Starting a Pet Sitting or Dog Walking Practice

Starting typically involves building initial client relationships (referrals, local marketing, or working with an established pet sitting company), establishing clear business practices, and gradually building a reliable client base.

Pursuing CPPS Certification

For sitters who want to pursue it, PSI membership and the CPPS exam represent a genuine, real professional credential in this field — testing the same three areas (pet care, health/safety, business) this course is grounded in.

Specializing Within Pet Sitting

Some sitters develop specialty focus — overnight stays, exotic or multi-species households, medication-dependent pets — building distinctive expertise on top of broad foundational competency.

Growing Through Reliability and Reputation

As in other hands-on trades covered across this academy, a pet sitting business grows substantially through client trust built on consistent reliability, not through any single marketing effort.