In-home pet care is a service that may only be properly performed when a reasonable level of trust has been established between the pet sitter and the client. During our first meeting, we will ask you a lot of questions about your pets and the type of service you require for their care. You should feel free during this meeting to also ask a lot of questions of us. Trusting someone with the safety of your beloved pets as well as the security of your home is serious business. We understand this and expect you to ask a number of questions about our backgrounds and our methods of doing business. We always provide a copy of our certificate of our insurance along with several references at this meeting. In addition, below is a listing of our standard policies and procedures. Should you have any additional questions or concerns that we've neglected to address, we encourage you to discuss those with us. The more we know about your expectations of our services, the more diligent we can be about satisfying and perhaps exceeding those expectations.

The following policies and procedures should offer you a clear understanding of exactly how our services are performed. These policies have been adopted based upon what our clients' needs and expectations have been in the past. They are certainly not set in stone. If you have particular needs which require us to service you and your pets differently, we are certainly willing to adapt to those needs if possible. Please feel free to discuss exceptions to our policies and procedures if necessary.

1. We do not answer your phone. If you need to contact your sitter at a time when you expect them to be at your home, please page them or instruct them to listen for your voice on your answering machine and then pick up. We will always return a page immediately unless we are out walking a dog. In that case, your page will be returned immediately upon our return to the home.

2. Your key will never be labeled with your name or address or kept in the same location as any paperwork containing your name or address. Keys and keypad codes will always be kept in a secure, locked location while in our possession.

3. While in your home, your sitter will always remain in the areas that require them to care for your pets or your home, as specified by you. Areas within your home that do not contain pet supplies or cleaning supplies are none of our concern and will always be treated accordingly. Your privacy will always be highly respected.

4. On daily visits, your home will always be as you left it, unless we are directed otherwise. If, when we arrive, lights, TVs, radios, etc. are on, we will leave them on. We will at times use our own judgment in some situations if we have reason to believe that something is not as it should be and we are unable to contact you to discuss it. For example, if your door were unlocked when we arrive, we would assume that it should have been locked and we will lock it upon leaving if we could not reach you by phone.

5. We will never bring anyone with us on our visits unless we have specifically requested your permission to do so. You have authorized us to enter your home and no one else. This rule will always be strictly adhered to.

6. Our vehicles will never have advertising on them. The last thing you need is an announcement to the world that your home is unoccupied. (Many of our competitors do not follow this common sense policy.)

7. We commit to being at your home within 30 minutes either way of the requested time for the visit. We do of course make every effort to always be on time. However, the nature of our business often makes that impossible. We are often required to perform duties that were not anticipated - clean up, a visit to a vet, etc. These situations unfortunately do occur and we're certain that if they occurred with your pets, you would like us to remain a bit longer to handle the situation even it makes us a bit late for our next visit.

8. We will always clean up after your pets to the best of our ability. We do what we do because we love animals. We would never leave a mess behind after our visit. Not only would it be unpleasant for you to come home to, but it is cruel and neglectful to the animal. Especially if the animal is crated. Any and all messes will be cleaned up before we leave your home. Please bear in mind however that we are not a professional cleaning service. We will clean up to the best of our ability and we will always exercise caution in cleaning carpeting. If you have not left specific instructions on which cleaning product to use on your carpets, we will not attempt to clean them.

9. We do not engage in physical corrections for negative behavior. In other words, we don't hit animals. I do not believe in striking or shouting at animals. It is completely unnecessary and accomplishes nothing. As such, no one I ever hire will either. If your dog is accustomed to walking with a training collar, we will certainly walk him or her with that collar and provide physical corrections when necessary if you would like us to. That is the only exception to this policy. Our pet sitters will always be fully knowledgeable in the proper use of such a collar.

10. We will not smoke in or around your home. Even if you are a smoker, our sitters are asked to refrain from smoking . Smoking can cause accidents or injuries. We do not wish to assume that type of liability.

11. We always ask for two sets of keys. This is a fairly new policy. As our business has grown, we are covering more territory with more pet sitters. From a management perspective, we have found that having an extra key at our office enables to respond much more quickly if a pet sitter has car trouble, is taken ill, etc. It also enables us to check in on your home and your pets if you're away for an extended period of time. If our sitters know that we could pop in at any time to make sure they're doing a good job for you, they'll tend to go that extra mile to do just that. Having an extra set of keys on hand gives us peace of mind and should hopefully give you peace of mind as well.

12. Additional fees may apply. Additional fees may apply for rendering service outside of our regular route areas, for visits required on holidays, for administering some medications, for watering a large number of plants, for providing service before 7 A.M. or after 10 P.M., or for other special considerations.