On Wednesday September 12, 2001 there were many NYC-Tri-State-Area local train station parking lots with cars still sitting in them that had been parked there early in the morning on Tuesday September 11th. The cars were there waiting for the drivers that were never coming back to claim them…because they were never going to make that train ride home again.
I’ve often wondered as a professional Dog Walker/Pet Sitter about that unique heart break that must have occurred for so many of my fellow Pet Sitters in the tri-state area as they realized that the clients they worked for had perished at the Twin Towers and were not coming home to their pets that night – or ever. I’m sure we can all still feel that sickening knot in our stomachs, the feeling of desperately wanting rescuers to find people alive in the rubble. We knew from seeing the video that it was highly unlikely, yet we stayed up and watched the news all night and all through the next days, praying. We cried as we viewed gut wrenching video of hundreds of people walking the NYC streets with photos of their loved ones, crying, pleading for any information, looking for anyone who had seen them get out alive. How many dog walkers in NYC and the surrounding suburbs had to figure out that day who to call and what to do? I had not started my dog walking business yet at that time, so those particulars had not crossed my mind.
But they do now.
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Thankfully, I have never had the horrible experience of a pet parent not making it home from work or a trip. But obviously, it can and sadly does, sometimes happen. This is why it’s so important for you to make sure that you not only check in when you are away on a trip, but that you check in once you are home. Not only do you want to know that all is well at home and your pets are okay and your Pet Sitter hasn’t run into any problems (and if they had, they should have tried to contact you!) but it’s also important to let the Pet Sitter know that YOU are okay.
Back in late 2004 I had a three-week long job dog sitting for some relatively new clients. I was staying at their home with their five animals (yes five! Four dogs and one very brave cat). Despite my standard request that everyone tell me where they are going to be as they travel, how they are traveling (Car? Plane? Train? Bus? All of the above?) and that they leave me emergency contact information in case I need to reach I them, I arrived at the home to find none of this information had been left for me (I now try harder to make sure I get it before anyone leaves). Just a few days into the assignment the December 26th , 2004 South Asian Tsunami hit.
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That was a massive catastrophic event in which over 200,000 people died, and the disaster covered at least 15 different countries – many of them popular tourist destination areas. Estimates were that over 9,000 foreign tourists/vacationers were among the missing. As I watched the news in horror over the next couple of days it occurred to me that for all I knew, my clients could have been there and perished. I had checked in with them via email when I first arrived at the home, and received no response. Over the course of the three weeks I repeatedly left emails for each of them as well as voice mails and text messages on their cell phones; not one message was acknowledged or responded to. Not one time did they ever call their house or try to reach me to see how things were going back at their home with their animals. They had left me no landlord information (they rented a house), no hotel information, no travel itinerary, no contact info for next of kin, family members, neighbors or friends. I had nothing to go on and no clue where – literally – in the World they had gone for their three week trip. I truly did not know if they were dead or alive. I spent the entire time they were gone wondering if those people were ever coming home and trying to figure out what I was going to do with their pets if they simply just didn’t make it back.
The first most glaring fundamental problem with this is that these folks went away for three weeks, left five pets at home with a relatively new Sitter, had no neighbors or friends keeping an eye on things and never once checked in to make sure things were okay back at their home. As both a Pet Sitter and a pet parent, I just do not understand this. (Just for the record, they did make it home safely with no apologies for worrying me or explanation for never checking in, and it was the last time I helped them with their pets.)
The second issue here is, that even knowing that a major catastrophe encompassing a significant portion of the Globe had transpired, it never occurred to them that maybe they should call home and let ME know THEY were okay.
Don’t be that kind of Pet Parent.
More recently I had several families away the weekend of the 2013 Boston Marathon. One my clients and her husband were actually running in the race; another family was headed to Boston for the weekend (and another family had planned to watch a relative run in the race but canceled at the last minute for schedule conflict reasons). Bless her heart, that afternoon the client who was running the race texted me, “WE’RE OKAY!” Simple, to the point, and when I got the text I hadn’t yet heard about the bombings so I thought, “Oh good for her! They made it through the whole race, they are amazing!” I thought she just meant they’d completed the Marathon without collapsing, dedicated runners that they are. An hour later I turned on the car radio, heard about the terrorist bombings and realized she was letting me know that they had not been killed or injured…and I had to pull over to cry. That really hit home. Both she AND her husband were running that race…and I was back at their home with their four dogs and one (very brave) cat. They both could have been killed.
Thankfully, they and the other clients I had traveling to Boston that weekend were all okay, and they all had the presence of mind and consideration to let me know immediately that they were fine. They all saved me a lot of unnecessary worry, and the only thing I was more grateful for than that communication was that they were all safe.
DO be that kind of Pet Parent.
When you are traveling out of town, don’t drive the Pet Sitter insane with constant check-ins, but by all means DO check in. And make sure that you check your texts, voice mails and emails every day just in case they Pet Sitter has been trying to reach you for some reason. Plane crashes, car accidents, train derailments and cruise ship fiascos unfortunately do happen. You don’t want the Pet Sitter to be back at home watching the news and wondering about your safety.
Here’s a check list to keep in mind as you make travel plans this summer and in the future:
Make sure your Pet Sitter knows where you will be traveling to.
Important information includes your destination location (in country or outside of the USA?), as well as where you will actually be staying. If you will be in multiple locations, provide them with an itinerary. Give them names of hotels, addresses and landlord info for vacation rental houses, and addresses/locations of any relatives or friends you may be staying with.
Let the Pet Sitter know your method of travel.
Again, if you have an itinerary, leave it for them. If you are traveling by plane, leave them flight info including departure and return airport, airline and flight numbers. If you are driving, make sure they know that and if you are taking a bus or train, let them know on which lines. If it’s a combination, let them know that too, and if you are going to be on a tour or a cruise ship, give them the company’s information also. I have a client leaving for a ten day trip shortly that involves a flight out of one NYC area airport to Texas with arrival home at a different NYC area airport. In between there will be a drive via rental car through various parts of the Southwest to visit certain spots and then an end destination to see family in Colorado. I’m asking her to check in regularly as she is traveling alone, and I will no doubt be carrying a level of concern as she will be driving through potential tornado AND out of control forest fire areas on this trek. I have the basic map of her route and will essentially know where she is while she is gone, and will be in touch with her multiple times during her trip via email.
Leave all emergency contact information available.
Before you leave make sure to iron out with the Pet Sitter which method of contact will work best. Sometimes people don’t have access to email or their cell phones won’t be working when they are traveling. Be sure to leave the Pet Sitter the number of whatever hotel, rental house or family/friend’s home it is you will be staying at. Leave them more than one option via which to reach you in case there is an emergency. If there’s a landline where you will be staying, make sure they have that in addition to your cell phone numbers, and make sure they know your hotel room number once you are checked in.
CHECK IN!
No Pet Sitter wants to be harangued by the “constant-check-in-ers”. We’ve all had them and they drive us nuts. You really don’t need to speak with the Pet Sitter every day that you are gone. They know you miss your pets but yours aren’t the only animals they have to take care of and it’s likely they are busy…doing their job. The actual animal care is number one priority, checking in with clients can be time consuming and has to come second. E-mail is a great way to go because it can be sent/read at any hour of the day without disturbing anyone – especially convenient when travel involves major time differences (I once had a client who insisted on calling her home number to check in on me every single day....from Spain...at 2am USA East Coast time - never helped her again). I suggest an initial check in the first day or evening to make sure the Pet Sitter has arrived to find that all is well at the home and to let them know you arrived safely to your destination. After that, once or twice a week should be sufficient. Generally, “No news is good news” works well for most people. I am always appreciative to hear from clients that they have arrived at their trip’s destination and are having a good time, relaxing and not worrying about anything back home. I try to text or email photos of their pets during the week so that they know everyone back home is safe and happy.
CHECK YOUR MESSAGES!
Do make sure you check you messages daily just in case your Pet Sitter is trying to reach you. Sometimes people get so comfortable with a good Pet Sitter and have such confidence that things are fine back at home (and 99.9999% of the time they really are fine!) that they never check messages when the Pet Sitter is in fact trying to reach them with a problem or a question. The other side of this coin is the Pet Parent who sends a check-in email, text message or phone call…and goes into full blown panic if they don’t get an instant and immediate response. Your Pet Sitter is busy doing a job, give them some time to get back to you. Just because they may not be able to pick up the call right then doesn’t mean you need to send a flurry of calls, voice mails, texts and emails within the next hour, convinced that everything at home is a disaster.
Leave your Pet Sitter “Guardian” information
In the awful event that a worst-case-scenario transpires and you don’t make it home for some reason be sure to let your Pet Sitter know who should take over care and guardianship of your pets if something were to happen to you. I know when you’re planning a vacation it’s a grim thing to think about, and hopefully never necessary, but important nonetheless. What a horrible thing for a Pet Sitter to have to consider, and to have to handle on their own. None of them would want to see your pets have to go into the shelter system. Most Pet Sitters I know would want to take their clients’ animals themselves if no relatives or friends stepped forward (we LOVE your pets!), but that’s not feasible for many of us. Make sure they know who YOU would want your pets to go to in the event of a tragedy.
Summary:
Your Pet Sitter’s goal is for you to be able to go away and enjoy a relaxing vacation or at least have a business trip with no worries. Most of us have pets of our own (well, really, ALL of us do) and we know how hard it is to leave them behind. Your peace of mind is paramount. Help them out by reciprocating that. They *will* worry about you. I really like my clients personally so not only do I worry about the responsibility of what would happen to their pets if something happened to them, but I actually really do worry about THEM! Always let your Pet Sitter know you are safe, especially if you hear that something major has happened on the news, and absolutely positively always, always, always check in when you walk in the door at home to let them know you’ve made it back safely and are home again with your pets!
(Deirdre Curran is a professional Dog Walker/Pet Sitter covering pet care in Rye, Rye Brook, Port Chester, some areas of Harrison, NY and limited areas of Greenwich, CT)
You can visit her web site at:
www.curranspets.com
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https://www.facebook.com/CurransPets
