Open with the contacts a sitter may need at midnight
Start the sheet where a stressed sitter will look first: your mobile number and when you will be unreachable, a backup person nearby who holds a spare key and knows the dog, your vet's name and address, and the out-of-hours emergency route your clinic uses. Add your dog's microchip number and a recent photo in case she ever slips out. This block sits at the top, boxed or bolded, because the rest of the sheet is routine reading while this part gets used under pressure.
Run the sheet in the order of the sitter's day
Structure the body chronologically, from the morning your sitter arrives to the last check at night. Cover the first toilet break and where it happens, breakfast with the exact measure and where the food and scoop live, walks with timing, usual route, lead and harness details, and how your dog behaves around other dogs, traffic, and off-lead areas. Follow with daytime rhythm, play, rest, access to rooms and garden, then the evening meal, final walk, and bedtime routine, including where she sleeps and whether a night light, radio, or a worn item of your clothing helps her settle.
Be specific about health and the non-negotiables
List any health condition in plain words, what the sitter might observe, and the agreed point at which they should phone you or the vet rather than waiting. Describe any ongoing care task step by step, in the order it is done, with where supplies are kept. Then name your genuine non-negotiables, the rules that protect safety or health, such as never feeding from the table if she has a sensitive stomach, keeping the front door routine strict if she bolts, or avoiding a particular park. Keep that list short; a sheet where everything is urgent teaches a sitter that nothing is.
Add the dog only you know
The section sitters value most is the one no template can write: your dog's particular self. Note what frightens her, thunder, the vacuum, a certain type of dog, and what reliably calms her. Note her cheekiest habits, counter-surfing when the bin is full, stealing socks, barking at the post, so the sitter is amused rather than alarmed. Include her favourite game, her recall word and whether it truly works outdoors, and any words she knows for meals, walks, and settling. This is also where honesty helps: if she pulls hard for the first five minutes or dislikes being left after dark, say so plainly.
Deliver it like you mean it
Send the sheet digitally ahead of the stay and leave a printed copy in the kitchen, because phones die and houses have dead spots. Walk the sitter through the house once with the sheet in hand, showing rather than describing where things live, and invite questions then, not by text from the airport. Afterwards, ask what was unclear and revise the sheet while the stay is fresh in both memories. Shared through KinsLe's Care Pass, that same care sheet reaches your dog's sitter as temporary, clear access to her routine and key details for exactly the days you are away.