Your Home is Your Castle
Should you get security cameras for pet sitters or other services? In the pet community, there are two kinds of pet sitters. Pet sitters who have nothing to hide, and people who pretend to be pet sitters. The latter are often found without websites, on craigslist, care rover, dog vacay, and other large national quick-get-rich sites. I’m sure there are good people on all those sites, but the bad ones always seem to come from one of them. Yes, you should have security cameras – for any of us. We want you to feel secure in your decision to hire us.
If We’re On The Up and Up, We Won’t Mind
I’ve been doing this for long enough that I’ve made my peace with potentially being caught in a mortifying added-+10lbs-view on home video. Many days I’ve looked close to homeless, between sweat, wind, rain and wardrobe malfunctions, it’s highly embarrassing. It’s also my life, and if you can stand looking at me, I can stand you looking at me! Some professionals want to know where the cameras are, and some just want to know if there are security cameras. Certainly there are professional or ethical reasons for asking you to disclose, and there have been some unseemly camera placements discovered by pet sitters. Don’t be creepy, no one wants to realize belatedly there’s a security camera aimed anywhere near the bathroom. Yes, it actually just happened to a pet sitter recently.
Recommendations for Placement
I’ve worked as a pet sitter and dog walker for years, and there are some places I’ve almost never entered in a client’s home, unless I’ve been requested to enter them. The client’s bedroom is a threshold I will almost never cross unless there’s a cat under the bed. I recommend clients keep those doors closed unless it’s a special place for kitty. It’s not my favorite place to interact with pets, and I certainly don’t need to be in your master bathroom, your bedside tables or your dressers. Accordingly, I don’t need to be in your home office, unless there’s a cat perch I might find a cat perched on. I would certainly recommend bedroom and office security cameras for pet sitters, as well as living areas, the kitchen and anything of particular value such as a well stocked tool room/shed/garage or an art collection.
It’s Not All About Trust
I may sometimes burn with embarrassment when I realize you’ve probably seen the worst of me appearance-wise, but I’m relieved when you are able to see on your camera that I am not responsible for your missing item. I’ll be glad to help you identify if that’s the housekeeper’s voice or someone else. Of course, I’m absolutely over the moon if I can report a problem that you can solve by viewing your camera. And my favorite thing to do with security cameras is play with your kitty in front of them so you can see your angels are really having a good time with me. I want you to smile when you think of going away – not be anxious and worried!
Bringing others along.. for crime!
This dog walker wasn’t even walking!
