What pet sitters actually do. The standard routine, demystified.
Feeding, walking, photo updates, medication if your pet needs it, watching for early signs of illness, and locking the door on the way out. Documented in real time so you can read it from a beach lounger.
A walk-through of the typical drop-in, dog walk, overnight stay, and recurring weekly visit. Plus what sitters document, what tools they use, and how to read a sitter profile before you book.
It is a real job, not a favor.
A pet sitter feeds, walks, plays, watches for problems, and documents the visit. The work is the same whether you are paying a friend $20 or a verified sitter $40. The difference is what backs the visit: training, insurance, a platform that can step in if something goes wrong. What you are paying for is the floor, not the ceiling.
Four common bookings, walked through.
The flow is similar across services but the time and depth changes. Below is what each one looks like in practice.
A typical 30-minute dog walk
Sitter arrives at the agreed time, greets the dog, checks the leash and collar, and goes. The walk includes water breaks in summer, a few minutes of sniffing, and a route that fits the dog rather than the sitter. Back at the door: water bowl topped up, brief written note, photo update.
A typical drop-in visit
Roughly 30 minutes. The sitter feeds, refreshes water, scoops litter if there is a cat, takes the dog out for a short walk or back-yard break, plays for a few minutes, and writes a one-paragraph update in the app. Photos before they leave.
A typical overnight stay
The sitter arrives in the evening, settles the pet, takes the dog for an evening walk, feeds, and stays the night. Morning routine: walk, feeding, photo update. They lock up before they leave, and they document anything notable.
A recurring weekly schedule
Standing time slot, same day every week. The sitter learns the dog: which corner of the couch, which bowl the cat will not eat from, which neighbor barks. After 6 to 8 weeks of repetition, the routine runs itself.
Six things a sitter does on every booking.
These are the baseline. Anything specialized (medication, senior care, post-surgery recovery) sits on top.
Feeding, water, medication
Following your written instructions exactly. Sitter notes the time of each feeding, refills water, administers any pill or topical that you set up at the meet-and-greet, and flags anything that looks off.
Exercise and elimination
Walks, yard time, or both. The sitter watches for the bathroom break, picks up after the dog, and notes pee and poop quality if anything looks unusual. Catches early signs of illness before you do.
Updates and documentation
Photo update after every visit on the Petme app. A short note on the visit. Timestamped so you know when the sitter arrived and left. Documentation is part of the job, not a favor.
Watching for problems
Limping, loose stool, food refusal, excessive panting, swelling, lethargy. A good sitter flags any of these in the visit note. For anything urgent, the sitter calls the on-record vet and Petme support.
House security
Locking up. Turning off lights. Bringing in the mail. Closing windows if a storm rolls in. The sitter treats your home like a shared workplace, not a hotel.
Special care when needed
Senior pets, post-surgery recovery, anxiety meds, subcutaneous fluids, eye drops. Sitters self-declare what they are comfortable with. The meet-and-greet is where you confirm whether the dog has the right sitter for the visit.
Three pieces of infrastructure behind every visit.
The sitter is the human side. These three are the systems behind them.
The Petme app
Sitters use the same app you do. Check-in, photo update, message thread, in-app payment. No emails, no SMS chains, no awkward Venmo asks at the end.
Your written care notes
Feeding schedule, walk times, vet number, meds, food location, leash habits. Most sitters ask for a brief written summary so the routine survives a forgotten detail at midnight.
Petme Protection Plan
Built into every confirmed booking, covers up to $20,000 of vet costs for an accident or illness during the stay. The sitter does not have to scramble for insurance, the platform handles it.
Four signals before you book.
You are not picking a stranger. You are reading a profile to decide whether the stranger is plausible. These four signals do most of the work.
Verification badges
Look for identity verification, background check, and any specialty badges (CPR, medication-comfortable, exotic-pet-comfortable). Badges mean the platform confirmed something concrete.
Real photo updates
Click through a sitter recent bookings and look at the photos they posted. Is it the same neutral phone-photo of a dog or are they real, in-the-home, in-the-moment shots? Real photos are a strong trust signal.
Read the lower-star reviews
Anyone can have a five-star streak. The interesting data is in the 3 and 4 star reviews: do the complaints sound reasonable, did the sitter respond, did the platform step in. Patterns matter more than averages.
How they write the bio
A specific bio (the breeds they have lived with, their walking style, their experience with senior pets) tells you who you are getting. A vague bio is a yellow flag, not a red flag, but worth probing at the meet-and-greet.
The questions first-time owners ask the most.
What is included, what is extra, what happens in an emergency, and how the relationship works in practice.
How long is a typical pet sitting drop-in visit?
About 30 minutes. The sitter feeds, refreshes water, takes the dog out, plays for a few minutes, writes a short update, and posts a photo before they leave. Longer visits are an option if your pet needs more time, but 30 minutes is the baseline.
What is included in a dog walk?
A walk of the agreed length (usually 30 minutes), water breaks in summer, a few minutes of sniffing, picking up after the dog, and a photo update in the app. Petme walks include $20,000 of vet protection on every booking at no extra cost. See what the Protection Plan covers.
Do pet sitters give medication?
Many do, but it is not automatic. Sitters self-declare comfort with medication on their profile. Pills, topical drops, and subcutaneous fluids are common; injections are rarer. Always confirm at the meet-and-greet and bring the medication to the test booking so the sitter can do it once with you present.
What does a Petme sitter document during the stay?
Time of arrival and departure, feeding times, walk times, anything unusual about behavior or bathroom breaks, and one or two photos. The documentation lands in your Petme app as a thread, so you can read it during the trip and look back at it after.
Does a pet sitter clean up after the pet?
Yes. Picking up after walks, scooping litter, cleaning food bowls. Light cleaning that touches the pet is standard. Heavy home cleaning is not part of the job.
What happens if my pet gets sick during a stay?
The sitter messages you in the Petme app, contacts the on-record vet you wrote down at the meet-and-greet, and notifies Petme support. The $20,000 Protection Plan covers accidents and illness during the stay. The sitter is not making medical decisions; you and your vet are.
Do pet sitters stay the whole night for an overnight booking?
Yes. An overnight booking on Petme means the sitter is in your home from evening to morning. They are not on call from a hotel; they are there. Bedtime walk, morning walk, two photo updates at minimum. See overnight dog sitting in the US.
How do I tell if a sitter is good before I book?
Verification badges, recent photo updates that look real, low-star reviews that show how the sitter handled hard moments, and a specific bio. Then the meet-and-greet, the test that catches what a profile cannot. See the tipping guide.
See the routine in your Petme app.
Photo updates after every visit, time-stamped notes, in-app messaging, and $20,000 vet protection on every confirmed booking. 0% owner fee at checkout, cashback in your wallet automatically.