Please note: Safety is always our first concern. Before following the below recommendation, talk to your vet and/or a local dog trainer to ensure that it is safe for your dog to work with a dog sitter.
1. Communicate
Be upfront about your dog’s personality and behavioral concerns. This is the only way to keep everyone safe. For instance, if your dog doesn’t like to be pet, explicitly tell your sitter not to pet your dog.
2. Meet outside
The first time your dog meets the sitter should take place outside. This will reduce your dog’s need to protect her home.
3. Provide delicious treats
When the sitter comes, have her bring something delicious (hot dogs, cheese, bacon, or, at the very least, give them some of your dog’s regular food). When you’re outside, the sitter should feed your dog these delicious treats. By doing this, your dog is building good associations with her new sitter.
4. Go on walks together
To make sure everyone is comfortable, go on a few walks with your dog and the sitter. Be mindful of your dog’s body language and be sure to communicate behavioral tendencies (e.g. if your dog is reactive towards other dogs or people) to your sitter.
5. Do a trial run
Once your dog is comfortable with the sitter, and the two of them are able to walk alone together, leave them alone for an afternoon together in your home. This will help both your dog and the sitter prepare for your absence. If there’s time, we also recommend an overnight as test run.
6. Incorporate a freedom harness
To minimize the amount of handling from the sitter, we recommend getting a freedom harness. You can leave the harness on your dog the whole time you’re away and the sitter can just clip the leash to the back of the harness when it’s time to walk.