 In a couple weeks I will be taking a course to become a PetTech Instructor. Over the next couple of months all of our sitters will take the course and become certified at which point I will begin offering these courses to the public! It is a great 8 hour course that covers:
I will be blogging and posting on Facebook about what I learn and I am very excite about our team learning all of these new skills. You can be sure that Sidehill Sitters are watching out for your pets with the best knowledge available! Learn more about the course and let me know if you would like to take a class in the future. I can contact your when we get the first class scheduled. Add Comment  The holidays are over, my last couple of holiday travelers are coming back this weekend. It has been a wonderfully busy holiday season and I have been a little lax in doing things like Facebook and blog posts. I will be the first one to admit that the passing of my pup effected me more than I expected and it has taken me almost a month to feel excited about these activities again, but here we are! I have some exciting plans for this year! In addition to more regular, informative blogs and Facebook posts I am going to be featuring different pet business including veterinarians, groomers and trainers. I have one vet clinic interview in the works and there is some great information there! It should be up next week so stay tuned. If there is a business you would like to learn about or have your business featured, send me an email! I am also finishing up our lending library, full of great animal books. It should also be available in its entirety next week. I have been working on offering a new service (it is still hush hush) but if it works out it will be great fun. Is there anything else you would like to see from Sidehill Sitters this year? Just a quick reminder of our snow policies for everyone! - If possible please leave a snow shovel out for easy access. - If you are going out of town we typically only shovel enough to get into your home. If you need your sidewalks shoveled please let us know and we will add on extra time to your visits to take care of it. You will be billed for the extra time after your return. - We will do our best to keep the schedule for our regular visits. If you are in an area that is hard to access in the snow please provide us with contact information for a neighbor that we can call in an emergency. - Dog walks will be done as scheduled but in extreme weather we will have more inside playtime instead of a full walk. We take into consideration the safety of your pet and your sitter. I will be working to come up with a great list of games to play inside with your dogs since it looks like the cold months will continue! Stay tuned! Liana As many of you already know, my dog has been battling bone cancer for around 6 months now. I am sorry to say that earlier this week we received the news that his cancer has spread to his chest and is progressing very rapidly. It is hard to predict an exact time frame, but they are giving him a few months, on the outside. I know the next few months are some of the busiest, but due to this news I will be limiting my overnight stays to short trips (me being gone overnight makes my pup sad). He currently feels fine (no one told him he was sick!), but as his health begins to deteriorate I will limit the regular visits I do in order to spend more time with him. That being said, as most of you know, my sitters have been fantastic in stepping up and will be happy to fill in for me whenever needed. Your pets will receive the same great care, so you do not need to have any concerns, I just wanted to keep you updated as to the situation. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding and if you have any concerns please let me know. -Liana Sidehill Sitters For those that prefer Twitter, we now have an account set up! Hop on over and follow us today! http://www.twitter.com/Sidehillsitters We are expanding to Loveland, have a new service and our fall eZine. Read about it all in our fall newsletter! These last few weeks I have had a variety of pet sitting visits that were unusual and it got me to thinking about why everyone in Fort Collins needs a pet sitter! As a result I am currently setting up a system where anyone can set up as an "emergency only" client. I will charge a $40 set-up fee, but it will allow everyone to have a backup in case of an emergency situation. We will also provide emergency window clings with Sidehill Sitter's information and a login for our online system so client's can keep their information up to date. Also, should you ever use our regular (non-emergency) services, you will be credited for the set-up fee! Here are some examples of recent emergency care that Sidehill Sitters has provided: Having a baby (or any other medical emergency) - A few weeks ago one of my regular clients had a baby! I knew it was coming and was on call for when the time came for them to go to the hospital. I was able to watch their dog for a few days while they were in the hospital so the husband or family did not have to worry about running over and missing the big moment. They were able to focus on themselves and the new baby without worries. Pet is injured and needs supervision - I myself am dealing with this situation now. My dog had his leg amputated last week and is under constant supervision so he does not rip his stitches out (he has tried). Thankfully, while I am out doing pet sitting visits I can take him into our store where my employees and sitters can alternate watching him, but otherwise I would need someone to come to my home to keep an eye on him while I did necessary work. This can also just be a checkup for injured or ill pets. We have a client that works long hours but has an elderly cat with some health problems. Sometimes we stop in just to check on him and make sure he is doing ok, other times he needs medication during the middle of the day. Either way, Sidehill Sitters are always there to help. Selling your home - If you are planning on selling your home then it will need to be shown. Often you will need to have your dogs out of the house or at least supervised in the back yard. Let a Sidehill Sitter come to walk your dogs or play with them in the yard, or just have someone on hand to keep an eye on the cats. Eliminate the concern about the cats getting out or the dogs causing trouble for prospective buyers. Pet escapes - Every pet owner's nightmare is their pet escaping. Thankfully we have not had to help with this problem yet, but in response to some questions we now have Sidehill Sitters pet tags available to borrow for regular clients or purchase for clients with escape artists. Even if you do not regularly use our services, but want a backup in case your pet escapes, you can purchase a tag for your pet to wear. If your pet gets picked up by animal control or a private party, Sidehill Sitters will be on hand to pick up your pet. These are just a few of the many reasons why everyone in Fort Collins needs a pet sitter. You never know when an emergency will arise and you will be thankful you were set up as an "emergency only" client with Sidehill Sitters. Our only stipulation is that your dogs must be ok with strangers coming into the house since it may have been many months since your pet sitter last met your dogs. Schedule your set-up meeting today! After telling one more dog story to a friend, I decided I needed to share some of my tales with the wider world! I am sure occasionally I will post about something more serious, but I will mostly try to keep the stories lighthearted with maybe a little something to learn from our furry or feathered friends. If you are a client, you might see a story about your pet but I promise not to mention any names! | Liana - owner of
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