Questions to Ask a Pet Sitter Reference

The questions

Open any question to see why it works.

1. 1

   How do you know them, and how did you first end up hiring them?

   This is the question that separates a client from a friend, a cousin, or a neighbor doing a favor. A reference who was referred by someone else in the neighborhood is worth more than one who has known the sitter since school.

2. 2

   How many times have they looked after your animals, and when was the most recent?

   One stay two years ago is a very different endorsement from a standing arrangement every school holiday. Recency also tells you whether the reference is describing the sitter's current life or a version from before a job, a move, or a baby.

3. 3

   What animals, and what were they like to look after?

   You are calibrating the reference against your own situation. Someone whose confident older labrador was fine tells you little about a reactive dog, a cat that hides, or a bird, and this answer decides how much weight the rest of the call carries.

4. 4

   Was it drop-in visits, dog walks, overnights in your house, or boarding at theirs?

   These are separate skills with separate failure modes. A sitter who is excellent at twenty-minute drop-ins may never have been alone with an animal overnight, which is when most of the serious problems occur.

5. 5

   How long was the longest stretch they covered on their own?

   Two days and two weeks are different jobs. Long stays surface the things a short visit hides: boredom, routine drift, the sitter's own commitments reappearing, and whether they noticed a change in the animal over time.

6. 6

   Walk me through what a typical visit looked like from your side.

   An open question produces detail a yes or no cannot. Listen for whether the reference actually knows what happened in their house, since a vague answer often means they never had much visibility into it either.

7. 7

   Did they arrive when they said they would?

   Timing is the single most common complaint about pet sitters and the one that matters most for medication, feeding, and dogs waiting to go out. Ask whether visits ever got compressed or shifted, particularly on weekends.

8. 8

   How did they communicate while you were away, and did you have to chase them?

   The pattern matters more than the volume. Photos every visit are pleasant, but the useful signal is whether updates continued on day nine as reliably as day one, and whether messages were answered within a few hours.

9. 9

   How did your pet seem when you got home?

   Owners are the only people who can read the difference between an animal that was fine and one that was merely fed. Ask specifically about eating, toileting in the house, clinginess, and whether the animal seemed pleased to see the sitter again.

10. 10

    Did anything ever go wrong, and how did they handle it?

    A reference with no story at all has usually had short, easy stays. What you are listening for is whether the sitter told them promptly, made a sensible decision alone, and did not wait to be asked.

11. 11

    Did your animal need medication, and did they get the doses and timing right?

    Ask whether the reference verified it, for instance by counting what was left in the bottle. Medication is where a sitter's reliability becomes measurable rather than a matter of impression.

12. 12

    Do you think they would have noticed if your pet became unwell?

    This asks about attention rather than affection, and it is the thing owners most want and least often check. A reference who pauses here is telling you something, and follow up by asking what makes them confident either way.

13. 13

    What state was the house in when you came back?

    It tells you about conscientiousness generally, not just tidiness. Litter trays, water bowls, bins, and whether the heating and doors were left as instructed are the details that predict how the rest of the job was done.

14. 14

    Any problems with keys, codes, or getting in and out?

    Access is where trust is most concretely tested: keys not returned, codes shared with a partner, a door left unlocked, an alarm repeatedly set off. Ask what the arrangement was and whether it was followed.

15. 15

    Did they ever cancel, ask to change dates, or send someone else instead?

    Substitution is common with sitters who work in a loose network and is often not disclosed in advance. Ask whether the replacement was introduced beforehand and whether the reference had any say in it.

16. 16

    Did anything ever cost more than you expected?

    Ask about extra visits, holiday surcharges, mileage, supplies bought, and vet costs. How money was handled while the owner was unreachable is a fair proxy for how everything else was handled.

17. 17

    Is there anything about them you had to work around?

    This phrasing gives an honest reference permission to be specific without feeling disloyal. Answers tend to be practical rather than damning: slow to reply in the evenings, not confident with large dogs, needs written instructions.

18. 18

    Would you leave them with your animals for two weeks, not two days?

    Raising the stakes exposes the difference between a reference who is satisfied and one who is genuinely confident. Hesitation here is more informative than any of the positive answers that came before it.

19. 19

    Have you recommended them to anyone else, and did that go well?

    Putting a reputation on the line in their own social circle is a stronger signal than agreeing to take a call. If they have recommended the sitter more than once, ask whether those people rebooked.

20. 20

    Is there anything you wish you had known before the first time you hired them?

    This is the question that produces the useful detail, usually something procedural: leave written instructions, be clear about the sofa, confirm the day before. It is also the last chance for a hesitant reference to say the thing they have been circling.