The return-day report is the account of the stay itself, written when you come home, and it is a different document from the instruction sheet you left before you went away. That sheet said what should happen. The report says what did happen, and the gap between the two is exactly what you need to know — for the dog's health, for the next booking, and for an honest relationship with a sitter you may rely on for years. Agree the fields before the stay, because a sitter who knows what will be asked notes things as they go instead of reconstructing a week from memory in your hallway.
Medicines Actually Given, With Times
The first field is medicines actually given, with times. Not the plan — the reality. If a dose was late, refused, spat out, or missed, the report should say so plainly, because medicine gaps are medical information your vet may need and because a sitter who admits a missed dose is a sitter you can trust with the next stay. This field also catches practical problems worth solving: a tablet the dog will only take hidden in food, a drop it fights, a routine that clashed with walks. Ask for it without blame attached, or you will get reassurance instead of facts.
Appetite, Water, Toileting, Exercise, and Sleep
The middle fields describe how the dog lived. Appetite and water: whether meals were eaten eagerly, picked at, or refused, and whether drinking looked normal, because appetite change across several days is a health signal a single day is not. Toileting: accidents, looseness, straining, or changes from the dog's usual pattern, noted with rough timing. Exercise actually done: which walks happened, how long, and any walk cut short or skipped, since an under-exercised dog's restless behaviour at homecoming is otherwise easy to misread. Sleep: whether the dog settled at night in its usual place or was wakeful, pacing, or unsettled, because broken nights across a stay point at anxiety or discomfort worth understanding before the next trip.
Incidents, Unusual Behaviour, and Supplies Remaining
Ask for any incidents or unusual behaviour as its own field, not folded into a general all-was-well. Chewed items, escapes or escape attempts, scuffles, vomiting, limping, hiding, clinginess, or a dog simply quieter than usual all belong here, described plainly with when they happened. Then the practical close: food and supplies remaining, so you know what is left, what ran out, and what needs replacing before the next stay — and whether the sitter had to improvise because something you left ran short. These details protect the next sitter as much as you, since the report becomes the corrected version of the instructions you write next time.
The House, and Acting on Anything Worrying
The final field is the house left as found: anything broken, damaged, or not working, alarms or heating quirks, and anything the sitter thinks you should know about the property itself. Then read the report the day you return, not a week later. Anything worrying in it — a medicine pattern that went wrong, an injury, repeated refusal of food, behaviour that sounds unlike your dog — routes to a call with the sitter the same day, while memories are fresh and details can still be pinned down, and to your vet where the concern is health. Thank the sitter for candour specifically; the report you praise is the report you will keep getting.
KinsLe keeps each stay's account from vanishing into a chat thread, since its Pet Passport packet stores the report beside medicines, routines, and vet details for the next sitter.