Handing your house keys to someone you met last week feels strange because it is a strange thing to do. You are trusting a near-stranger with your home, your belongings, and a living creature that cannot tell you what happened while you were gone. The interview is your one chance to get it right. Here is how to run it.
Start with the right pool of candidates
The best sitters usually come from referrals: your vet's bulletin board, the local pet store, neighbors with happy dogs. Professional pet-sitting businesses with real websites, reviews, and booking systems are a step up from a solo flyer on a lamppost, because a business has reputation to protect and usually carries insurance. Apps that match owners with sitters can work, but vet the individual, not the platform's marketing.
Narrow it to two or three candidates and interview each one in person, at your home, with your pet present. How the sitter interacts with your animal in the first five minutes tells you more than any reference. A good sitter lets the pet approach, gets down to its level, and asks about its quirks before touching anything.
The fifteen questions
Ask these in a conversational order, not like a deposition. You are listening for specifics. Vague answers are the tell.
- How long have you been sitting professionally, and is this your full-time work? Experience matters, and full-timers have more at stake in doing it well.
- Are you bonded and insured? Can I see proof? This is non-negotiable for anyone entering your home. A professional expects the question and has the paperwork ready.
- What training or certifications do you hold? Pet first aid and CPR certification is the gold standard. Experience with your specific breed or species counts too.
- Will you be the one doing every visit, or do you use other sitters? If someone else might show up, you need to meet them too. No surprises at your front door.
- How many clients do you take at once? An overbooked sitter is a rushed sitter. You want to hear a number that leaves room for your pet to get real attention.
- What does a typical visit look like, minute by minute? Listen for structure: entry routine, feeding, walk or play, medications, cleanup, notes. "I hang out for a while" is not a plan.
- How do you handle medications? If your pet takes meds, the sitter should describe the exact process and confirm they are comfortable with pills, liquids, or injections as needed.
- What is your emergency plan if my pet gets sick or hurt? They should ask for your vet's number and an emergency vet, and describe what they would do first. The right answer starts with "call you, then the vet" and includes knowing the nearest 24-hour clinic.
- How and when will you update me? Daily texts with photos are the baseline professionals offer. Ask what a normal update includes and what counts as worth calling about immediately.
- What is your cancellation policy? Life happens on both sides. Know the notice period and fees before you need them.
- How do you handle keys and home access? Look for a real system: labeled lockbox, coded entry, or secure key storage. "I keep them in my car's cupholder" is a red flag.
- What happens if you get sick or have an emergency? Solo sitters need a backup plan with a named person. Businesses should have staff coverage. "That has never happened" is not a plan.
- Can I see a sample visit report? Professionals document each visit: times, food, water, bathroom, behavior, photos. If they do not already do this, ask yourself what you will actually know about your pet's week.
- Do you have references I can call? Then actually call them. Ask how long they have used the sitter and whether anything ever went wrong and how it was handled.
- What do you need from me to do this well? The best sitters interview you back. They want feeding schedules, vet info, behavioral quirks, and house rules. A sitter who asks for nothing is planning to wing it.
Always do a trial run
Before any real booking, pay for a short trial: one drop-in visit or a single walk while you are home or nearby. Watch how they enter, how your pet reacts, and what the update looks like afterward. Most problems surface in the trial. It is far cheaper to learn a sitter is a bad fit over one paid visit than over a week-long vacation.
Red flags that end the interview
- No insurance, or gets defensive when you ask about it.
- Cannot describe what a typical visit includes.
- Has no backup plan for their own emergencies.
- Dismisses your questions about medications or special needs.
- Your pet is fearful or aggressive toward them and they push past it instead of giving space.
- Only communicates through one channel and is slow to respond before you have even hired them. It only gets worse.
- Prices far below every other quote. Good care costs what it costs.
Set them up to succeed
Once you have chosen well, do your part. Write down the feeding schedule, medication instructions, vet numbers, and house quirks like the sticky back door or the alarm code. Pet-proof the house before they arrive so they are not discovering hazards on your dime. Leave more food than needed and a clear rule for what counts as an emergency vet visit versus a wait-and-see.
The best client-sitter relationships last years. Your sitter learns your pet's personality, your pet trusts them, and your vacations stop involving worry. That is worth the hour you spend interviewing.
If you are comparing overnight options specifically, our guide to boarding vs. in-home sitting vs. drop-ins breaks down which fits which pet. And if you run a sitting business yourself, read what professional scheduling looks like behind the scenes to see the standard your clients are judging you against.