Watch the First Five Minutes With Your Dog
A first meeting tells you things no list of questions can, so let your dog greet the sitter in the room where care will actually happen. Notice whether the sitter crouches or waits, lets your dog approach, and reads signs of nerves instead of pushing for affection. Then ask about their experience in concrete terms: what sizes and temperaments have they cared for, have they handled a dog who pulls, barks at visitors, or guards food, and have they ever stayed overnight rather than only doing drop-in visits? Specific stories, including one where something went wrong and what they did, tell you far more than a general claim of loving dogs.
Who Comes Into Your Home, and When
Ask whether this sitter alone will enter your home or whether a partner, friend, or backup sometimes helps, and agree that no one else comes without your approval. Cover keys and codes directly: where will the key be kept, is it labelled with your address, and how is it returned? Ask what times visits or overnight stays actually cover, whether arrival times can drift, and what happens if the sitter is delayed or ill. If they will stay overnight, walk through the practical ground rules together — which rooms are open, where they sleep, whether guests are allowed, and whether your dog sleeps where he normally does.
Walks, Feeding, and Your Dog's Particular Rules
Ask the sitter to talk your routine back to you: feeding times and amounts, where food and leads are kept, which route or length of walk your dog is used to, and what equipment he walks in. Raise the awkward specifics now rather than later — does your dog lunge at squirrels, eat things off the pavement, slip a collar, or panic at thunder? Ask what the sitter would do in each case. Also cover doors and gates, off-lead rules, and whether they will walk other dogs at the same time. A sitter who asks you follow-up questions during this part is usually paying the right kind of attention.
Emergencies, Updates, and Saying No
Ask what they would do if your dog escaped from the garden, chewed something that could be harmful, vomited repeatedly, or injured a paw on a walk, and check that their instinct is to contact you and your vet promptly rather than wait and watch serious signs. Agree who your emergency backup is if you are unreachable, and where your vet's details and your dog's records will be. Then settle updates: how many messages a day, photos or written notes, and honest reporting if your dog is not eating or settling. Finally, give the sitter a genuine chance to decline — a dog who is too strong, too anxious, or simply not a fit is better refused now than struggled with later.
Agree It All Before the Booking Is Real
Leave the meeting with times, pay arrangements, key handling, update frequency, and emergency contacts confirmed in writing, and consider a short trial visit or single overnight before a long trip. That trial shows your dog that this person comes, cares for him, and that you return — often the detail that settles a nervous dog most. If anything felt evasive, especially around other people entering the home or what happens when plans fail, trust that feeling and meet another sitter.
Once you have chosen, KinsLe's Care Pass can pass that sitter your dog's feeding, walking, and comfort instructions as temporary access that fits the length of the booking.