There are clients who you will go out of your way to help in an emergency but there are other clients that you wish would go away.

I’m going to cover the main do’s and don’ts for all pet sitting & dog walking clients so that you don’t get surcharges or have to find a new walker after they dump you.

15 Do’s & Don’t for dog walking and pet sitting clients

This is a rant article – basically me bashing former clients who sucked! It was hard to get positive “Do’s” for this list, but I managed to get 7 compared to the 8 “Don’ts”.

And keep in mind, you can reword all the don’t into do’s and vice versa. Use this list as a guide in making sure your dog walker or pet sitter doesn’t curse your name on a regular basis.

I will alternate the positive guidelines with the negative ones. I believe in the phrase “What you think about you bring about”, so I will end on a positive note.

#1) Don’t “forget” to pay

Don’t keep forgetting to leave money or canceling the last walk of the week where you are supposed to leave money and then not say anything.

I get it, life happens, you are busy or have greater things on your mind than your dog walker. Every once in a while my clients forget to leave my payment. Usually, they let me know they forgot.

But then there are the “other” clients. The ones who not only don’t let me know that they forgot to leave the payment for the week but make no effort of getting the money to me.

And this isn’t once every few months. I’ve had clients who would not leave payment 2-3 times per month – every month. I had one client who would repeatedly cancel the final walk of the week (payday).

There is no way that is anything other than deliberate. It infuriated me to have to contact them about leaving the money the first walk of the following week.

Compare that to clients who would offer to drive the money to me when they got home from work. One of those dog walking clients is awesome, the other one is lame! Don’t be lame – just leave the darn agreed upon payment.

#2) Do leave a towel on rainy days

I don’t ask anymore. In the past, I would tell my clients to leave a towel on days when there was heavy rain in the forecast. That was so I could dry off their dog so that they do not get wet fur on the couch or bed.

Hardly anyone would ever leave a towel for me. This isn’t something that bothers me, but it makes sense. So why don’t clients leave a towel? Maybe some people like the smell of wet dog throughout their home.

#3) Don’t keep asking to get your keys back from your pet sitter

If you want your keys back, you go get them. As a pet sitter, I will drop them off once – after the first pet sitting job for that client. But after that, you come to me or else pay me extra for dropping them off to you.

Or maybe give your pet sitter a spare set of keys. Guess what you can do if you lose your keys or lock yourself out of your place? You can call your sitter and get the keys. How do you not know that?

I had an annoying guy who did this to me over and over. He’s not a client of mine anymore. I would always tell him that I was booked whenever he needed me for pet sitting. So now, some other poor pet sitter is stuck with him.

#4) Do have a dog collar that fits your dog

Do you love your dog and want him or her to stay alive? If you do, then buy a collar or harness that the dog can NOT slip out of. More than once a skittish or shy dog slipped out of their collar or harness. If I didn’t act quickly, the dog would have run back towards home, crossing some intersections in the process.

This is most common during the first time that I walk a dog for a pet sitting job. They don’t know you plus they are disoriented not having the family members at home with them. Just make sure the collar fits!

#5) Don’t text when a phone call or email is better

How do people not know when a phone call or email is better than texting? You need to make a phone call or send an email when there is a lot of information or lots of questions that require answers.

I have had clients who would not stop texting questions. I think of one word: annoying. You need to call or email if there is going to be a lot of back and forth communication. That rectangle thing in your hand can actually make a phone call. You should try it.

#6) Do communicate with your walker or sitter about your pet’s health

I know when my regular dogs are sick or feeling bad because they act differently. It may not be as evident for the pet owner. But as the pet owner, let us know if your dog or cat is experiencing problems.

We need to know if we should refrain from giving treats or to leave notes on how they did on a walk. If we don’t know to look for a problem, we may not notice it.

I have let some dog walking clients know that the problem seemed worse and they would leave work to get them to a vet. Then there were times where I told them that they seemed better. Just let us know what is going on.

#7) Don’t downplay your dog’s behavior

This is a huge one. If your dog is overly shy, aggressive or difficult to walk, then you need to tell your dog walker. Don’t downplay it because you have found it difficult to find a walker. There is a huge chance that things can go very wrong if you don’t communicate any issues.

I’ve had a dog get away from me and escape beneath a gap in the fence. The owners told me she was “kind of” shy. No, she was extremely shy and now she is running across a 4 lane road. I could give other examples but the point is, tell the truth about difficulties involving your dog.

The result could be a lost or injured dog plus damage to the name of the dog walking business you deceived. Plain and simple, let your walker know or that will be the reason why you don’t keep dog walkers for long.

#8) Do give a reasonable window for visit times

I had a scheduling conflict with some early dog walks, so I asked one of my clients to give me an acceptable time range to walk his dogs. He gave me a whole + \ – 15-minute time frame. Wow, thanks, pal.

I was expecting at least 30 minutes on either side of his ideal walk time. There are dog walking companies that have a window of 1 hour plus or minus for their clients, if not more than an hour. I was hired by a guy who had a company show up 2 hours early.

Don’t be a lame client, give your dog walker 30 to 45 minutes before and after your ideal time walking time. A half-hour if plenty of time, but sometimes I do need the longer 45-minute time range.

#9) Don’t carpet bomb every pet business in your area

I can always tell when someone is emailing and calling every other dog walker of boarding business in the city. These are people who usually get a friend or family member take care of their pets for free. And when those friends say that they can’t help, these people call every dog walking business they can.

Another thing they do is contact every business but then find a free option. They always email that they found someone but they will keep me in mind for the future. You can keep me in mind, but you won’t be able to contact me since I will be blacklisting your email address.

Talk about being used. I’m a busy walker who works 7 days a week. I reply to an email about being able to help you, ask about a good time to meet you, go back and forth with emails only to find out that was all wasted time. Thanks.

#10) Do let your walker or sitter know if other people will be home during a visit

It’s so annoying when there is someone else in the home when I have to walk a dog. The dog becomes difficult to get out of the house and is difficult on the walk. I’ve also experienced confusion about feeding and medication.

If you are going to have someone stay at your house while you are away, then tell them not to do anything involving care for the dog. I mean think about it – you don’t even trust them to walk your dog, that’s why you hired me.

There was one idiot roommate who was home for a day or two during a pet sitting job. Total idiot! The dog needed medication during AM and PM meals. He fed the dog the first night but did not give the medicine. I tried to ask him if he will continue to do that at which point he said that it’s my job to feed him and give him medicine. THEN STOP FEEDING THE DOG!

I’m responsible for the dog, especially if medication is involved. If you are going to have someone at your place during my visits, then tell them NOT to do anything with the dog.

#11) Don’t use multiple dog walking or pet sitting companies

Why are you hiring a dog walking company and someone from Rover? What are you doing?

I recently was asked to do an unscheduled walk for one of my dog walking clients. They had tried to get in touch with the Rover sitter they hired and was not getting any replies back from her.

They hired an in-home sitter who was staying at their place and doing 3 walks a day and feeding their two dogs. I assume they went with Rover because I do not offer in-home sitting and that pet sitting was not enough.

So I stopped by to walk the two dogs only to find the sitter groggy and just waking up. It was almost 11 AM on a Thursday. She obviously was out late and hadn’t even given the dogs their morning walk or feeding.

This is another big topic area so let me just say pick one service and stick with them.

#12) Do have enough supplies for your pet when you go away

Do make sure you have enough food, litter, and other supplies if you are going on a trip. As I’m writing this, I have a cat sitting job and one litter box is quite low on litter. I emailed the owner if they had more and she told me there is litter in the basement. No there isn’t.

Poor kitty, suck it up and deal with the low litter in your box.

Just double-check the litter, food, treats, etc. before you leave on your trip. I mean you were able to pack everything you needed for yourself. Can’t you take care of your pets needs as well?

#13) Don’t ask your pet sitter to be a cleaning service

I’ve had some pet sitting clients ask me to sweep up around the litter box. There was one woman who conveniently left a broom, mop, and bucket next to the litter box.

Don’t ask your sitter to sweep up around the litter box – we are not a cleaning service. C’mon! I’ll clean up an accident or vomit, but cleaning up around the litter box every day is not a service I offer.

Oh, and scoop the litter before you leave for your trip. There have been cat sitting jobs where the litter box was obviously not scooped for 2-3 days> I guess because they knew I was coming. What the …?

#14) Do leave clear and concise pet sitting notes

Do leave notes if you are a new pet sitting or dog walking client. The notes pertain mostly to pet sitting, but some dog walking clients have a lot of needs for their dog, especially for puppies and senior dogs.

But don’t make the notes a short story – just bullet point everything. Until I walk or sit for your pet, I’ll need notes on how much food and where it is. I also need notes on medication, treats, toys and anything else you feel is important.

I am super happy when I see notes that are short and to the point – thank you to all the dog walking and pet sitting clients who comprehend brevity and clarity.

#15) Don’t constantly cancel or change walk times

I understand if something comes up and you have to cancel a walk, change the time or add a second walk. But when it happens one or more times a week, week after week, then that is too much.

You will be charged fees by larger companies for any changes made in less than 24 hours. It makes sense to do that because they need to guarantee their walkers and sitters a certain number of visits per week. Canceling visits takes money out of the walker’s pockets so the company WILL charge you for the walk if it is a last-minute change.

Adding additional walks or changing the visit time can also be disruptive to my schedule. Once in awhile is fine, but frequent changes create a problem for me and the other dogs that I walk.

Summary

A couple of things come to mind:

#1) The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have done to you.

#2) The cliche of “mindfulness”: It’s your pet, make sure you let your walker or sitter know what they need to know to care for your pet and have everything on hand that they need to care for your beloved pet.

If you are a new dog owner, then check out my article on 17 First-Time Dog Owner Tips. I did find a good article on new cat owners: 10 Tips for First Time Cat Owners.

You can be an awesome pet sitting or dog walking client, or you can be a lame client. The choice is yours – and it is a choice.

The post Dog Walking Business: Client Guidelines (Do’s And Don’ts) appeared first on Fairmount Pet Service.

I designed my first dog walking business cards using Adobe Illustrator. That was years ago and now my version of Illustrator is so old that it won’t open in Windows 10. That’s alright because although it’s simple, I’m happy with the design.

But I did decide to modify the design and to do that I recreated it using Canva. Canva is a free online graphic design tool that I have used for my pet sitting and dog walking business card, my pet services logo, a dog walker flyer template and for various Pinterest Rich Pins.

Design Your Dog Walking Business Card

You can’t use a program to design a business card until you already have a design. And I can give you one tip right away: you need at least one graphic illustration on your card. A business card with only text is UNBELIEVABLY boring and very forgettable. Try one of these two methods to get design ideas.

First, look at any business cards you already have. Lay them all out and see which ones stand out. What you are looking for is the overall look and design. You need to see every part or section of the card as a separate element. But you also have to realize that all the elements work together for the total design. At the bottom of this post, I have some graphic design tips to help you with the basics. If you are totally new to graphic design, you may want to read that section first.

Your second approach is to search for examples of dog walking business cards online. Actually, any type of business card will do. You want to find graphic elements that stand out to you and that resonate with you. If they stand out to you, they should do the same for your potential clients. The elements to look for are illustrations, shapes, lines, and colors. Also, pay attention to font types.

Drawing the rough design on paper

After you found some graphic elements you like, draw a rectangle on a piece of paper (with a pencil and eraser) and draw your design. Add the text where you want, assuming you have decided what text you want.

Here a couple of my cards which I designed on Canva. I have a minimalist version which is the one I prefer. The other one has more text involving my credentials. I made my dog walker logo and my dog walker flyer template public so you can take a look at them on Canva, as well read my articles on the design for those.

And I mentioned how a card with no graphics doesn’t look that good. Here is my original business card design from 2009 with no graphics other than the color fields. I stuffed so much information on it that you don’t need to visit my website. I cringe looking at it.

Whether or not you have found a graphic illustration, just draw a circle or square where you want it to go. That way you will see where you have room for your text. Try a few variations of your design with the text and the illustration(s) in different positions on the card until you have something you like. Also, make a note of which text will have the largest font size and which text will be smaller. And don’t forget to decide on colors.

And that is your rough first draft of a design. Next, create a rough design but using Canva instead of pencil and paper.

Designing Your Dog Walking Business Card with Canva

Canva already has a lot of templates and one of the categories is Business Cards. However, you can’t use it. Canva is free (though they do have a paid premium version) but you have to create an account first. I use the free version and all the designs that I created and downloaded have a resolution of 96 ppi. That’s fine for web graphics, but not for something that is designed for print. So if you design a business card from one of your templates, then it won’t have the proper resolution which is typically 300 ppi.

I assume the premium version of Canva will allow you to choose the resolution. Here’s a workaround for the resolution problem:

• At the top right of the Create a design section, click on “Use custom dimensions”
• Business cards are 3.5” wide by 2” high. You want your custom dimensions to be 10.9375” wide by 6.25” high.
  • Trust me on this. If you are good with math, then those dimensions are the result of multiplying the 3.5 and 2.0-inch dimensions of a printed business card by 3.125, and 3.125 is simply 300 ppi divided by 96 ppi.
• After you are done with your design and have downloaded the file, you need to upload the file into Photoshop or a similar program. If you don’t have Photoshop or know anyone who does, then check out this article on 5 Free Web-Based Photoshop Alternatives.
• What you then want to do if you are in Photoshop is go to Image > Image Size. Change the Document Size Width to 3.5 inches which should change the height to 2 inches. Then change the Resolution from 96 to 300. You now have a graphic that is 3.2 x 2.0 inches at a resolution of 300 ppi – professional printing ready

That may sound complicated but it really isn’t. What the steps above do is create a large size business card which you reduce to the normal size. Just follow my steps and you will be fine. Create a custom dimension design of 10.9375 inches wide by 6.25 inch high and design your business card. Download the finished design, and then change the dimensions and resolution.

Specific Design Steps on Canva

To learn how to use Canva, you can try their design tutorials. Also, try searching on YouTube as I found some good videos on Canva there as well.

So after you created your custom dimension design you can start adding elements. Here are the steps I did when I designed my dog walking business card. If you want, you can follow my steps as if my design was yours. You can change or skip some of my steps or add your own for your design:

1. On the left-hand panel click Elements then Shapes.
2. Click the first square to add a black square to the design or canvas.
3. I first changed the black to a custom green color. Then I resized the square into a rectangle.
4. I moved the rectangle to the top of the design and resized it so it went to both the right and left edges of the design.
5. I copied the rectangle and moved the copy to the bottom of the design. That’s it for my color elements
6. Next, I added the graphic of a dog and cat silhouette. To do that click on Uploads on the left panel and select your graphic.
   1. I found my graphic for free on Pixabay. Try searching on there or any other free graphics site for the illustrations that you want.
   2. To upload any images into Canva, just click on Uploads then “Upload your own images”.
7. Next, resize and position your illustration to the size and position that you designed on paper. Keep in mind where you want your text to be when adding your graphic elements.
8. At this point, I was almost done except for the text. Click on Text in the left sidebar and select “Add Heading”. I then added “Fairmount Pet Service” though I did have to resize the font.
9. I then moved that text box to the top green section and change the text to white and increased the font size.
10. I copied that text box, changed the text to “Dog Walking, Pet Sitting & Boarding”. I decreased the font size and moved that text box to the bottom green section.
11. Finally, I added more text on either side of my graphic as you can see. I clicked on “Add a little bit of body text” three times.
    1. First for the email and website address.
    2. Then for my name and phone number.
    3. And finally for the “In Business Since 2008” text box.

And if you want to know all my settings and how I made them, here they are:

1. My custom green hexadecimal code is 346315. For any element where you can change the color, click on the color box along the top of the design. Then click on the “+” sign to open up a color wheel and select a color that way, or enter the exact color in the Color Code # field.
2. The white text at the top of my card is Abril Fatface font which is the default when you click “Add heading” which I like. As I mentioned I changed that text color to white and set the size to 56. All the options for text fields will be along the top bar of the design.
3. The white text at the bottom of the card is the same as the top except the size is 42.
4. My email and website text box and the In Business Since 2008 text is Arielle font at a size of 18.
5. And finally, my name and phone number are in Arielle at a size of 24.

That is it. My design has 8 elements. Two color elements, five separate text elements, and one illustration. Have fun with it. Mess around with colors and fonts and fonts sizes. Try adding different shapes as well (lines can look fantastic).

There are also some decent pet illustrations that are free on Canva if you don’t feel like searching online for them. I found 7 dog images, 2 dog paw prints, and 1 dog bone. If you also offer pet sitting, I found 4 cat images that I liked and a cat paw print. And I like all of them, some more so than others. You may like some that I didn’t like so take a look at them for yourself. To find them just go to Elements > Free Photos and use either “dog” or “cat” in the search box. Make sure to select Illustrations and not All or Photos and look for the word “free” on the images.

This is a creative process so get in a creative mood. On a Friday or Saturday night when you have nothing to do, grab some “beverages” of your choice, play some of your favorite motivational and creative music and get artsy-fartsy.

I have a separate large monitor for my laptop which is in front of my couch. I sit on my couch with my legs on some kind of cushioned leg stool thing, my keyboard on my lap and a wireless mouse on the cushion next to me. I turn the volume up on the speakers, push play for the music and I’m off designing – I’m all alone…in the creative zone.

Bonus: Some Graphic Design Principles

First, let me say that I am not a graphic designer nor have I ever taken any design classes. I am someone who teaches myself anything I want to learn. I am also a serious amateur photographer, so much so that I built a website of my photography. I’m okay, certainly not a pro. Unfortunately, working so much as a dog walker, I haven’t photographed in years.

I did a lot of searching online on various topics to help my website and blog. And one of the topics I searched for was “Graphic Design Tips and Tricks”. I found some really good articles on the basics and I ended up merging them together into categories. So keep that in mind that I am not a graphic designer when reading over these graphic design tips. None of the tips are mine. They are a compilation of tips I found online from really good articles which I will list below.

I am good with patterns and grouping things together. These groupings of graphic design tips go together and it’s easier to remember them as part of a group than individually. Hope they help.

8 graphic design tips that correspond to the following keywords: limitation, structure \ boundaries, consistency, and order.

• Keep it simple, keep the number of fonts, colors, and shapes you use to a minimum. Use only 1-2 fonts. (Limitation)
• Incorporate white \ empty space. Leave blank, white space in your design, and avoid having a cluttered design. (Limitation)
• Align your objects. Aligning your graphics with grids or frames makes a design look more professional. (Order, Structure)
• Aligning & ordering objects correctly makes for a clean design and eliminates the messiness or sloppiness from elements which are placed randomly. (Order, Structure)
• Use lines for a sense of order, as “separators” between elements to anchor items & create the sense of overall order. Try using half lines on either side of small text. Try a whole line below headers and above sub-headers, or between images and titles. (Order, Structure)
• Be consistent with your fonts and image effects (contrast, lighting, framing, etc.) Use the same look for a repeated set of designs. For example, use different tones of the same color for consistency by adjusting brightness for contrast. (Consistency)
• Make sure elements are correctly aligned, the text is legible, proper contrast, and space between elements that gives design features room to breathe. (Order, Structure)
• Repetition can tie together different elements and help them stay organized and more consistent. (Consistency, Order)

5 graphic design tips that correspond to the following keywords: research, planning, prepared, practical, careful, precise, skill, and craftsmanship:

• Study, read, research. Researching will guarantee a more thought-out result. (Research, Prepared)
• Plan your design and know what you want to accomplish before you start. (Planning)
• Have a file of good design that you create or see. Have examples of visually appealing, and high quality and creative designs. (Skill, Craftsmanship)
• Every element should have a reason \ purpose for being in the design. (Precision)
• Use italics carefully. Italics should be used in small sentences only. (Careful, Precise)

5 graphic design tips that correspond to the following keywords: beauty or attractive appearance, balance, harmony, and others or relationships.

• Start with a great color palette and beautiful colors. Make your colors visually attractive. (Beauty)
• Think about who you’re designing for. Know your intended audience. (Others)
• Use symmetry and balance. The balance should be stable, evenly loaded on the left and right, or above and below. Try using horizontal and vertical lines for symmetry to correspond with other design elements. (Balance)
• For balance and proportion, make sure the thickness of the elements match the weight of the fonts. Even spacing will offer an appearance that is professional and attractive. (Balance, Beauty)
• Related elements should be grouped together to create a relationship between them. (Relationships)

5 graphic design tips that correspond to the following keywords: contrast or polarity and duality, and variety and similarity.

• Use contrasting elements for grabbing Contrast is one of the most important parts of a design. Have a contrasting color background vs. the text, fonts, and graphics. Think in terms of positive & negative space in an image. (Contrast)
• Have different sized text and try different colors. (Variety)
• Choose a color scheme that has 1-3 primary colors with 1-3 secondary colors that contrast and complement each other. This will ensure your colors don’t blend together by choosing tones that contrast against one another. (Contrast)
• Use font family variants. For example, Arial, Arial Black, Arial Narrow, and Arial Rounded MT Bold. (Variety, Similarity)
• Adjust the brightness of an image that has text on it, or add a partially transparent color overlay to make the text stand out. (Contrast)

Here are the graphic design articles that I think are very informative:

The 17 Graphic Design Tips All Non-Designers Need to Know

10 Most Effective Graphic Design Tips For The Beginners

25 epic graphic design tips for non-designers

Okay, that was a lot of information for a thing that only measures a few inches across. Hopefully, you don’t run into any problems, but if you do add a comment below or email me. Also, I order my business cards from jakprints. I’m happy with their price, quality and delivery time. Maybe you can find cheaper cards, but I recommend them. Happy designs!

The post Dog Walking Business Cards: How You Can Design Your Own appeared first on Fairmount Pet Service.