Episode 13: Should I Pet Sit for an Out of Control Dog?

In this episode of "Bella In Your Business", Bella discusses whether you should agree to pet sit for an out of control dog.  The discussion is based on a post from the discussion pages of her private Facebook group found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/jumpersnetwork/. The writer of the post said that she had a “Meet and Greet” the previous night with an “out of control dog." She said the dog was jumping on her and very unruly. It was putting its paws on her shoulders and its parents just seemed to dismiss the behavior. Bella says that you as a pet sitter need to recognize that this situation could be a potential liability. First, for you individually, because this dog could cause you to injure yourself (like twisting your ankle) and that could result in your inability to serve your other clients. Doing so could even cost you your business. This situation could also be a danger to your employees. If one of them gets injured not only is it a loss of a dependable member of your team, but it could open you up to liability. Bella reminds you that as a pet sitter, it is not your job to train the dog and break bad habits.  In that type of situation, it may often be best to politely decline working with that dog. If you have a trainer you have a relationship with, use the opportunity to give a referral. Bella also suggests that you ideally decline the job via email. This gives the parents a chance to absorb and digest your reasonings.  Those reasonings should include honesty about your concerns and how you feel you are not the best fit to serve that dog’s particular needs. You can find more great information from Bella, additional podcast episodes, and  Bella’s blog at https://jumpconsulting.net/. Transcript: Episode 13 of Bella in Your Business. Hello and thanks for listening to Bella in Your Business where each episode we pick a topic and discuss how it affects your pet business. To keep up to date on all our current and past episodes, please be sure to click the subscribe button. Pressing this button will bring you the latest episodes straight to your device as they're published. I also want to invite you to join my private Facebook group. Here you'll find tips, tricks, and free great advice for your pet business. Just search Jumper's Network on the Facebook search box. Today our topic is something that I've seen more than once in our Facebook groups and it's should I pet sit for an out of control dog? The writer says she had a meet and greet last night with the first out of control dog. All the other clients they have are very well behaved, but this one kind of caught her off guard and she's wondering how to handle situations like this. She mentioned that the dog was jumping on her and that it was very out of control and very unruly. It was putting its paws up on her shoulders and the parents just kind of seemed to like laugh it off like, dogs will be dogs. Here's my advice. Honesty is always the best policy. I think one of the biggest mistakes we can make as pet sitters is thinking that we can be a solution for everyone. And in this situation, whether it's just you solo or maybe you have staff, this is a potential liability. I want you to imagine if this dog actually really does succeed in hurting you or just simply knocks you off your balance and you twist your ankle. How much of a resource are you going to be able to be for all of your other well-behaving four-legged clients? I would actually talk to the client face to face or if you're kind of apprehensive about doing it face to face, call them up after the consultation and explain to them the consultation is a chance for you to actually get to know them and their dog to find out if it is actually a good fit for both parties and that you have some concerns. Maybe this person actually wants you to walk their dog, in which case that could be a total terror. The only way to really know about this is if you go for a walk, and I would suggest doing it with the parent first. If you don't need to necessarily walk the dog, but you come in and the dog is just ripping things to shreds and jumping all over you, and you just do not have the skill set to really train and tame that dog, then I highly suggest you think about passing. There's just too many things that can happen to you or to the dog. There's too many accidents. There's too many unknowns. And the very worst thing that could happen is you getting injured or one of your staff. Of course the pet too, and the pet really needs someone that can kind of take charge and take control. I always say to my pet sitters, we're not dog trainers. So with all due respect, go get a dog trainer and then talk to us. But of course we say those in nicer words. I would also kind of suggest maybe on the initial phone call before you even go to that meet and greet, consider having a better intake program to ask better questions. Something like, how many people does your dog trust? What is the leash like when you walk your dog? Is it loose or is it tight? Don't offer recommendations. Don't do that because it's not your responsibility to help solve the problem. If you have a good relationship with a dog trainer, that might be a good idea at that point to connect the new client that you have with that dog trainer. And if you really want the dog walking client, perhaps you could even go on a couple of the training sessions. But until that dog can prove his non liability, if you will, I highly suggest that you just politely decline. The way I'd recommend that you do it is in email. The reason is, is because they'd have time to digest this. And this method also works out very well for those of us who might not like direct conflict. And by conflict, I don't mean negative or whatnot, but sometimes people don't really feel comfortable telling pet parents that, you know, your dog's out of control, it's a problem child, and I can't take it. They don't know what to say. And if that client were to get emotional about it, which oftentimes they do, because as you know, that their pets are just like their kids, they're going to kind of say things or ask you questions that you may not be prepared to answer or have a comeback for. So it's kind of nice to do these kinds of things in email. You can think about your words and the reader, the pet parent, has time to actually digest what you're saying and respond rather than react. You can say things like, I don't think we're the right fit or I want to do right by you and your pet, but I'm not sure I can handle this energy. He might be better served with someone else. Reasons that you definitely can't accept, obviously if you're a solo person, I really want you to think about the risk that you're putting yourself into. I see and hear so many pet sitters these days that want to be the end-all be-all for everyone. And all it takes is that one twist of the ankle to let you be home and not able to walk dogs. If you're a solo sitter, that could cost you your business or your livelihood. If you are telling your clients that you injured yourself and you can't get out of bed or you can't drive a car or you can't walk a dog, then that is going to have a detrimental impact on your livelihood. And I really want you to consider that as a very real cost that could happen when accepting or declining potential liability situations. The other thing is clearly you don't want your staff getting injured. They're very valuable to you. Depending on how you run your company, staff could represent $10,000 to $60,000 in revenue a year. So if you really kind of think of it that way, pull yourself out of the exact situation where you just really want to help these people and really think of the cost and benefits and rewards. I think you'll have a little bit more confidence to make an educated and responsible decision while being sensitive to the pet owner. I hope this has helped you again. Please find me on Facebook. You can go to my page, Jump Consulting, or you can search the search terms for Jumper's Network. I would love to have you in there. I'm in there every single day giving tips, free advice, awesome free downloads, and everything. So if you have a question, you could submit it there and maybe you will be the subject of our next podcast. I want to thank you for listening and invite you to listen to the next episode of Bella in Your Business. Thanks for jumping with Bella in Your Business. For more information, free articles, free coaching sessions, and more, go to jumpconsulting.net. And remember, Bella's got your chute.