Caring 4 Sydney Pets

Caring 4 Sydney Pets Caring 4 Sydney Pets provides an affordable and reliable petsitting and dog walking service for our customers Do you work night shift?

Caring 4 Sydney Pets is entering our 3rd year as pet sitters and dog walkers in 2016 and we are looking forward to caring for the pets of our existing customers as well as for new customers we meet along the way. We are a professional pet care service offering our customers a pet sitting or dog walking service different to our competitors. With pet sitting we do not believe 40 minutes pet sitters normally spend with pets is enough time...so we have a minimum visit of 1 hour with your pet which it will benefit from. We also do not charge the customer for every pet they own and we charge simply for the visit at a nice affordable rate. We are a 24 hour sitting service so pet owners can call us any time day or night if they need a sitter urgently. We have taken calls at 2am from people whose sitter let them down aty the last minute and where the pet owner is getting on a plane in 4 hours time. We also take calls from pet owners who need to get hospital treatment and have no one to look after their pets. Our 24 hour service means we can visit your pets during the night while you work.

While walking dogs we often come across Common Myna birds that are angry and want to swoop down on the dogs we are walki...
30/01/2016

While walking dogs we often come across Common Myna birds that are angry and want to swoop down on the dogs we are walking.

The baby Mynas usually leave the nest between the months of December and March so this time of year we still find these birds want to swoop if we get near their nests.

When we walk the dogs, we pay attention to what is around us and the first thing you will hear is the Myna making a lot of noise. Then you see them flying down into a nearby tree or sitting on the overhead wires watching as we get closer.

This is your first sign of their intention to swoop.

As soon as we see this we use our free hand held at a 45 degree angle over the dog which effectively blocks the Mynas from flying over the dog. Adjust the hand accordingly to the size of the dog.

This is a pretty effective defense from swooping by any bird, including magpies, but it is equally important to protect yourself from swooping as well as protecting the dog.

Over the last week Sydney has had some very big storms and a lot of rain and as a petsitter I have been out there in the...
26/01/2016

Over the last week Sydney has had some very big storms and a lot of rain and as a petsitter I have been out there in the worst of it.

Last week I was picking up keys from a new customer and due to a lack of parking my car was about 10 to 15 minutes walk away.

Heading back to my car after meeting the customer the rain was pelting down and I could hear thunder close by. So I quickened my pace.

Over the next 5 to 10 minutes I had 3 lightning strikes in close proximity...the air actually sizzled around me. I got to a stage where I was concerned I was in real danger of being hit by lightning and there was no place to take cover with a busy road on the left and huge trees on the right. Thankfully I made it back to my car ok.

Two days ago one of my customers had arranged to meet me at 10:30 pm and as I left another storm hit. On my way back to the car....about 10 minutes away....... everything around me went white and a huge bang as lightning hit somewhere behind me.

2 or 3 more close strikes and while I am looking up the street I see a lightning bolt hit the roof of a house just 10 houses away....and then an almighty bang which had me ducking for cover.

Again I made it back to the car ok but two pretty frightening episodes in the space of a week.

With dog walking we check for storms in the area before arriving for the walk and if we see a storm moving into the area we automatically delay or cancel the walk.

Storms generally pass withing 20 minutes so the walk can be delayed by an hour in that case...but if there are rolling storms with one storm after the other then the walk is cancelled.

26/01/2016

It has been exactly a month since the an elderly pet sitter had a stroke while on his way to visit some pets he was looking after for some friends of his.

We have kept an eye out for any news of how this story ended with the owners of the pets supposedly being back from holiday 11 days ago.

There has been absolutely no news since the 16th which in our opinion is good news as it seems to suggest more than ever that the cat and dog being looked after had a co-carer.

If the pets had not been fed and given water for 3 weeks then the elderly pet sitter would have been called. There is no indication of this happening so we are taking this as being a happy end to what could have been a very sad story.

We do again ask other pet sitters to review their procedures to make sure this does not happen to them.

Caring 4 Sydney Pets has since we started this business full documentation stored in 3 different places indicating who our customers are, which pets are being looked after and the contact details of our customers in the case of an emergency happening.

23/01/2016

This week I am facing a challenge of looking after a dog which is openly aggressive towards me and clearly does not want me in it's home.

In a situation like this the priority is to make sure that the safety of the pet sitter has priority over everything else.... namely my safety. Dogs can do a lot of damage to people and this dog has snapped at me with teeth five times and done a lot of snarling.

Always a scary moment when you have a dog 2 feet away from you showing it's teeth and looking downright unfriendly.

As always when dogs are being aggressive never run as this wakes the dog's instinct to chase you.

My understanding of a dog's body language gives me all the information I need to work out what the dog is thinking. Today for example I walked in and the first thing I see is the dog's eyes and it is clearly a message not to approach.

The challenge is to get into the kitchen, entry blocked by the dog, feed the dog and refill the water, and head back to the safety of the living room while the dog eats.

Got through the visit ok and the dog has had both meals today and has plenty of water.

The thing to remember is that dogs...as well as cats..... can become aggressive and you should look at the body language as a dog will almost always give a warning before it attacks.

While having lunch today, a guy walking two black dogs lost control of one of the dogs who ran off straight towards a young kid. As soon as I saw this I was on my feet heading for the dog with a lead in my hand.

The kid did the right thing by putting his arms down by his side and not moving and the dog owner grabbed the dog and led it away.

The dog's eyes were directly on the kid and it was possible the kid reminded the dog of someone who had bullied the dog. Thankfully this did not end badly but there are plenty of people who get hurt by cats and dogs and it is important that they are animals and not just someone's pets and need to be respected.

16/01/2016

Caring 4 Sydney Pets has had a really busy Christmas period and I would like to take this time to thank our customers for choosing us to look after their pets while they went away on holiday.

Our pet sitting visits over the Christmas period started on the 20th of December when our customers began leaving, but we started getting busy on the 13th as we arranged to pick up house keys from these customers.

For the last 30 days Caring 4 Sydney Pets has been leaving at 5:30 in the morning heading out to visit homes between Stanmore in the south and Hornsby in the North and from Frenches Forest in the east to Ermington out in the west... a huge coverage area.

The Christmas period is the busiest time of the year for pet sitters and for the Christmas period in 2014 we were taking bookings right up to 10 pm Christmas Eve from pet owners leaving the next morning.

Recognizing that many pet owners make last minute plans to go away for a few weeks over Christmas, and then discover their usual pet sitter is booked out, Caring 4 Sydney Pets always leaves a percentage of spaces open for last minute bookings. As a result we have many new customers and had the chance of meeting some great pets who loved us being there every day.

So today is the 30th day of Christmas visits as well as being the last of the Christmas visits as the few remaining Christmas customers return home today. Time to recharge the batteries and relax.

However, tomorrow we still go out to visit the pets we see every week....and we have 3 new customers we start visits for as of tomorrow and another 4 starting later this week.

Time to recharge batteries may be shorter than hoped but we really love going out to people's homes and looking after their pets...... there is no better business than this one.

15/01/2016

Took an early morning call from a pet owner who needs a pet sitter urgently. Organised a meet with her in a few hours time to pick up keys and meet the cats. It is great that I am starting to take my calls after midnight as it means that pet owners who need to organise pet sitters after hours are now finding my 24 hour service.

Since taking the call I have been working in my office and one of my two cats has been lying down on the table next to the computer and keeping me company.

Eventually he fell asleep and started snoring. Very cute.

After finishing my visits for the day I always love coming home where I am greeted by both of my cats. My youngest cat loves her food and when I walk in the front door she is already sitting by her food bowl in anticipation of her dinner.

She really loves eating.

15/01/2016

The saga of the elderly man who was on his way to visit a cat and dog in the Haberfield area when he had a stroke is likely to be resolved today one way or another.

January 16 is supposedly the day when this family is supposed to return home and I am hoping that this is resolved in the right way when this family comes home and finds their cat and dog have been looked after by a co-carer.

If however their pets were only looked after the guy who had a stroke and who last visited them on boxing day..... well that is something I don't even want to think about.

With this situation expected to be resolved today, I am once again asking other pet sitters to review their procedures to make sure this does not happen to them.

Whether you are a professional pet sitter, a sometimes pet sitter or a friend who has volunteered to look after someone's pets while they are away, you need to have a paper trail on you identifying that you are looking after someone's pets that day and for days or weeks to come.

If something happens to you then that paperwork will tell others that you were looking after pets and the police for example can make sure that other pet sitters are available to look after the pets.

Above all else, the name and address of the owners of the pets you are looking after need to be either in your wallet or purse or at the very least on paper back at your home.

As a pet sitter I walk around every day with a diary listing the names of customers and their mobile numbers when I am visiting their pets each day. The diary identifies that I am a pet sitter and if I am injured the diary will show that I am looking after 8 or more pets a day. This is duplicated on the office computer and in a daily log book next to the computer.

When you have the responsibility of looking after pets, you need to make sure there is a written trail telling others how to contact the owners of the pets you are looking after in case you have a stroke, a heart attack or get struck down by lightning.

14/01/2016

I arrived at a home on Tuesday to walk and feed two dogs and while getting the dogs ready for the walk, I discovered one of the dogs had a small injury on the right side of the body with a small amount of bleeding.

I cleaned the area and applied antiseptic and contacted the owners to see if they wanted me to take the dog to their vet for a checkup.

It looked like while both dogs were playing the other dog had given a small bite. Injury looks clean, no sign of infection and is being monitored both visits of the day until the owner returns on Saturday.

14/01/2016

Today I spent two and a half hours with a cat who, though not showing any signs of stress, was clearly not his usual self and needed more care time. With his owner in hospital for a few days the cat was jumpy and knew something had changed in the routine it liked to follow every day.

Not only was it's owner suddenly not there ( now in hospital ) but before she had left she had a white cast on her foot and was hobbling around on crutches. As a result the cat sought refuge under the bed and did not even want to see his favourite petsitter at all.

The cat then hid away in a hiding spot and did not reappear again until I did my third visit for the day at which stage I stayed for several hours calming the cat down now that I knew where it was.

Before I left the cat was purring and I had managed to get it to eat dinner.

Despite the additional time spent with the cat the owner is only being charged for one visit with the additional one and a half hours being covered by Caring 4 Sydney Pets.

The priority was to make sure the cat was ok before I finished up there for the day.

13/01/2016

I was talking to one of my customers just after 2 this morning. Yesterday she had a labrador run into the back of her legs which resulted in her falling down and as a result she has suffered a Complicated Fracture B. Ouch!

She will be in surgery later this morning and has arranged with me to look after her pets while she is in hospital for however long that is. She will be on crutches for a while and she has a large dog that will need walking and I will need to discuss with her any assistance I can provide with the feeding of some of the pets which I think would be difficult for her on crutches.

Caring 4 Sydney Pets has procedures in place to help out when emergencies occur and we will be offering to help this customer out with her pets at a heavily discounted rate. The longer the customer is out of action the bigger the discount we can offer to help them out.

This is the reason why Caring 4 Sydney Pets is reachable 24 hours a day. Our customers can call us any time of the night when emergencies occur that cannot wait to be organised at 8 in the morning. This way I can meet the customer, pick up the key to her place and have everything organised before she goes to hospital.

Today I stopped off at the office to pick up the key for a customer who wanted me to walk her dog this afternoon. When I...
11/01/2016

Today I stopped off at the office to pick up the key for a customer who wanted me to walk her dog this afternoon. When I returned to the car there was a puppy near my car standing on the grass ..... similar to the one shown in the picture below.

As soon as the puppy saw me it came running over to me and started rolling around on the grass wanting some attention.

The puppy had a collar and after a few minutes I checked the collar.....but no name tag attached at all.

I pointed to the puppy and told it to sit...which it promptly did and I went to the car to grab one of my dog leads as the puppy was clearly lost.

However, after getting the lead out of the car I found the puppy had gone. I checked the local driveways and gardens and stayed in the street for another 20 minutes but the puppy did not come back. I am assuming it went home but don't know that.

It is important for all pet owners to have their pets microchipped with the pets current home address but it is equally important that the name of the pet, its address and its phone number are also tagged to the collar.Even if your pet is indoors or in a secure garden one day it might get out.

I have found a number of dogs running around the street over the last two years and have been able to contact the owner to let the owner know where the dog is.

It is a little frustrating when there is no name tag or number as it is much harder to reach the owner who is probably frantically searching for the dog.

Protecting the dog from other dogs------------------------------------------------Not all dogs are as cute and friendly ...
10/01/2016

Protecting the dog from other dogs
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Not all dogs are as cute and friendly as the 2 dogs shown below that we looked after last year.

Protecting the dogs we walk from getting injured is our number one priority and before we begin the walks we go through some pre-walk procedures including checking the collar, lead or harness are attached to the dog securely. We don't want the dog to pull it's head out of the collar during the walk so this is a priority check.

Our dog walker has had many years of experience with walking dogs and this experience with dog behaviour helps him protect your dog from injury.

When dog walking there is always the chance that a stray or feral dog will take offence at us being there and will attack. Our dog walker takes a number of preventive steps to make sure this does not happen. Dog attacks do occour which can lead to the injury of the dog as well as the walker.

Being alert to what is around you is a key factor to preventing dog attacks. When you see a dog in the distance, look at its body language..... especially the eyes and the tail. If the dog is going to be aggressive these two areas will give an indication of its mood.

When I was walking 3 dogs in the Ryde area another dog walker came up to me telling me his dog had just been attacked by another dog. I asked him if it was a black and white dog and he said yes and asked how I knew that. I told him I saw the dog 10 minutes before, did not like the way it was looking at us and decided to stay well clear of it.

If the other dog advances towards us, our dog walker steps forward placing himself in front of the dog he is walking giving a commanding NO to the other dog. If it keeps advancing and becomes menacing the dog walker takes steps to protect your dog..... these steps taken depend on the breed of the dog, its size and how aggressive it is.

The number one preventive measure is to be alert at all times and watch the body language of other dogs to avoid a dog attack. Be on guard even if the other dog is on a lead...... keep an eye on its body language, its eyes, mouth, the expression on its face and whether its tail is wagging as these will tell if the dog is likely to be aggressive.

Address

Sydney, NSW
2066

Telephone

+61400039554

Website

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