How to Introduce Your Dog to a New Pet Sitter

Finding a pet care provider that you feel confident in can feel like a daunting task, especially if you are unsure how to best introduce your dog to this new person. While it’s important to always be clear about your dog’s tendencies and behaviors, for a first meeting, it can be beneficial to take some proactive steps to help your dog be more successful during this meeting. The easier a time your dog has meeting someone new, the more time you’ll have to focus on reviewing your dog’s care needs and ensuring the sitter will be a good fit.

1. Decide where the first meeting will happen

The most common locations for an initial “meet and greet” with a new pet sitter are in your home or at a neutral location, such as a park. Consider your dog’s boundaries and confidence level around strangers when deciding the location for this initial meeting. Not all dogs tolerate strangers in their home, while others may be completely overwhelmed by strangers in an unfamiliar setting. Wherever you think your dog will be most comfortable interacting with their potential new sitter is where you should aim to arrange your meeting.

2. Practice and reinforce calm and appropriate greeting behaviors in advance

Whether you have a super-relaxed pup or a wild child whose only speed is 110%, taking some time to practice calm and appropriate behavior around greeting people will always be appreciated by potential pet sitters. Good greeting manners include staying back from opening doors, not jumping up on people, calmly sniffing/approaching rather than body slamming, etc. Consider whether or not it makes sense to have your dog leashed or crated/gated off when the sitter arrives. A calm(ish) greeting goes a long way to helping both owner and sitter settle in.

Practicing the ritual of greeting someone, whether in your home or a neutral location, is especially helpful for nervous or reactive pets. The more they understand and can predict the process, however you choose for that to look, the more confident they’ll feel when an unfamiliar face shows up.

3. Inform the potential pet sitter of the best way to greet your dog before they arrive

Once you’ve taken time to practice some good greeting manners with your dog, you’ll likely have figured out the best process for successfully introducing them to someone new. Pass this information along to your potential pet sitter before they arrive, and be sure to include how the sitter should indicate they have arrived (such as knocking vs messaging/calling). The goal is for your sitter to be able to calmly enter your home/approach your dog in a manner that helps your dog remain at ease. Or as close to at ease as is possible with the excitement of meeting someone new.

4. Exercise your dog and allow time to unwind before the meeting

To help limit built-up energy and anxiety bursting out during a meet and greet, it’s a good idea to exercise your dog shortly before your sitter arrives. Burning off some excess wiggles will help your dog be calmer and able to focus during the excitement of meeting a new person. Be sure to include some time to unwind after the physical activity, allowing your pup a chance to settle both mind and body. Unwinding time may look like laying together on the couch, providing your pup a lick mat or food puzzles, or whatever your dog typically finds relaxing and will help them enter the meet and greet in a lower energy and less aroused state.

5. Have treats, toys, and other positive tools ready to pull out during the meeting

The goal of an initial meeting with a potential pet sitter, ultimately, is to ensure that your dog is comfortable with them and that you feel confident in the sitter providing appropriate care. To this end, it is important to keep meet and greets a positive experience for your dog. Pull out the special treats and favorite toys and have them ready for you and the pet sitter to use throughout the meeting. Positive reinforcement helps build a rapport between your dog and their potential new sitter.

6. Have the pet sitter practice leashing/harnessing your dog and any care that requires handling

A lesson I’ve learned: a dog that is comfortable sniffing or being petted by a new sitter isn’t always going to be comfortable being leashed up by that same sitter. In the absence of their human, dogs may behave more fearfully, especially with new physical interactions, such as having a collar placed on them or being handled for medication.

During your meet and greet, have your sitter briefly go through the motions of any care that requires handling of your dog and use treats and praise to positively reinforce your dog throughout the process. This can go a long way towards making your dog’s first solo interaction with a new sitter less overwhelming, as they’ll have practiced the routine together already.

7. Be open to scheduling additional meet and greets if needed

If, during a meet and greet, you are feeling good about the potential sitter but your dog still seems unsure, it’s totally reasonable (and good practice) to discuss setting up additional practice meets. A good pet sitter will be focused on ensuring your dog feels comfortable and understand that for some pups, getting to this stage of a relationship will take a second or third meeting. You should expect to pay your sitter for any additional meetings.

8. Aim to end on a positive note

Regardless of how comfortable your dog was meeting a new sitter, always aim to end the interaction on a positive note. That may look like the sitter giving your dog an extra special treat as they leave, engaging in a final session of tug-o-war, or whatever other special interaction they can provide to your dog that will help cement that positive association.

While some dogs can become best friends a new pet sitter faster than you can say “treat,” others will do better with establishing a structure for meeting new people. But regardless of your dog’s greeting style, everyone will benefit from a little practice and preparation.