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closePet care service offers clients peace of mind
Animal owners can relax with their pets in good hands
Susan Schell
of the Gateway
When Sara Paulik was asked as a child what she wanted to do when she grew up, she said, “Play with dogs all day.”
Of course, a lot of children would say that — but Paulik made her dream come true, and she’s made herself a business that is proving to be fairly recession-proof.
While corporations are crumbling, Paulik’s business, Spoiled Rotten Pet Sitting, LLC, is actually expanding.
Paulik attributes that partly to the fact that, even in hard economic times, people still love their pets, and also because people who are still working are doing so with longer hours to cover positions that have been eliminated.
“Pet sitting isn’t a luxury any more,” Paulik said. “People really need this service. The variety of people who use my service ranges so much. There are the empty-nesters whose pets are like their kids. Then there is the younger, professional generation who may be time-starved, or they commute to work or travel.
“Even with a doggy door, dogs can get bored and become destructive,” she said.
Paulik’s service offers both overnight pet sitting and daily visits to feed, care for and walk dogs. Visits are offered in increments of 15, 30, 60 or 90 minutes, depending on a client’s needs.
Although most clients have dogs and cats, Spoiled Rotten will care for birds, chickens, ducks, goats, tortoises and ferrets. Since the business covers rural areas, it also offers horse care and stall cleaning.
Clients are charged for the time of the visit, not how many animals are involved.
“I wanted to have an edge over the competition,” Paulik said. “A lot of services charge $5 for each additional animal, but if you have four dogs or live on a farm, that could get pretty expensive. We try to make it as affordable as possible.”
Three staff members have trained horses professionally; one is a dog trainer.
“People don’t want someone who watches cats and dogs taking care of their horses,” Paulik said. “They want someone who knows something about horses.”
Paulik has quite a menagerie herself — she has four dogs, two rabbits and three snakes.
“I’ve been animal obsessed ever since I can remember,” she said. “I’ve been in the pet care industry for years, working at Petco and pet sitting.”
Paulik started out as a sole proprietor, but soon she had too many clients.
“I had no time off and no vacations,” she said. “People depend on you. Clients say they want to adopt you.”
Spoiled Rotten now covers a wide area from Silverdale to the Puyallup valley and Bonney Lake, down to Olympia and out to the Key Peninsula. Pet sitters live in various cities to cover as wide an area as possible. Two are assigned to each job, so there’s a backup in case something happens.
“I’ve heard the horror stories about pet sitters and boarders,” Paulik said. “I’ve been licensed, bonded and insured since the very beginning.
“The reason I started this business is because I would never board my pets. Animals are less stressed when they stay at home and are kept on routine.”
The company is a member of Pet Sitters International, www.petsit.com and The National Association of Professional Pet Sitters, www.petsitters.org.
Spoiled Rotten Pet Sitting, LLC
Phone: 253-649-0274
E-mail: office@spoiledrottenpetsittingllc.com