Knowing the right questions to ask when checking references for a dog walking service in Los Angeles can make or break your experience with the dog walker you hire. A friend who lives close by, yet who is outside of our Rufus and Delilah Dog Walking service area, asked for help finding a dog walker for her dogs. After following the steps in my previous articles on Tips For Finding A Dog Walker In Los Angeles and What To Look For When Hiring A Dog Walker in Sherman Oaks, I asked my friend if I could call the references we were given for the two different dog walking services in Los Angeles. I thought who better to know what questions to ask when checking references for a dog walker than a professional dog walker with close to 12 years of experience.
Check out my top 12 list of questions to ask when checking references for a dog walking service in Los Angeles.
- What kind of dogs do you have?
- How often do they walk your dogs?
- Did they meet you with you for a complimentary consultation before you hired them?
- Did they have you complete a detailed intake form on caring for your dogs and home before the visits started?
- Are your dogs and your home as expected when you return after each schedule visit?
- Do they have a backup plan in the event of a personal emergency or illness making it so the sitter booked to walk your dogs cannot make it to your house for a scheduled visit?
- How long have they been walking your dogs?
- How recent was the last time they walked your dogs?
- What do you like the most about their dog walking service?
- Have you ever had any negative experiences when working with them?
- Do they leave you a daily note after each visit so you know the sitter was there?
- Would you refer them to care for your best friend’s dogs?
I truly believe if you ask all of the above questions to a minimum of 3 to 4 different clients, you will be able to make a well informed decision on whether you would like to hire the dog walker. Based on the calls I made asking the above questions I was able to weed out the sitter I didn’t want my friend to use for her dogs and to confirm which one to move forward with in setting up a complimentary consultation.
Do you have suggestions for other questions to add to our list when checking references for a dog walking service in Los Angeles?
Great post! These are some great tips for finding the right dog walker!
Glad you were able to help them out! Great questions to ask 🙂
I also ask about their training philosophies and how they deal with walking “difficult” dogs.
So glad you liked the tips.
There are really a lot of questions that should be asked in order to help decide if the service a client is choosing will be the right fit.
Those are great questions to add to the list! Thanks for sharing them.
GREAT questions! Finding someone to take care of your furbaby in any way can be stressful. Always good to ask ask ask.
We agree that is best to ask as many questions you can think of. It is important to make sure you are hiring the right sitter for your pets and you understand the sitter’s policies and what the care will include.
Excellent questions! You shouldn’t trust just anyone to walk your dogs – it’s not as simple when the dog isn’t your own, it takes handling skill and reliability.
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Good info! We have a great dog walker here at the condo community.
We agree that you can’t just trust anyone who says they walk dogs. Many people think dog walking is easy but there is a lot that goes into it to make sure the pet and pet parents are getting the best care from someone who is responsible, reliable, and professional.
It’s great to read you have a dog walker you really like where you live. We are often surprised and then upset when hear negative stories about dog walkers or people who have a hard time finding a reliable and responsible dog walkers to care for their fur-babies.