One sheet, built for two kinds of moment
A handover sheet has to serve an ordinary Tuesday and a frightening hour with equal clarity. Most of it describes a normal day so well that the sitter never needs to ring you; a small part of it must work when the dog is vomiting at midnight and the sitter is frightened and half awake. Write with both readers in mind. Keep the sheet to the length a person will actually read standing in your kitchen — usually two pages at most, in a clear order, printed and left where the food is stored rather than sent as a long message thread the sitter must scroll with a lead in one hand.
The daily routine, in the order it happens
Walk the sitter through the day chronologically. First toilet break and where it happens, breakfast amount measured the way you measure it and where the food lives, walk time, route, and the cautions that belong to that route, midday routine, evening feed, last outing, and how the dog settles for the night. Name the cues exactly as the dog knows them and note the signals that matter — the stare that means a toilet break, the restlessness that precedes being sick. Include where the lead, harness, towels, and cleaning supplies are kept, because a sitter hunting cupboards while a muddy dog waits is a small chaos easily prevented on paper.
Behaviour honesty: fears, flashpoints, and house rules
Write down what you would want to know if the dog were not yours. Note fears — thunder, fireworks, the hoover — and what helps, in what order. Flag flashpoints plainly: guarding the sofa, snapping when a chew is reached for, reactivity to certain dogs on the usual route, a talent for slipping a collar when startled. State your house rules as rules, not hints: whether the dog is allowed upstairs, on beds, or fed from the table, because a sitter who relaxes a rule kindly can undo weeks of training and confuse the dog. Honesty here protects the sitter, the dog, and your friendship with both.
The emergency block, set apart
Give emergencies their own clearly headed block at the end, designed to be found in the dark. Your mobile and where you will be, a second contact nearby who can reach the house fast, a named person authorised to agree to emergency treatment if you cannot be reached, your regular vet's number and address, and the out-of-hours clinic you actually use. Add the dog's microchip number, a short line on ongoing conditions or regular care the clinic should know about, and where the vaccination record and insurance details are kept. If your dog travels in the sitter's car, note the carrier or restraint the dog is used to, so a rushed journey is still a safe one.
House notes — only where they touch the dog
Include home details strictly where they affect the dog's care: a gate that must be double-latched because the dog tests it, an alarm routine the sitter needs when leaving for the evening walk, heating or a fan the dog sleeps with, plants or bins the dog raids that are kept behind a shut door. Skip the general household manual; a sheet that tries to run the whole house buries the dog information it exists to carry. Before you leave, walk the sitter through the sheet once in the kitchen, answer questions, and agree how and how often you want updates — a photo a day, or silence unless something is wrong.
That kitchen walk-through is what KinsLe's Care Pass formalises, giving a trusted sitter temporary, clear access to your dog's care routine and key details for exactly the time you are away.