Occupation: pet sitter. Animals are usually not the problem

Magdalena goes to work at 8.50, returns home at 18. Every day she walks about 25-30 km. He sometimes complains of pain in his knees and back. Before talking to me, she walked Great Dane, Landseer, Afghan Hound and French Bulldog. At the same time. But that's nothing - she happened to go out with nine dogs at the same time.

But she usually has one client per hour. She has keys to some apartments, she is let in to others. She mainly takes care of dogs, although she has also had cats and rabbits. When he comes home, he goes out for another walk, this time with his dogs.

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– I have five regular customers, but it happens that additional orders come in because someone has gone on vacation, the dog is under the care of grandma, but grandma doesn't have the strength to walk him out. Then there's hardcore. Like now. I haven't had a day off for five weeks, says Magdalena.

He travels by public transport. – Subway is salvation! I live in Praga-Południe. I start my work in Stary Mokotów and finish it in Kabaty. I drive to each client a maximum of 20 minutes, their apartments are spread out in a straight line along my route - he says.

Magdalena Śpiewak during a walk with dogs (private archive), Magdalena Śpiewak (private archive)

Magdalena also ran a hotel for dogs in her apartment for two years, but after moving to a smaller place she had to suspend this part of her activity. What does he remember from this period? That he can sleep with six dogs in one bed.

Magdalena charges a minimum of PLN 30 for an hour's walk, and about PLN 40-50 if there are two dogs. She gets nervous when someone asks her if she can make a living from petsitting. – Petsitting is still treated as a casual job for teenagers and students. I work 10 hours a day, I have no time for anything else. The pandemic has hit the industry hard as people have stayed at home and cared for their pets. Despite this, during the first lockdown, I was able to support a family of three and three dogs on my salary.

It started with a computer

Anna Górecka-Kusz, together with her 19-year-old son Bartek, has been running a hotel for animals for nine years. They arranged it in their 50-meter apartment in Warsaw's Mokotów district. Neighbors don't complain about the noise because, according to Anna, dogs are never left alone, so they don't need to bark.

She became a petsitter thanks to her son. – When Bartek was 11 years old, he said that he would like to earn money for his first computer. The advertising agency I worked for went out of business, so we had a little financial crisis at home. One day, before the holidays, he came to me and said: "I will walk people's dogs" - says Anna.

Anna Górecka-Kusz, together with her 19-year-old son Bartek, has been running a hotel for animals for nine years (Anna Górecka-Kusz's private archive)

Bartek was a minor, so Anna would have to assist him on walks. “I didn't quite imagine it. I had other commitments. I suggested that we organize a hotel for animals at home – she recalls. My son bought a new computer over the summer.

The project took off so well that Anna and Bartek decided not to close the hotel after the summer.

– And so I went to the dogs from working in an advertising agency – laughs Anna.

Anna also goes for walks with her dogs and visits homes where hungry cats are waiting for her. It happens that he will water the flowers or pick up a package. For an hour's walk, he takes from PLN 40 to PLN 80, depending on where the ward lives. A day of hoteling a pet with Anna costs from PLN 60 to PLN 80 - the final price is determined by the size of the dog.

Anna is able to take in up to five dogs, but as she emphasizes, she does not take care of aggressive animals or animals with major behavioral problems. In one room where Anna's mother lives, it is possible to leave a cat. My mother has not been able to get out of bed for several years.

– She likes when an animal comes to cuddle with her. It has a therapeutic effect on her, and animals also feel that a human is close - says Anna.

She emphasizes that being a pet sitter is not a job, it's a lifestyle.

– When you run a hotel, you work 24 hours a day. There is no time to rest. You also have to constantly educate yourself, dealing with several dogs at once is not easy. Since we opened the hotel, I have done, among others, a first aid course, work with fearful dogs, a course on dog separation problems or how to raise a puppy - she lists.

Hundreds of pets pass through her apartment every year.

– People say: you work with animals, but it's great! They forget that it is a huge responsibility that animals can destroy - shabby door frames or windows are the norm. Sand in the bed, hair everywhere, older dogs happen to let loose in the apartment. There are different smells in the air ... But we take it on the chest. I laugh that my basic color of clothes is fur - says Anna.

It used to happen that 16 dogs lived with Dorota Pachała under one roof, including 3 of her own and 13 of strangers. – You have to love it and have it unevenly under the ceiling – laughs Dorota.

Dorota Pachała runs the Grand Psiotel pet hotel (Dorota Pachała's private archive), Dorota also takes care of cats (Justyna Lenart)

She lives at home in the Kampinos Forest. The area is fenced, partly wooded. But the house itself is only about 70 sqm. surface. Dogs have to fit.

– I run a hotel for animals - Grand Psiotel - and a temporary home. Sometimes I take dogs for walks, I also visit cats at home. It happened that a client asked me to live with his cat for a few days - she says.

She has been a petsitter for about five years, she charges from PLN 100 upwards for a hotel night, regular customers have a discount. “I've always wanted to work with dogs. It started with helping at a dog school, assisting during training. At the moment, I am doing course after course - on dog communication, a massage course with the Tellington TTouch method, in a moment I am starting a course on zoopharmacognosy, i.e. natural supplementation with oils and herbs - he enumerates.

Dorota also takes care of dogs with behavioral problems.

- If I have hyperactive or very anxious dogs at the moment, I accept fewer animals. The biggest challenge in this job? Don't go crazy. I regularly put money into the "renovation fund". Sometimes it's loud, because dogs bark, there is dog hair everywhere. Anxious dogs often urinate indoors, for example, into their shoes. Sometimes I get up at three in the morning and clean up because someone threw up. My husband tolerates it patiently, he has other passions. We are currently looking for a bigger house.

Not only for holidays

Petsitting is broadly defined as taking care of someone's pet. Anyone can become a petsitter or petsitter - this profession is not regulated by law in our country. According to Andrzej Kinteh-Kłosiński, an animal behaviorist and director of the COAPE Polska school, which has been offering courses for future pet sitters since 2004, this industry in Poland has been developing for about 20 years.

- That's when I started getting more and more clients with pet problems. They demolished their apartments during their absence, and when they were at home, they did not leave them alone. Customers were unable to provide their pets with adequate activity, because they spent all day at work. I started looking on the internet to see if there is such a profession as a pet sitter. It turned out that in the United States and Great Britain there are people who professionally take care of animals when their owners are on vacation or at work. First, I created the petsitter.pl website, where in two years gathered about three thousand people who offered care for animals. Then I started organizing courses for pet sitters. And a few years later I expanded it to run a hotel for animals - says Kinteh-Kłosiński.

She argues that before the pandemic, the interest in the course was growing year by year. And it confirms what Magdalena has already said: the pandemic has also hit this industry hard. People switched to remote work, began to have more time for their pets, stopped going on holidays, on business trips. Most petsitters currently make their living from regular customers, sometimes they catch orders from people who are in quarantine due to covid and need someone who will go out for a walk with their dog for two weeks. Although the "Dog in the Crown" initiative is thriving and people are willing to walk their animals free of charge, some people prefer to spend money and be sure that the person with whom they made an appointment will show up at a given time to take the dog out.

– Over the past few years, the profession of a pet sitter has become professionalized. Some combine this work with other services, for example grooming, others take care of sick, old dogs, others focus on difficult dogs with behavioral problems - they take them for walks to relieve their owners. Petsitter is slowly becoming a universal service used by many dog ​​owners, not only the most affluent and not only once in a while, "because of the holidays". Often going out with the pet sitter is the most important walk for the dog during the day - says the behaviourist.

As a full-time petsitter, you run into a variety of problems - the owner doesn't come to pick up the dog, or the dog attacks and bites someone. You need to know how to protect yourself and your business in the event of an accident. Besides, petsitting is caring for different animals.

- We teach how to take care of cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, fish, and snakes. We are constantly expanding the program of the course, because pet sitters face new challenges all the time - adds Kinteh-Kłosiński.

"I had to put the dog to sleep"

Magdalena, Anna and Dorota know a lot about the responsibility of a pet sitter. And they emphasize that the problem is usually not the animals, but their owners.

Sometimes they hide important facts from pet sitters. For example, that the dog is aggressive. “I had an amstaff once who would pounce on my face and neck. In the end we had to muzzle him, which was a challenge - my husband paid for it with deep cuts on his hand. As it turned out later, the dog also attacked its owners and walked around the house with a muzzle every day - says Magdalena.

Dorota once had to put down a dog whose owners had left her under her care (Cyber ​​Marian)

Owners also sometimes fail to talk about their pet's health problems. Such was the case with Dorothy. – Clients brought me an old Chinese Crested dog. They were going to the Canary Islands for a week. The dog didn't want to eat or drink, I thought maybe he was reacting with stress to the new place. I called the owners after a day. They told me not to worry that when they left the dog with my mother-in-law, he didn't eat the first day either. Still, I went to the vet. He looked at the dog and broke down. He couldn't get into any vein for a long time. The dog stayed at the clinic for comprehensive tests - blood, abdominal ultrasound. For two days, the doctors fought for his life, but finally gave up. He had to be put to sleep.

For Dorota, it was the first dog she put to sleep in her life. She experienced it very much. She asked the vet for a detailed statement so that the owners would not cause her problems and to make them aware of how much they had neglected the animal.

- When we settled accounts, they still wanted to haggle, because the dog was not a week with me, but three days - he recalls.

At the beginning of the business, Annie happened to not get paid for caring for an animal. Several times she gave in to the requests of people who wanted to pay on delivery. She says: - The owner is coming for the dogs, I am asking for money, I hear that my partner has just made a transfer. Then, please confirm the transfer. He sent me some confirmation, but as it turned out later, the money never arrived. I took care of two dogs for a month, totaling PLN 3,000. I'd have to file a civil suit to get my money back, I waved my hand away.

The owner of the bull terrier also wanted to pay on delivery. Similar translation: partner is making a transfer right now.

– The man takes the dog under his arm and goes away. So I try to stop him, an unpleasant discussion ensues. I say that until the money reaches the account, the dog stays with me. He said: get the hell out of that dog. And he leaves. I immediately reported the matter to the police. The dog stayed with me for three more months before the man, instructed by the police, finally came to pick him up. But I didn't see the money - says Anna.

Since then, it requires payment in advance for the pet's stay and issues an invoice.

But the bull terrier was not the last pet to stay with her for longer. A lady gave Annie a dog and a cat to care for. They were supposed to stay with her for a week and in fact you showed up after a week. But she only took the dog.

- She said she was moving in with her mother and her mother hates cats. The cat has been with us for four years - says Anna.

He didn't have the strength to wag his tail

Petsitters value cooperation with regular customers whom they know, like and trust. Sometimes such cooperation extends for years.

– I visit some clients five times a week, we've known each other for a long time. They treat me like a family member - says Dorota.

Magdalena is very attached to her dog clients (Magdalena Śpiewak's private archive), (Magdalena Śpiewak's private archive), (Magdalena Śpiewak's private archive)

During our conversation, she takes Markus, whom she has known since puppy, for a walk. The black Labrador is already six years old. – He spent many holidays with me, because it is hot in his babysitter's apartment in the summer. He is more comfortable in my house near Warsaw. I am very close to her too. I happened to take care of her child, she calls me sometimes to talk or cry, says Dorota.

Magdalena leads two Italian greyhounds several times a week to clients she has known for two years.

- We became so close that I could count on their support when I lost 80 percent of my orders at the beginning of the pandemic. Fortunately, in May, new customers began to appear, because people began to go away for weekends. Greyhound owners didn't give up on me even though they didn't need my services that much. Another client is now my best friend. We meet privately, her bulldog is my bulldog's "boyfriend". Even though our relationship has changed, she respects my job very much, she never expected me to take care of her dog as a friendly favor, she says.

The pet sitters I talk to are very attached to animals. Magdalena will never forget her first client, even though she only took care of him for four weeks.

– It was a 15-year-old Labrador. He had problems with standing up on his own, holding feces and urine. I went for walks with him with a backpack stuffed with cleaning products, because it happened that I had to clean the staircase after him. I loved that dog. He was so old and sick that he no longer had the strength to wag his tail at the sight of me, but his eyes were always happy - he recalls.

After a month, his condition deteriorated and he had to be put down. “I was there and I had a lot of fun. Two weeks after his death, I decided I wanted to get serious about petsitting.

Ewa Jankowska. Journalist. editor. In the media since 2011. In the editorial office of Weekend magazine since 2019. Co-author of the collection of reports "Przewiew". One of the winners of the "Addictions of the 21st Century" competition organized by the Inspironia Foundation. If you want to share your story with me, write to me: ewa.jankowska@agora.pl.