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July Is Lost Pet Prevention Month
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Did you know that 30% of all pets will go missing at some point during their lifetime? That statistic, courtesy of the American Humane Association, also mentions that July is the worst month of the year in terms of having the most pets go missing. Why is that?
Think about what happens in July. Its summer; people are traveling to visit other friends and family; outdoor barbecues are commonplace; there are many people going in and out of the house and yard; fireworks are being set off by kids and in large community events, etc.
That is why July is National Lost Pet Prevention Month.
Some of PCPSI’s Favorite Pet Products
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One of the many benefits of being professional pet sitters is that we get to see a wide variety of pet products that owners are using for their pets, and in their homes. Because we do get this exposure to so many pet products, we are also often asked what products “work best” or are our favorites. So today we are going to highlight some of the pet products that have stood out to our team of Dallas dog walkers and pet sitters.
Our Customer Referral Program
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It may (or may not) surprise you, but Park Cities Pet Sitter’s #1 source of new business is referrals from other customers; not from monies spent on advertising. Why is that? PCPSI’s President, Joette White, has always believed in what she calls “good old-fashioned customer service;” which to her is a compilation of: a positive attitude, good communication, timely responses, owning any mistakes, treating people with respect, being empathetic and doing what we say we are going to do. It’s not rocket science, but this philosophy permeates everything Park Cities Pet Sitter does, and is the foundation for our success.
Insights to Actively Read D-O-G
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All employees that work at Park Cities Pet Sitter receive training on dog and cat behavior. Regardless of whether they are part time, full-time or even if they work in the office and don’t see client pets in person regularly. Being the best Dallas dog walkers and pet sitters means we also have to remember that each dog is different, comes from a different background, and unfortunately does not speak English very well. Or not all. Which means our Dallas dog walkers, and the administrative staff that support them have to learn to speak, or more accurately, “read” D-O-G.
Arden Moore, America’s Health & Safety Coach™, is an expert at reading “D-O-G”, and gave……
It’s Medicine Time, Kitty!
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As professional pet sitters in Dallas, we are there to take over the regular care of your pets when you need to be away from home. That means trying to emulate the pet’s regular routine as closely as possible while caring for them, so that the pet(s) feel comfortable and calm despite their regular caregiver(s) being absent.
Sometimes this daily routine means having to provide a pet with their regular medication. As many pet owners know, it is not always an easy task to give a pill to a pet! That is why all of our Dallas pet sitters receive training in the best practices of giving pills to pets when they are hired.
Joette White Sets the Tone for Park Cities Pet Sitter
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Joette White purchased Park Cities Pet Sitter from its original owner in 2000. Over the last 21 years (!), she has grown PCPSI into one of the largest dog walking and pet sitting companies in the country, and has won just about every major local and national award for her industry.
In this week’s blog, we sat down with Joette to learn about more about her management style, and why she has had so much success in the Dallas dog walking and pet sitting market.
The Importance of PCPSI’s Company Culture
by
“Recognize that every interaction you have is an opportunity to make a
positive impact on others.”
– Shep Hyken
About a decade ago, we decided to try to document some of the fundamental things that made Park Cities Pet Sitter successful so that we could continue to maintain those actions and values as the company grew. If we wanted to continue to maintain our reputation as the best Dallas dog walking and pet sitting company, we had to identify what we were doing right that allowed us to consistently grow the business.
Canine Communication Signals
by
When we hire our Dallas dog walkers and pet sitters, loving dogs and being comfortable around them is obviously one of the hiring criteria. Once hired though, there is a lot more to learn! All of our staff go through training on company policies and procedures, in addition to training on dog and cat behavior.
It is important for our Dallas dog walkers and pet sitters to know how to: read a dog’s most common body language cues, understand some of the sounds they make and a bit about how dogs typically think.
Being Dallas’ Best Cat Sitters Means Receiving Training on Cat Behavior and Body Language
by
While Park Cities Pet Sitter does a lot of dog walking and dog sitting in Dallas, we also take care of many, many, many cute and cuddly cats. And just because cats also have four legs, tails and fur doesn’t mean that we should treat them (and read their behavior) in the same way we treat the dogs under our care.
Our Dallas cat sitters go through cat behavior training when they are hired to make sure they are aware of the signs and signals cats give us about how they are feeling. Renowned animal behavior author, Arden Moore, wrote the cat curriculum we study to best equip ourselves as professional pet sitters; below are just some of the informative tidbits she highlights in our Dallas cat sitter training:
Tips from Our Amazing Dallas Dog Trainers for Dealing with Common Behavior Problems
by
We are proud to have the best group of dog trainers in Dallas working with us. Here are some tips and tricks they have to address some of the most comment dog behavior issues they encounter.
Jumping on People
Problem: One of the most common problems that is difficult for many dog owners to correct is jumping. Dogs learn this behavior during puppyhood, and unfortunately this is often unintentionally rewarded by owners. When dogs jump for attention, the most common reaction people have is to push the dog off, shout “No!”……………………..
Our Meticulous Process for Selecting Staff
by
We strongly believe that having a thorough and meticulous hiring process for our Dallas dog walkers and pet sitters is essential because of the trust our clients place in us when they hire us. We don’t want a client for just one set of visits, we want a client for life! Because we often have unsupervised access to a client’s home when providing pet services, in addition to the fact we are caring for their beloved pets—we do not take that responsibility lightly.
Unfortunately, not all individuals or businesses providing Dallas pet sitting and dog walking services take the same amount of care and precautions as we do when selecting staff, so we highly recommend that you inquire about the screening and training of anyone that will enter your home has received.
Hiring an Individual Dallas Pet Sitter vs. Hiring a Professional Company that Works as a Team
by
We would like to discuss the differences between hiring an individual Dallas dog walker or pet sitter to care for your pets versus hiring a company that has a team of staff working for them.
We know there are a lot of choices available to you when you are looking for a dog walker or pet sitter. Regardless of who you choose to hire, we want to make sure you make an informed, educated decision that best suits your needs, and are comfortable with any possible risks associated with that choice.
So let’s start by asking this–why should it matter to if your pet sitter works by themselves or if they work as part of a team?
Hiring a Great Dallas Cat Sitter
by
Do you have cats? Or, as many might say, are you the STAFF of a cat or two? Or six? If the answer to that question is yes, have you ever thought about what to look for if you needed a great Dallas cat sitter to take care of them on your next trip out of town?
Well, we think about that all the time, and we would like to share our list with you.
First and foremost, a great Dallas cat sitter has to love cats—but do not let that be your only criteria. There are so many other things to keep in mind when finding the perfect cat sitter for your feline family.
We recommend that they possess all of the following criteria:
The Best Dallas Pet Sitters & the Upcoming Holidays
by
While most people use the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays to relax, make great meals, and reconnect with friends and family, the staff of Park Cities Pet Sitter—arguably the best pet sitters in Dallas—are ramping up for a marathon of pet and home visits.
The last full week of November kicks off the high-volume six-week period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, which is a Dallas pet sitters’ busiest time of year. Sitters can often take on 2-3x their normal daily volume of visits during that time, which makes it one of the more lucrative times a year for pet sitters as well.
Meeting the Client & their Pets: Why the Best Dog Walkers in Dallas Know an In-Person Meeting Is Essential
by
Fast. Convenient. Easy. Isn’t that what we all want from the service providers we hire? Of course it is! Whether hiring a plumber or a Dallas dog walking company like Park Cities Pet Sitter, prospective customers want the experience to be pleasant, smooth and have the appropriate amount of time taken on the front end to ensure you receive the service you expect.
That is why we wanted to talk about our decades long practice of having a New Client Meeting for all new clients. The “Ubers” of dog walking, Rover and Wag!, have done a pretty decent job of implying to prospective dog walking and pet sitting clients that it is okay to utilize their services without the client (and their pet) ever having met the dog walker or pet sitter that will come in their home.
New Dallas Pet Sitting Services in the Time of Covid
by
In March of 2020 when much of the United States began shutting down due to the Corona virus, it was hard to predict how that would change the business activities of a Dallas pet sitting company like Park Cities Pet Sitter.
We saw many people begin to work from home, cancel both business and personal travel plans and begin new social distancing guidelines. The number of daily dog walks our Dallas dog walkers performed was cut down dramatically, because with most family members “stuck” at home, people were actually fighting over who got to walk the family dog now.
Dallas Dog Parks
by
Dallas dog parks. They are a great way for your dog to get some dog-to-dog socialization, and can also be great for human socialization too! While we are fully supportive of owners taking their own dogs for some good ‘ol fashioned fun at a dog park, for safety purposes Park Cities Pet Sitter does not allow its Dallas dog walkers and pet sitters to take client pups to dog parks. It is simply too risky for us to take a client dog, where we often don’t know their full behavior history or little nuances when interacting with other dogs, to a dog park. But we absolutely support clients taking their pups to a dog park to get some fresh air and to let their dog tire themselves out in play.
It is for this reason that we want to highlight some of the best dog parks in our service area.
Differences Between Wag and PCPSI
by
A phenomenon that has changed the landscape of the local dog walking industry in the last few years is the emergence of a company called Wag. Wag is a national company based in California that is known for providing on-demand dog walks, GPS walk tracking and has a very easy-to-use website and smart phone app.
Wag is the first company to ever successfully create a national dog walking company. For the last thirty years, dog walking companies were all local entities only. Many were (and still are) quite small, and usually only covered a portion of city or town—let alone an entire country. But Wag believed that it could make inroads into the local, fragmented dog walking marketplace with their business model and technology (“the Uber of dog walking”), and was backed by many impressive financiers with deep pockets.
A Day in the Life of a Dallas Dog Walker
by
Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a Dallas dog walker? Obviously, we cannot speak for all Dallas dog walking companies, but we can definitely give you a glimpse into what it is like to work for us.
Here are some of the key components in the daily life of a Dallas dog walker for PCPSI that we will highlight:
• Daily Work Schedule
• Communication/Technology
• On the Job
Having Your Neighbor Care for Your Pet vs Hiring a Professional Dallas Pet Sitting Service
by
With pet ownership at an all-time high in America, it makes sense that there is a strong need for pet sitting services in Dallas. But WHO people use when they need a Dallas pet sitting service, and HOW they choose such people has really changed.
First, if you rewind to thirty years ago or so, it was much more common for both cats and dogs to be kept outdoors. Many pets—while loved and cared for–had not yet been elevated to “family member” status. Fast forward to today, pets have moved “from the barn to the bed” in many American households; and due to shifting human dynamics like having fewer children, more single people living alone, waiting until later in life to have children, pets have now become important companionship options and are much greater focuses in people’s lives.
Longevity of a Company’s Employees Is Important When Choosing a Dallas Dog Walker
by
In a recent blog, we discussed some of the criteria you should consider if you were looking for a Dallas dog walker or Dallas pet sitting company for your pets. One of the items we urged you to inquire about on the list was to ask the average tenure of a potential local pet sitting company’s employees before hiring them.
Park Cities Pet Sitters’ employees average a tenure of just under five years each with the company. That is incredibly long for most people in any industry to stay at the same job these days, and is practically unheard of for a local dog walking company that has a relatively large staff like we do.
How to Look for a “Pet Sitter Near Me”
by
You are new to town, or maybe just new to your neighborhood. One of the first things many people do when they move to a new location is go to Google and enter “pet sitter near me,” or some close version of that phrase. Up pops your search results, and then you are faced with having to figure out which option is right for you.
What do you base your decision on when you end up choosing your own “pet sitter near me”? Who has the best website? Who popped up first on the list? Who had the lowest prices? Who used the cutest pictures? Or do you first get a referral from a trusted friend or neighbor and skip the online search all together?
How Our Dallas Dog Walkers Are Hired & Assigned
by
Since Park Cities Pet Sitter first entered the Dallas dog walking services space back in 1992, we have really worked on perfecting our customer service focus, while simultaneously being a rewarding place to work for our staff.
This means a heavy focus on training our Dallas dog walkers in our policies and procedures, safety protocols and dog behavior. It also means figuring out the most efficient ways to schedule our Dallas dog walker team so they are spending as much time doing the most rewarding part of the job—interacting with pets—and less time driving all around town from job to job.
As a result, we have developed a business model where we hire our Dallas dog walkers based on where they currently live.
Why Hire a Dog Walker?
by
Twenty-five years ago, many people in America may have thought that hiring a dog walker was a frivolous luxury, only affordable for the few.
Fast forward to the present, and that is hardly the case today, with thousands of people making a living as local Dallas dog walkers in this community.
What has changed in that time? A lot!
One of the big things that has changed is the importance people place…….
Factors to Consider When Hiring a Dallas Dog Walker
by
We have been Dallas dog walkers since 1992. 28 illustrious years.
Some people may think being a dog walker in Dallas is not that hard of a job, that literally anyone can do it. With the recent proliferation of Uber-like dog walking services like Wag and Rover, we can see how many people might think that. But there is a lot more than meets the eye…
Do Dogs Have Emotions Like Humans?
Do you ever wonder if dogs have emotions like humans? Do you sometimes stop to consider what motivates dogs? Are their emotions and motivations similar to ours?
This is the short techie answer to those questions…….
Can Dogs Be Taught to Get Along with Cats?
Should You Give Your Dog a Command Only One Time?
Have You Owned Your Once-in-a-Lifetime Dog Yet?
Can Dogs Get Depressed?
How to Have a Successful Outing at the Dog Park
Canine Communication Signals
by
When we hire our Dallas dog walkers and pet sitters, loving dogs and being comfortable around them is obviously one of the hiring criteria. Once hired though, there is a lot more to learn! All of our staff go through training on company policies and procedures, in addition to training on dog and cat behavior.
It is important for our Dallas dog walkers and pet sitters to know how to: read a dog’s most common body language cues, understand some of the sounds they make and a bit about how dogs typically think.
Being Dallas’ Best Cat Sitters Means Receiving Training on Cat Behavior and Body Language
by
While Park Cities Pet Sitter does a lot of dog walking and dog sitting in Dallas, we also take care of many, many, many cute and cuddly cats. And just because cats also have four legs, tails and fur doesn’t mean that we should treat them (and read their behavior) in the same way we treat the dogs under our care.
Our Dallas cat sitters go through cat behavior training when they are hired to make sure they are aware of the signs and signals cats give us about how they are feeling. Renowned animal behavior author, Arden Moore, wrote the cat curriculum we study to best equip ourselves as professional pet sitters; below are just some of the informative tidbits she highlights in our Dallas cat sitter training:
Tips from Our Amazing Dallas Dog Trainers for Dealing with Common Behavior Problems
by
We are proud to have the best group of dog trainers in Dallas working with us. Here are some tips and tricks they have to address some of the most comment dog behavior issues they encounter.
Jumping on People
Problem: One of the most common problems that is difficult for many dog owners to correct is jumping. Dogs learn this behavior during puppyhood, and unfortunately this is often unintentionally rewarded by owners. When dogs jump for attention, the most common reaction people have is to push the dog off, shout “No!”……………………..
Our Meticulous Process for Selecting Staff
by
We strongly believe that having a thorough and meticulous hiring process for our Dallas dog walkers and pet sitters is essential because of the trust our clients place in us when they hire us. We don’t want a client for just one set of visits, we want a client for life! Because we often have unsupervised access to a client’s home when providing pet services, in addition to the fact we are caring for their beloved pets—we do not take that responsibility lightly.
Unfortunately, not all individuals or businesses providing Dallas pet sitting and dog walking services take the same amount of care and precautions as we do when selecting staff, so we highly recommend that you inquire about the screening and training of anyone that will enter your home has received.
Hiring an Individual Dallas Pet Sitter vs. Hiring a Professional Company that Works as a Team
by
We would like to discuss the differences between hiring an individual Dallas dog walker or pet sitter to care for your pets versus hiring a company that has a team of staff working for them.
We know there are a lot of choices available to you when you are looking for a dog walker or pet sitter. Regardless of who you choose to hire, we want to make sure you make an informed, educated decision that best suits your needs, and are comfortable with any possible risks associated with that choice.
So let’s start by asking this–why should it matter to if your pet sitter works by themselves or if they work as part of a team?
Hiring a Great Dallas Cat Sitter
by
Do you have cats? Or, as many might say, are you the STAFF of a cat or two? Or six? If the answer to that question is yes, have you ever thought about what to look for if you needed a great Dallas cat sitter to take care of them on your next trip out of town?
Well, we think about that all the time, and we would like to share our list with you.
First and foremost, a great Dallas cat sitter has to love cats—but do not let that be your only criteria. There are so many other things to keep in mind when finding the perfect cat sitter for your feline family.
We recommend that they possess all of the following criteria:
The Best Dallas Pet Sitters & the Upcoming Holidays
by
While most people use the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays to relax, make great meals, and reconnect with friends and family, the staff of Park Cities Pet Sitter—arguably the best pet sitters in Dallas—are ramping up for a marathon of pet and home visits.
The last full week of November kicks off the high-volume six-week period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, which is a Dallas pet sitters’ busiest time of year. Sitters can often take on 2-3x their normal daily volume of visits during that time, which makes it one of the more lucrative times a year for pet sitters as well.
Meeting the Client & their Pets: Why the Best Dog Walkers in Dallas Know an In-Person Meeting Is Essential
by
Fast. Convenient. Easy. Isn’t that what we all want from the service providers we hire? Of course it is! Whether hiring a plumber or a Dallas dog walking company like Park Cities Pet Sitter, prospective customers want the experience to be pleasant, smooth and have the appropriate amount of time taken on the front end to ensure you receive the service you expect.
That is why we wanted to talk about our decades long practice of having a New Client Meeting for all new clients. The “Ubers” of dog walking, Rover and Wag!, have done a pretty decent job of implying to prospective dog walking and pet sitting clients that it is okay to utilize their services without the client (and their pet) ever having met the dog walker or pet sitter that will come in their home.
New Dallas Pet Sitting Services in the Time of Covid
by
In March of 2020 when much of the United States began shutting down due to the Corona virus, it was hard to predict how that would change the business activities of a Dallas pet sitting company like Park Cities Pet Sitter.
We saw many people begin to work from home, cancel both business and personal travel plans and begin new social distancing guidelines. The number of daily dog walks our Dallas dog walkers performed was cut down dramatically, because with most family members “stuck” at home, people were actually fighting over who got to walk the family dog now.
Dallas Dog Parks
by
Dallas dog parks. They are a great way for your dog to get some dog-to-dog socialization, and can also be great for human socialization too! While we are fully supportive of owners taking their own dogs for some good ‘ol fashioned fun at a dog park, for safety purposes Park Cities Pet Sitter does not allow its Dallas dog walkers and pet sitters to take client pups to dog parks. It is simply too risky for us to take a client dog, where we often don’t know their full behavior history or little nuances when interacting with other dogs, to a dog park. But we absolutely support clients taking their pups to a dog park to get some fresh air and to let their dog tire themselves out in play.
It is for this reason that we want to highlight some of the best dog parks in our service area.
Differences Between Wag and PCPSI
by
A phenomenon that has changed the landscape of the local dog walking industry in the last few years is the emergence of a company called Wag. Wag is a national company based in California that is known for providing on-demand dog walks, GPS walk tracking and has a very easy-to-use website and smart phone app.
Wag is the first company to ever successfully create a national dog walking company. For the last thirty years, dog walking companies were all local entities only. Many were (and still are) quite small, and usually only covered a portion of city or town—let alone an entire country. But Wag believed that it could make inroads into the local, fragmented dog walking marketplace with their business model and technology (“the Uber of dog walking”), and was backed by many impressive financiers with deep pockets.
A Day in the Life of a Dallas Dog Walker
by
Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a Dallas dog walker? Obviously, we cannot speak for all Dallas dog walking companies, but we can definitely give you a glimpse into what it is like to work for us.
Here are some of the key components in the daily life of a Dallas dog walker for PCPSI that we will highlight:
• Daily Work Schedule
• Communication/Technology
• On the Job
Having Your Neighbor Care for Your Pet vs Hiring a Professional Dallas Pet Sitting Service
by
With pet ownership at an all-time high in America, it makes sense that there is a strong need for pet sitting services in Dallas. But WHO people use when they need a Dallas pet sitting service, and HOW they choose such people has really changed.
First, if you rewind to thirty years ago or so, it was much more common for both cats and dogs to be kept outdoors. Many pets—while loved and cared for–had not yet been elevated to “family member” status. Fast forward to today, pets have moved “from the barn to the bed” in many American households; and due to shifting human dynamics like having fewer children, more single people living alone, waiting until later in life to have children, pets have now become important companionship options and are much greater focuses in people’s lives.
Longevity of a Company’s Employees Is Important When Choosing a Dallas Dog Walker
by
In a recent blog, we discussed some of the criteria you should consider if you were looking for a Dallas dog walker or Dallas pet sitting company for your pets. One of the items we urged you to inquire about on the list was to ask the average tenure of a potential local pet sitting company’s employees before hiring them.
Park Cities Pet Sitters’ employees average a tenure of just under five years each with the company. That is incredibly long for most people in any industry to stay at the same job these days, and is practically unheard of for a local dog walking company that has a relatively large staff like we do.
How to Look for a “Pet Sitter Near Me”
by
You are new to town, or maybe just new to your neighborhood. One of the first things many people do when they move to a new location is go to Google and enter “pet sitter near me,” or some close version of that phrase. Up pops your search results, and then you are faced with having to figure out which option is right for you.
What do you base your decision on when you end up choosing your own “pet sitter near me”? Who has the best website? Who popped up first on the list? Who had the lowest prices? Who used the cutest pictures? Or do you first get a referral from a trusted friend or neighbor and skip the online search all together?
How Our Dallas Dog Walkers Are Hired & Assigned
by
Since Park Cities Pet Sitter first entered the Dallas dog walking services space back in 1992, we have really worked on perfecting our customer service focus, while simultaneously being a rewarding place to work for our staff.
This means a heavy focus on training our Dallas dog walkers in our policies and procedures, safety protocols and dog behavior. It also means figuring out the most efficient ways to schedule our Dallas dog walker team so they are spending as much time doing the most rewarding part of the job—interacting with pets—and less time driving all around town from job to job.
As a result, we have developed a business model where we hire our Dallas dog walkers based on where they currently live.
Why Hire a Dog Walker?
by
Twenty-five years ago, many people in America may have thought that hiring a dog walker was a frivolous luxury, only affordable for the few.
Fast forward to the present, and that is hardly the case today, with thousands of people making a living as local Dallas dog walkers in this community.
What has changed in that time? A lot!
One of the big things that has changed is the importance people place…….
Factors to Consider When Hiring a Dallas Dog Walker
by
We have been Dallas dog walkers since 1992. 28 illustrious years.
Some people may think being a dog walker in Dallas is not that hard of a job, that literally anyone can do it. With the recent proliferation of Uber-like dog walking services like Wag and Rover, we can see how many people might think that. But there is a lot more than meets the eye…
Do Dogs Have Emotions Like Humans?
Do you ever wonder if dogs have emotions like humans? Do you sometimes stop to consider what motivates dogs? Are their emotions and motivations similar to ours?
This is the short techie answer to those questions…….
Can Dogs Be Taught to Get Along with Cats?
Should You Give Your Dog a Command Only One Time?
Have You Owned Your Once-in-a-Lifetime Dog Yet?
Can Dogs Get Depressed?
How to Have a Successful Outing at the Dog Park