We're open to it, should we find a certification process that actually amounts to anything.  Since our outset, we've been members of the National Association of Professional Petsitters , which entails a certain set of standards, and which offers a certification process in addition to that.
 

Unfortunately, that process involves little more than watching a DVD, and taking a written test, and forking over a few hundred bucks.  And (call us crazy, but...) that isn't the sort of thing we'd encourage anyone to take terribly seriously.  We might even call it a racket.  We may do it in the coming year, to rein in our liability premiums, but it's really not a substitute for understanding a particular animal's needs, and the environment in which that animal plays/lives.

 
If you know of credible certification programs, we're all ears.

Probably.  Some of us have certainly worked for a few of them.  We even worked within hours of breaking elbows and collar bones, on torn joints and sprained hands.  And we watched co-workers in need of immediate medical attention from dog bites face employers threatening termination if said medical attention was, indeed, immediately sought.  We were treated as contractors, and sometimes still never saw a 1099.  There was no health insurance.  No workman's comp.  We showed up in slings because the way the job was structured wasn't up to us.  And the expected employee turnover in such scenarios lends itself to lower costs.

Around here, we think it makes perfect sense for people to have access to healthcare, and access to paid leave to enrich and develop their lives.  In short, we think dignity matters.  In a world where cheaper tends to be synonymous with "better", we anticipate some folks may opt to look elsewhere.  That's okay with us.

We don't offer monthly/weekly discounted rates for single daily walks.  And here's why:  When agencies do that, it's because the person holding the keys to your house, and caring for your dog on any given day is only seeing about 1/3 of what you're being billed.  So, the agency owners take a slight cut in their 2/3, in order to secure more business from you, while the person doing the actual work gets fleeced either way.  I probably don't need to point out what risks that entails, for the security of your home, and the care your dog gets.  Additionally, dogwalking (with a few exceptions) has a workday of about four hours,  outside of which there really isn't much demand.  Which means we have to make a living in half the time most people do. 

If you take $16 per 30 minutes of that workday, and convert it to reflect a standard 8-hour wage... After overhead expenses, it wouldn't even add up to a living wage.  Not having bosses to pay, we're able to keep our costs pretty low, and genuinely try to pass that little gem onto our clients.  And in cases where a group of folks in a building want to get together and work out a group plan, we're 100% for that, and will work with you on it.

We generally don't get requests for birds, fish, lizards, snakes, or whathaveyou. It's pretty much always cats and dogs. And provided you're not keeping said animals around to guard a meth lab, we're willing to work with them. We've worked with pitbulls, and routinely work with foster animals. And we encourage you to foster animals, for a number of what we hope are obvious reasons.

Dogs especially tend to come with all sorts of nuances, often (sadly) in the form of trauma. So, it's always been part of our work to be attentive and creative in working with a particular dog's needs. During initial interviews with clients, we tend to go over the standard "hot buttons" and other areas in which dogs may react defensively/aggressively, and what specific needs/quirks a dog has.

Our basic billing block for a visit is 30 minutes.  With the usual routines of getting dogs in and out of houses and apartments, you can generally count on a walk of 20-25 minutes.  Sometimes longer, depending on routing. 

When the overall high for a day breaks 80F, we shorten walks a bit to spare the dogs, and limit our personal exposure to excessive heat and poor air quality.  When it breaks 90F, we shorten the walks considerably, for the same reasons.  If you've lived through a District summer, you likely know why.