Your Biz name is Tuckered PUP Pet Services, so what types of Pets do you care for and accept as clients?
We care for all sorts of pets! Dogs, cats, pocket pets, fish, and some reptiles. Our main clientele are dogs and cats but we are always up for a new adventure and always willing to learn!
What areas of Asheville do you offer your services?
Our territory is flexible depending on our schedule. We will do visits anywhere in the greater Asheville area – Mainly North, East, West Asheville. Part of what allows us to do this is that we make sure our clients understand that there is a 3 hour window in which we will arrive for their pets’ visit. We don’t guarantee specific arrival times though we will always note if you have a preferred time and, if possible, we will arrive around that time.
Are there areas of Asheville that you do NOT offer your services?
We have been doing this for almost a decade and have come to realize that with just two of us, we had to rein in our service area. The places listed below are too far and take up too much drive time for our schedule.
We DO NOT Service the following areas of Asheville:
- Candler
- Pisgah Hwy
- Leicester Rd.
- Riceville Rd. out near the VA Hospital
- Directly downtown (where we would have to find street parking or pay)
- South Asheville including Fletcher
- Fairview
- Weaverville
- Woofin
How close should the consult be to the actual date of bookings?
We require a free consult before our first job with any client. This allows us to find your home, meet you and your pets and have them meet us. It makes sense to have the consult in relatively close time range to the start of any job so everything is fresh in everyone’s memories. However, that does not mean that you should wait until the last minute to contact us for a first booking with Tuckered Pup. Please try to book at least a month in advance of your need and more whenever possible. If it’s too long a time before you plan to go away but you want to make sure to secure Tuckered Pup as your pet sitter, we can always do a refresher consult – also free – closer to the job after we do the original consult to make sure we’re a good fit. Or you can book a couple smaller jobs – midday visits perhaps – in the meantime before the longer vacation you’ve scheduled so that we can develop a rapport with your pets.
How do we pay you?
We accept checks and cash only. To be honest, this is a matter of principle for us. Though we understand our limited acceptable payment options may be inconvenient for some of you, we can not abide “big money’s” hold on small and big businesses alike. They want a piece of every credit, debit, Paypal and commercial Venmo transaction we do. Either we take the hit for their percentage or we pass that cost onto you – the customer. OR we realize and decide that this is our playing field and we can decide the rules based on what we believe to be right and to be fair. Will this cause some people to decide not to book with us? We’re certain it will and we are willing to accept that in order to stand by our principles on this matter. Thank you for understanding.
What happens at the consult?
At Tuckered Pup Pet Services, we require a consult for all new clients before they can book any jobs with us. The consult if free and it allows us to find your home, meet you and your pets and have you/them meet us. After your pets have given us the “ok”, you can show us their feeding and walking routines for dogs and litter areas for cats, location of all supplies needed such as cleaning, food, extra litter and such. If it’s a live-in pet sitting consult, you can show us where we will be sleeping, location of washer/dryer and any other pertinent information we may need to know about your home and pets for the duration of our stay. We like to know how they like to play and if they have any favorite toys and treats, where they sleep, where they eat and their general routine. You can also tell us all the wonderful character traits that make your pet(s) the incredible unique beings they are!
Once we’ve completed our consult, you can book us at will – we’re always just a text away!
How long does a Consultation last?
Usually about a half hour. It just depends and we do not put a time limit on them.
Is there paperwork or a contract?
Yes. We will bring our paperwork to the consult. This paperwork will need to be filled out, signed and left out for us to pick up at our first scheduled visit with your pets. We will go over the contents of the paperwork (standard pet sitter paperwork) at the consult but you can fill it out at your leisure anytime between the consult and our first booking. Of course we are always available via text or phone call should you have any questions or concerns.
It’s extremely important to leave it out where we can see it and to fill it out in its entirety, with as much detail as possible. We bring this file with us for each and every visit. We reference the paperwork often for feeding instructions and other such information and it serves as our protection.
Example: A neighbor sees us enter your home, they weren’t aware you went out of town and call the police. This paperwork is our proof that we have permission to be there, enter your home and care for your pets.
Example: Your alarm system doesn’t disarm properly and the alarm sets off. Nothing is working to deactivate it. The police arrive. This paperwork keeps us from being arrested.
Glitches happen. Technology is never perfect. We must to be protected and that’s the contract’s job.
We are a business and must have all of our i’s dotted and t’s crossed.
Do I need to have house keys cut and ready? How many?
YES! Once you have booked the consult, it’s a great idea to go ahead and have two copies of your house key made and ready. Be sure to make sure that they actually work before handing them over to us.
We require two because there are two of us. It’s always good to have a back up. Each key has its own tag with a code special to you. We never put pet or client names on the key tags or anything indicating your home address. If for any reason the key is lost, no-one will know what it’s for. When we come back from our work day, each key is placed back into it’s secure and locked location. We never attach your house keys to our own key rings and are always locked away after each visit.
You can also opt to hide the key in a certain location on your property, give us a garage code to access your home or a door code should you not use a key to enter. What ever the case may be, we will need to know how we will enter your home each time you request a visit.
Are you Insured?
Yes. We are insured through Pet Sitters Associates, LLC.
Do you have a cancellation policy?
Yes! As a business who books up quickly, this is imperative.
For Pet Sitting: Cancellations must be received 72 hours before the start date of any scheduled visits. If your cancellation falls after the 72 hour timeframe you will be charged 50% of the total fee for the scheduled booking.
For Dog Walking: Any cancellation must be received by 9:00 a.m the day of the scheduled walk. If you cancel after that time, you will be charged in full for that day’s walk.
Do you ever walk pets off-leash?
No. We are a business, we are insured and we always comply with local and state laws. There is a leash law in all of Buncombe county. Our insurance policy is strict and we adhere to it in order to maintain it and all dogs/pets must be leashed at all times. This is also a safety concern. Your dog will always behave differently with you than with someone else. We take no chances and want to keep everyone safe.
Do you offer Live-In Pet Sitting where you stay the night?
Yes! As of February 2023, we have added this service back into our offerings. Matt and Audrey are the devoted Live-In pet sitters and you can check out the Live-In Pet Sitting for further details and pricing. Because we are married and have our own fur baby, we can only schedule one Live-In booking at a time. This service books quickly and we typically need a month sometimes two months notice. This service is for people who plan well in advance.
Do you have employees or Independent Contractors?
No. As of now, Matt and Audrey are the sole owners, operators, and caretakers of Tuckered Pup Pet Services. That could change in the future.
When is payment due?
Payment is due BEFORE services are rendered, unless another way is set up or specified by Tuckered Pup Pet Services.
Pet Sitting: For Vacation visits, we prefer to be paid before the job begins. The easiest way is to leave a check or cash on the counter to be picked up upon our first visit.
Dog Walking: For our Dog Walking clients we are flexible as this is usually an ongoing service. We typically bill at the end of each month and leave an invoice out on the kitchen counter or a simple text if you prefer paperless. We typically leave them or text you with the total at some point during the last week of the month. However, we also allow payment each time, or weekly as well. We can accommodate and personalize the billing for regular dog walking clients.
Can I schedule through your website?
No. We don’t offer online scheduling at this time. Just call Matt to book the consult. After the consult, we are just a text away. We always reply quickly with an answer and then you’re all set. Rest assured that once we reply with a “yes”, you are in our schedule and can mark it off of your to do list. We also send a confirmation to verify details via text a day or two before we are to begin our scheduled visits.
How do I know that you came and completed the job?
We text you an update after each and every visit. Whether it’s a dog walk or a vacation visit, we will always text you how they did, whether they went #1 or #2, any issues or accidents, and a couple of fun photos of our adventures. This gives you peace of mind and lets you know that we did our job.
Can I request specific times for you to arrive?
No and yes. I know, that’s confusing. Listen, we do the best that we can. We always give a three hour window. Pet Siting and Dog Walking can be a very unpredictable job at a times. We take care of a range of different animals, ages, etc. There are times when we will need to clean up an accident or tipped over plant, or maybe the dogs had a garbage party after a client left for work.This adds time to the job and may cause our day to get out of wack. Things happen and we don’t leave a visit until the issue is taken care of as best as we can and we know that the pet is being left in a safe and comfortable environment.
It never hurts to ask. We can take a look at our schedule for that time frame and let you know. More often than not, it’s not an issue, but certain times of the year, we ask that you understand, it may not be possible to arrive at the exact time that you prefer. We always give a three hour window.
Why does my cat’s emergency back up have to be a neighbor?
If you do not have a neighbor as an inclement weather back up for your cats, who lives in walking distance, we cannot take you as a client.
The emergency back up is for weather related issues. There are times when it snows enough that we may not be able to get to your home due to extreme weather. There must be a back up plan should we or anyone not physically be able to get to your home, with a vehicle. This is a non-negotiable.
This person must live in walking distance, have a key and be versed of your cat’s routine. Welcome to living in WNC. It’s a different beast here than up north or anywhere else, for that matter. NCDOT does their best to salt and plow roads when there’s a storm predicted, but there are certain areas that they simply cannot get too until it melts. The mountains can be treacherous when it snows or ices and 4-wheel drive won’t or can’t get you to some places around here when it’s snowy or icy. An example of this is ElK Mountain Scenic Hwy.
When planning to travel in the wintertime it is imperative that you stay abreast of the weather conditions and have a plan in place. Whoever your back up is can always call us should they need any guidance. We will always be in contact with you and keep you abreast of when and if we need to utilize your emergency back-up. We want everyone on the same page so that your pets are safe, cared for and able to get out and potty. It takes a village, right?
It is rare that we have to use this plan, but it must be in place from the get go. We are a business and must have these things in place in order to take you as a client.
Do you take extremely sick pets or pets with behavioral issues?
No. We do not take on pets that have severe behavioral issues such as a history of biting, aggression, pets that are ferrel, or pets that fight or show aggression towards any other pets within the home. We are not trained or equipped.
We also do not take on clients whose pets are extremely ill and need medical attention. We simply do not specialize in this type of care and don’t have the time. There are folks who specialize in palliative care while you are away. Some can do IV fluids and complex medication applications. We do not offer this type of pet sitting. If you need help finding someone who specializes in this type of care, we always suggest speaking to your Vet. They usually have Vet techs who may do this type of care on the side or they can point you into a good direction.
There are people out there who do take on these types of pets and would be happy to work with you. These types of pets are not our area of expertise and we would MUCH rather them be in the right hands.
What if there is an emergency with my pet?
We will always make every effort to contact you in the event of a medical emergency. If the situation is dire, we may be calling you from our car while driving your pet to the Pet E.R or to your Vet if they have availability. In most cases, we will contact you to come up with a plan. Sometimes pets get sick or develop an ear infection or get stung by a bee. If we cannot address it while we are there, we will call you first and then call to get an appointment with your Vet.
We encourage our clients to call their Vet before leaving town, let them know we are caring for your pets, provide them with our contact information, and leave a credit card on file for emergencies. If your Vet does not have the ability to keep a form of payment on file (some don’t), Tuckered Pup will pay for the Vet visit and you are required to reimburse us within five days of the completion of services.