Questions for a pet minder?

We are taking a short trip in a few weeks - hooray! We're going with another family, and for the first time we won't be camping and can't bring our dog. Usually we'd leave him with my parents but it's a bit out of our way and there dog passed away a little while ago so don't want to put this on them.

But, I noticed a sign at the post office by a 13 year old girl in our town offering babysitting and pet minding. I'm going to give her a call to see what she can do, but I'm wondering what would you ask? Her sign says she can do evenings and weekends, and can walk the dogs. Our dog is usually fed morning and night, would it be too much to ask her to feed him before school? He usually sleeps in the laundry at night, but as he has dinner at 5 I'm thinking it's too much to expect her to feed him then go back later to let him inside. Might just leave him out overnight.

I'm hoping she can feed him on a Tuesday night, Wednesday morning, Wednesday night and Thursday morning. If she could also just spend a little time playing with him on Tuesday and Wednesday that'd be great. He's big and excitable (Labrador) so I'd ask her to come around and get to know him first.

She hasn't mentioned a fee either, how much would be reasonable?

It's worth asking the question as to whether or not she can do mornings as well.

I would ask her to come over and meet your furbaby. Make some general observations as to whether or not you think she can handle him, does he pull too much on walks etc (if you're going to ask her to walk him)? Make sure her parents are aware and are ok with her going around to your place.

Generally, kennels are around $20-$25 a day for large breeds. You're providng the food etc so I think maybe $15 is a reasonable amount to offer per day.

Good luck!

Thanks :) As she's only 13 I believe her parents would be involved - depending where she is in the town it may be too hot to walk and I guess a parent drives her in those cases.

He's not great on walks, though not too bad with a halti. I think we'd leave that up to her if she wants to or not, again probably depending on weather. He doesn't need a daily walk, just a bit of a play, our back yard is huge and he gets exercise chasing rabbits lol.

$15 a day is what I was thinking too :)

I know when we looked in pet minding a while ago the morning/night feed was an additional charge. So it was normally one visit a day for $20 and if you wanted them morning and night it was $40. Expensive which is why we actually ended up with a house sitter ( which was completely free! And peace of mind of someone looking after your house!)

I would think the three trips morning feed/night feed/ Nd bed is too much to ask. Could she do the night feed a little later and bring him in a bit earlier? Or like you said leave him out? It isn't an option for us cuz our dogs park at ppl driving past and we are always worried it will annoy neighbours!

Also with regards to walking your dog I would probably also be waiting to see the little girl . Big size difference in 13 year olds and some might not be able to handle an energetic dog!