Allowing A Third Party Access To Your House Is Dangerous To The Pet Sitter

In previous blog posts we’ve discussed why we usually won’t ‘job share’ with a third party. But what if you just want someone else to have access to your home and they won’t be taking any responsibility for your pets? Well, to us, that is not safe either.

We recently had a client who wanted to allow her friends access to her home while she was away. She wanted someone else to come and check on the dog because she thought the dog may get lonely while they were gone. She released us of any and all liability (in writing) because she was allowing a third party into her home.

The first few visits went fine. The pet sitter arrived for a midday visit on the weekend and noticed a car in the driveway. Since we had been forewarned there may be someone else visiting the dog the sitter proceeded to enter.

She was greeted by three teenagers who did NOT have permission to be there.

I immediately texted the client and asked if these were the friends with permission to be in the house and was advised no. Client called the kids’ parents and everyone is in ‘big trouble’.

The kids proceeded to tell the client that the pet sitter told them to “feel free to visit anytime” which was completely untrue.

Are you starting to see why we don’t want ANYONE in your home while you’re away?

If you tell us someone else has permission to be in your home and we have never met them, it’s up to us to determine if they are legitimately supposed to be there?

We are pet sitters, not police. That responsibility is above our pay grade.

What if someone were robbing your house and we walked in? If you tell us NO ONE is allowed in the house and we see someone we’re not going in. We’re calling the police immediately.

By allowing other people in your home, you’re putting the pet sitter in danger.

Unless you have someone physically living at your house while you are gone and we are doing midday visits, we will not be accepting any pet sitting assignments that allow a third party access to your house. We do this for the safety of your home and pets and for the safety of our staff.