sitter and a house sitter.
“For instance, if the people are gone over night, I take care of the home, water plants and whatever else needs to be done,” she said.
With some 200 customers, she is very busy. “I work seven days a week and the only way I can get a day off is leave the country, really.”
The increased need for pet sitters has fostered many support businesses like rover.com, one of the largest pet-sitting organizations, which can match a pet with a sitter just about anywhere in the United States.
“This is a peer-to-peer service that is strengthening community, saving people money and providing jobs throughout [Northern Arizona]. Rover.com, the largest network of dog lovers for hire, is connecting pet parents with locals that are willing to provide in-home care for pups, while their owners are away,” said Pete Bahren, spokesman for Rover.com.
“Rather than dropping beloved pets off at crowded kennels, people are instead turning to their neighbors for assistance. Pet parents get a better service at about half the price of traditional boarding businesses and Rover sitters make supplemental income playing with dogs – right from their own home and on their own schedule.”
Mary Brooks, who lives in Stoneridge in Prescott Valley, has worked for rover.com for just over a year.
“I have always loved dogs,” she said. “I am the first one to go to the dogs at a party.”
She met her husband online about five years ago and moved with him from Atlanta to Prescott in 2010.
She was looking for something to do and she found rover.com. She was fully vetted before getting any jobs and says she appreciates the company’s marketing and business strategy.
“I started getting calls the next month and started sitting,” she said. “I feel very grateful. They trust me. I try to instill trust in them,” she said.
Before taking a job, she meets the owners and the pets.
“I ask about routine. Some have special needs,” she said. “One of the benefits I receive is taking them to get exercise. It’s hard to motivate myself to get out.”
She also likes that she gets a little extra money to supplement her retirement income.
Rover.com offers help for sittings 24/7 via an emergency telephone number, also pet insurance, customer support and reservation guarantee.
According to the National Pet Products Association survey, 93 percent of pet care businesses are owned by women. About 95 percent carry insurance or are bonded.
Fees vary depending on how many pets need care and if they have special needs. QCBN
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