Take care of your pet professionals.

The same as when you go into a pub, if you treat the staff with kindness and compassion you're likely to get better service. If you leave a tip then it's likely next time you go in they'll remember you and give you a great service again.

This is the same for all types of pet care professionals, while we will always give the pets the best care we can, knowing we are appreciated sometimes pushes us to go that extra level. We will try and fit them in whenever we can.

For those who aren't in the industry it may be hard to truly understand how hard the job really is. I'm a dog walker, sitter and trainer. I have 2 dogs of my own, as well as 3 other dogs in the household, i also have a horse and 4 cats. While i'm working and caring for your animals i am away from mine, and yes i chose this profession but this doesn't mean i dont miss my animals while i'm away at a pet sit. It means that i chose to work doing my passion in order to pay for my own animals and life.

A lady on a bench with her dog

We can be at a dog sit for up to 3 weeks at a time, 3 weeks away from our own beds, having to run around back and forth to go and feed our animals. My animals are at home with my parents and boyfriend so yes they get taken care of but its not the same as caring for them yourself. I have to still find time in my day to go home and walk my two dogs and muck out my horse. Those times i'm at a sit i dont ride my horse, so it could be weeks on end where she doesn't get exercised. We devote alot of our life to caring for other peoples animals to the best we can.

All we ever ask back is respect, and compassion towards us. We work our asses off to ensure your animals get the best care, we try not to make mistakes. It is essentially a 24 hour job, if the pet falls ill during the night we have to deal with it, if the dog is howling during the night we deal with it. Those overnight stays aren't just sleeping, we have to deal with anything that happens. My business rates are at a premium, but because this is our full time job. My full time job is to care for your animals, we dont make any other money aside. Some sitters you will find charge a very small rate, but these people have remote 9-5 jobs they can carry out from your living room. These people also dont generally have the skills and qualifications that we do.

Now i'm not bashing them as they could very well be doing a great job. But just consider what those of us who do it full time are giving up, and actually how much work we put in.

I can walk up to 8 dogs a dog, hour after hour, and then have to go back to walking my own two dogs seperately as they have different needs. We specialise in reactive dogs which means all day i am dealing with reactions, to then have to go home and walk my own reactive dog.

On training days i have about 2 hours after walks to go and do my horse, eat and then get to the training venues.

We do alot. So please give us the respect we deserve.