Write this down for your sitter before you leave, not after something goes wrong.
The worst moment in dog sitting happens at 7 a.m. in your kitchen, when the sitter realizes they do not know something basic and you are already at the airport. Everything they need is in your head right now. It feels obvious to you because you live it every day. To someone else, it is a guessing game.
Paper fixes this. Five pages, written once, and your sitter never has to guess, text you mid-flight, or make a judgment call they are not qualified to make. Here is exactly what goes on them.
Your vet's name, phone number, and address, plus the nearest 24-hour emergency vet with directions from your house. Not the name of the clinic you think they will remember. The actual number, on paper, where they can find it with shaking hands at midnight.
Tape it inside a kitchen cabinet or clip it to the front of the Sitter Travel Pack. Add one line: "Call me first, then the vet, unless it is bleeding or they cannot breathe. Then call the vet first." Sitters do their best thinking when the decisions are already made.
You first, then your backup person, then the vet. In that order, with names and numbers. Sitters freeze when something goes wrong because they do not know who to call first, so they call no one, or they call everyone.
A ranked list removes the freeze. One name at a time, top to bottom. Tell your backup person they are the backup before you leave, so the call is not a surprise. Order is a kindness to everyone involved.
Exact brand, exact amount, exact times. Then portion every meal into its own labeled bag so nobody has to measure, convert, or eyeball anything. "One scoop" is not a measurement. "Bag labeled Tuesday AM" is.
Guessing at food is how dogs get double-fed by a well-meaning sitter and spend the trip with an upset stomach. Pre-portioning takes you fifteen minutes and removes the most common sitter mistake entirely.
What it is, the dose, the time, and what it looks like. Include a photo of the pill bottle and the pill itself, because drug names all sound alike when you are reading them off a label for the first time.
Add one line for the scenario everyone forgets: what to do if a dose is missed. "Skip it and continue at the next time" or "give it late, then call me." Your vet can answer this in ten seconds if you ask before you leave. A sitter cannot answer it at all.
Three things your sitter should never feed your dog, written on the fridge, not just said out loud. Chocolate, grapes and raisins, and anything with xylitol are the classics, but write your dog's specific dangers too: the table scraps your relatives sneak, the trash can that opens too easily.
Saying it once feels like enough. It is not. Spoken instructions evaporate under stress and get filtered through "surely a little is fine." Ink on the fridge does not negotiate. If other people will be in the house, the list protects your dog from them too.
Five pages. That is the whole job. The sitter who has them will handle your dog's week with the confidence of someone who has done it a hundred times, because every answer they need is already written down. Preparation is the difference between a sitter who copes and a sitter who thrives.
Send the same five things as texts, in order, the night before, and ask them to save the messages. The format matters less than the completeness. Paper has one advantage: it works when the phone is dead and the dog is sick at 2 a.m.
Yes. Healthy dogs eat socks. The emergency vet line costs you thirty seconds to write and buys your sitter a plan for the one night everything goes sideways. You will probably never need it, which is exactly the point.
Write "No medications" on it anyway and keep the page. A blank page invites the question "did they forget?" A page that says "none" answers it. The handoff should leave zero open questions, including the ones with boring answers.
Made by us, for the life in these guides.
Your routines, records, and sitter instructions in one calm place.
A calm-dog guide for the hours you are away.
Coming soonOne organized home for training, routines, and records.
Coming soonYour dog's essential info, ready for any sitter or trip.
Coming soonThe complete calm guide to leaving your dog in good hands: choosing a sitter, boarding tradeoffs, the written handoff, and the night-before routine.
Traveling without your dog? Five things to do the night before: write the instructions, pre-portion meals, test the sitter, leave your scent, confirm twice.
Hiring a dog sitter? Ask these five questions first: how many dogs at once, what the day looks like, the emergency plan, references, and updates.