Dogsitting 101: How to sift through dogsitting gigs
Bonding with the dog and pet owner
I am not a certified dog trainer. I don’t claim to know every technique for training a dog. My instincts for dogsitting come from 22 years of experience with a German Shepherd and a Labrador Retriever/German Shepherd mix, plus my work with Wag and Rover. And this is what I’ve learned.
Do not dogsit or walk any dog that you fear.
“Aren’t you scared one of those dogs will bite you?”
This is a question I’ve been asked a few times when I mention that I am a professional dog walker and dogsitter. My answer is always the same: “No.” And here’s why. I don’t walk dogs or dogsit for any animal that gives me this concern. Minus two dogs out of 45 (and a total of 234 walks) — excluding my own dogs — I’ve yet to be wrong. I’ve also never been bitten by a dog.
The more agitated and nervous you are around a dog, the more he’ll wonder what your problem is. Of the two dogs that did not like me initially, Dog One (Golden Retriever) was rubbing his entire body on my calf a few hours later and I woke up to his nose sniffing my face by the second night of sitting. Dog Two (Australian Shepherd) let me feed him, but just flat-out would not let me walk him. A blow to the ego, that Australian Shepherd has kept me level-headed ever since. Still though, I would’ve never tried if I feared either of them.
When I walk in the door, if the dog is crated, I start off by talking to him or her and just seeing how the dog reacts to me. I slowly open the crate, eyeing my unlocked exit, and carefully see how the dog behaves. If the dog is loose, I only open the door a few inches and see how the dog reacts to me. And if the dog is aggressive, which has happened three times total, I cancel the walk. I’m not about to challenge a strange dog. I won’t win.
2. Put yourself in the dog’s paws. How would you react if a stranger showed up at your home and flopped on your couch?
The dog has no idea why you’re there. All (s)he knows is that the owners have left, and now she’s got to deal with this random person she may have met for 20 to 30 minutes a few days ago for a meet-n-greet. She wasn’t particularly impressed with you then and probably won’t be now. And neither are most people when they meet a stranger. Some gloriously friendly people warm up to everyone immediately. Others (read: me) need to feel you out before deciding they like you. Sometimes it’s just watching the clock and waiting it out. As long as you keep your cool, you two should be OK.
3. Stop making assumptions based off of what pet websites say the temperament of the dog is.
I once reported on a story about dogfighting and changing the perception of pit bulls. I sat in a room calmly taking notes while 11 pit bulls strolled around loose with their owners. I’ve read countless reports about how dangerous pits are. Meanwhile, my first encounter with a pit bull was her jumping up into the air and licking all the lip gloss off of my face. She did it so fast that I was more entertained than grossed out. She is still one of the friendliest (and strongest) dogs I’ve ever walked.
I had two German Shepherds (one was a mix) that couldn’t have been more different if they tried. One was a wild child who was reasonably friendly to everyone. He knocked everything down like Marmaduke and wanted to play constantly. He managed to squeeze through the side of our home and just sit on the top step of our house without bothering anybody. It drove my family nuts because we couldn’t figure out how this 50-plus pound dog could get through gates and bricks like a small mouse. I’d come home, and there he’d be. He never bothered anybody, but he’d sit still like a statue for hours in our non-fenced-in yard until we got home. We were very relieved no one ever called the pound.
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Meanwhile, my second dog was the epitome of a guard dog, trusted only a handful of people who didn’t live in our home and would bark at gnats. She also despised all mail carriers. We were the same exact owners, but my dogs just had two totally different personalities. Socialization levels and the dog’s background matter far more than the breed of the dog.