Does my pet sitter need a house key? Yes. But don’t worry. You’re not the first to ask and won’t be the last. It’s a very common question so here’s an article with everything you’ve always wanted to know our key policy.
First things first, in order to enter your home to provide pet care, we have to have a legal mode of entry.
I use the term legal because when you’re hiring sit-stay-play to care for your pets, it’s a legal and binding service arrangement. This means that we need certain things from you, i.e. house keys, completed client forms and payment. Keys are just one part of the process.
What Happens If You Only Have Outside Pets? We Still Need Keys.
Why?
Let’s say we’re scheduled to come over and care for the chickens. We set to come over twice a day, morning and evening.
Now let’s pretend something got into the chicken coop and remains of your prized chickens are strewn about the ground. Blood, feathers and bones are everywhere. We have to clean the area up. Then we need to clean up. There’s no way we can get into our car and drive home covered in, well, a mess.
What If I Only Have Community Cats or Outside Farm Dogs?
9 times out of 10 the only people that don’t want to give us house keys are farmers that only need us to bring animals in/out without dealing with inside pets.
There are occasions where we care for community cats or just pop in to feed birds, but in all of these cases we still need entry just in case an accident happens and we need the bathroom, phone, first aid, safety or shelter.
What happens if you don’t agree with us having entry into your home – in an emergency situation?
We won’t be able to help you and you’ll need to find another pet care provider. We can’t risk our safety by taking a chance and not being able to care for ourselves or your pets if some strange thing happens.
What If My House is Old and I Don’t Have a Key to the Door?
Because we’re not professional locksmiths we recommend you contact your landlord if you rent or a reputable business like Jones Locksmith located in Muncie to ask them about your situation if you own your home. There number is 765-288-7271. Or you could buy a new door knob and install it yourself or hire someone to replace the door knob.
***Make sure you try all key copies before we arrive and make sure they work with the door closed.
Why Two House Keys?
One key is kept with the main pet sitter and the other is kept in our secure key file. That way if the main sitter has a problem or can’t get to your house, there’s always a spare key and another care giver from sit-stay-play that can step in.
IMPORTANT: Please don’t give us your ONLY key you have for your door, make copies first.
What Happens After the Pet Care Job is Over?
After the job is over and you’re home, we can mail your keys back via C.O.D. which is discussed during your initial phone call/email with us and also during your Meet & Greet.
However, we do encourage clients to let us keep them in our key safe just in case you need us quickly or in an emergency situation.
Keep in mind that future services cannot be booked unless we have two working keys and current forms.
Why Use Sit-Stay-Play?
We insured. We’re professional. We have emergency plans in case your main sitter becomes unavailable. We have several pet care providers that can help at a moment’s notice. We’ve been helping pets and their people since 2008.
Book Now
Want to set up services right now? Click this link to request services or call Kelley Stewart at 765-744-5688.
sit-stay-play In-home pet sitting & more provides care to most of east central Indiana 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We look forward to meeting you and your pets.
Thank you,
Kelley Stewart, CEO|Pet Sitter
sit-stay-play In-home pet sitting & more.LLC
“Your pet sitting, dog walking, poop scooping specialists!”
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P.P.S. We started a free pet birthday club…it’s open to any and all pets no matter where you live – sign up here.