Pet Sitter Instructions: A Practical Handoff for Daily Dog Care

Good pet sitter instructions let another person carry out your dog’s normal routine and tell you what actually happened. Include the dog’s identity, food instructions, walking and home rules, existing veterinary directions, contact details, and a clear way to record each visit. In Creatures, a care plan can put scheduled work on the Today’s care page; records preserve completed events.

A long biography is less useful than an instruction the sitter can act on at the right time. Keep a short working sheet beside the supplies, with fuller documents stored privately. This guide focuses on the handoff. The dog guide covers the broader ownership picture.

AI-generated illustration.

Start with the dog and the person responsible

Write the call name the dog responds to and include a current, recognizable photograph. In a home with several dogs, show which bowl, lead, sleeping space, and instructions belong to each one. A similar name or coat should not be the only way a sitter distinguishes them.

List your reachable number, a backup decision-maker, the usual veterinary practice, and the emergency practice you have checked in advance. Agree what the sitter should do if you cannot be reached. Keep any authorization the practice requires with the handoff; a Creatures permission setting does not itself authorize veterinary treatment.

Give access instructions separately from a public animal profile. Door codes, addresses, travel dates, and key locations do not belong in a public record. Confirm that the sitter can open the documents they actually need, using their own account rather than your password.

Write each task as an instruction, not a heading

“Breakfast” is a title. It is not enough to tell someone which food to use or where it is. Copy the established instructions you want followed, including the correct container, measure, location, and any restrictions. Do the same for walking equipment, permitted areas, and how to secure doors and gates.

• Feeding. What the handoff should contain: Your existing food and preparation instructions. What to record afterward: What was offered and what was observed.
• Walking. What the handoff should contain: Agreed route, equipment, and handling restrictions. What to record afterward: Whether the walk happened and any relevant change.
• Home check. What the handoff should contain: Water, gates, doors, and where the dog should rest. What to record afterward: Anything missing, damaged, or different.
• Prescribed care. What the handoff should contain: The original current veterinary directions. What to record afterward: The actual event, with uncertainty left visible.
• Contact. What the handoff should contain: Who to call and the agreed escalation plan. What to record afterward: Who was contacted and the advice received.

Do not ask a sitter to interpret a diagnosis or choose a dose. If two instruction sheets disagree, resolve that with the relevant professional before the visit. A note saying “use the new one” becomes ambiguous when both pages have lost their dates.

AI-generated illustration.

Fill in a short working sheet

Copy these labels into a private sheet and fill them in before the first visit. Leave no emergency contact as “usual vet” without a number and address.

• Dog and dates: Name: [ ]; photo/profile: [ ]; care starts: [ ]; ends: [ ].
• Contacts: Owner number and availability: [ ]; backup decision-maker: [ ]; regular vet, address and hours: [ ]; emergency practice, address and hours: [ ].
• Veterinary authorization: Practice’s authorization form location: [ ]; agreed spending limit: [ ]; who pays/how payment is arranged: [ ]; action if the owner cannot be reached: [ ]. Confirm this with the practice; an app role does not provide treatment consent.
• Routine: Food/container: [ ]; existing amount and timing: [ ]; water check: [ ]; walk equipment, route and duration: [ ]; prescribed-care document and responsible person: [ ].
• Handling and security: Door-dashing risk: [ ]; resource guarding or handling restrictions: [ ]; dog/visitor interactions to avoid: [ ]; gates and doors to check: [ ]; safe rest area: [ ].
• If the dog escapes: Call [ ] immediately; last-seen location and time: [ ]; microchip registry contact: [ ]; local shelter/animal-control contact: [ ]. Agree a safe search plan in advance.
• Visit report: Arrival/departure: [ ]; food offered and observed outcome: [ ]; walk: [ ]; observations: [ ]; person contacted and instructions received: [ ].

Keep chocolate, xylitol products, grapes/raisins and human medicines inaccessible, and tell the sitter where hazards are stored. For suspected poisoning, contact a veterinarian or ASPCA Poison Control promptly at 888-426-4435 in the US; a consultation fee may apply. Do not wait to complete a visit note or improvise treatment.

Put scheduled work into a care plan

Open the dog’s Records area, choose Care, and start a plan. Give the plan a name the sitter will recognize. Add task titles and instructions, then choose cadence, timing, and alerts. The care-plan instructions explain these choices.

Review the first week, including the displayed timezone. A task can be scheduled without sending an alert, so check both settings. If you use Describe your routine to prepare a draft, read every task before saving. A generated draft is a transcription aid, not approval of a care routine.

A completed task and a planned task are different facts. When the available completion action opens a record form, enter what actually occurred. Do not mark an unfinished visit complete simply to clear Today’s care. For a change to one visit or the future schedule, use the offered schedule controls and review the resulting dates.

Match access to the work

A sitter who needs to mark simple care tasks done may not need full profile access. Care Helpers see eligible simple tasks; work requiring a full record stays with the owner. On a new account, set up the dog’s Care plan first, then invite helpers from Who can help on Today. Coverage includes eligible tasks for every animal, group and place belonging to the selected personal account or organization, including the names and photos needed for those tasks. It is not limited to this dog. Owner choices start selected; uncheck any scope you do not want to share and read the coverage line before inviting.

Animal Team access is different: it lets a person add photos and records. Co Owner includes broader profile, sale-listing and ownership-transfer powers, and the ability to invite their own Care helpers. Read animal team permissions and the shared dog care access guide before choosing a role. A role is not a substitute for an agreed responsibility.

Rehearse the handoff and close it afterward

Walk through an ordinary visit together. Ask the sitter to locate the supplies, find the task, and show where a note will go. Check how they will contact you if the app or internet is unavailable. A short printed copy can hold the essentials without exposing your whole account.

AI-generated illustration.

In an illustrative handoff, a sitter finds the morning feeding task but cannot see a full medication record. The right response is to correct the agreed access and documentation route before you leave, not to grant ownership powers by default or ask them to report every event from memory later.

After the final visit, read the completion history and discuss any unresolved notes. End a temporary plan only when that routine should stop permanently; completed records remain, but ending a plan is not a pause you can simply undo. Remove temporary access and cancel pending invitations that are no longer needed.

For a single future check rather than a routine, use a reminder. If a task seems missing, first check the date, owner, plan status, and the person’s access. Duplicating the whole routine can create two reminders for the same work.

For a stay away from home, the dog boarding cost guide helps you compare the arrangement, while the puppy vaccination guide explains why dated veterinary records matter to a facility. Keep those records separate from the sitter’s daily instructions.

Do this next on Creatures

Start with the information and responsibility you already have. Choose the action that fits your role today.

• Keep an animal’s history together: Add your dog with the identity details you know. You can start while signed out and complete the free account steps in the flow.
• Record a real event: Add a record, choose the correct animal and check visibility. The form opens for visitors; a free account is needed to save.
• Follow availability: Save a dog listing alert. Visitors can enter an email and complete signup; an alert does not guarantee a match.
• Represent your work: If you manage a kennel or rescue, create its organization profile. Guest signup is available in that flow.
• Compare current listings: Browse dogs on the marketplace, then confirm the individual animal’s identity, history and suitability with the seller.
• Find organizations to contact: Explore the breeder directory and discuss records and ongoing support directly with the relevant organization.