What makes CruizinK9Connect different?

Founded on over 15 years of Lori Bradley's experience running a top-rated dog walking and dog sitting business, we are pet lovers just like you who are passionate about creating a better way to connect with other local pet lovers looking for help with the care of their pets. We are a women owned, grassroots, small business founded on quality, transparency, customer service, caring for animals, and building community. We partnered with the BC SPCA as part of our commitment to animals to promote their Companion Animal Handling & Restraint Policy Statement, and to contribute to their important work financially with every booking.

What are the requirements to become a sitter?

Sitters must meet minimum age requirements, provide two references, agree to comply with our terms and conditions and with the BC SPCA Companion Handling & Restraint Policy Statement, complete a criminal record check, and maintain an accurate information on listings.

Do I need pet care experience?

As a marketplace, we do not place any requirements on experience in order to be able to publish service listings. However, experience is preferred relative to the service being offered (e.g. experience walking dogs if dog walking) and usually aligns with a trustworthy, strong customer experience, and happy pets.

How much can I charge?

Given that we are providing a marketplace, you are free to list your services at the price of your choosing. Please remember that your price should include the 15% service fee that will be deducted to cover our platform fees and donation to the BC SPCA, and we recommend checking similar local listings to ensure your pricing is competitive.

Can I set my own availability?

Yes. You control your schedule and availability. You are free to limit your service offering to just one day per week or make yourself available 7/week every week. Once you have set up your default availability, you have the option of editing it at any time, and the ability to set exemption dates (e.g. black-out dates when you may be on vacation or unable to accommodate the same number of dogs).

Can I communicate with guardians before accepting a booking?

Yes. We encourage meet-and-greets before the first booking whenever possible. You also have the opportunity to directly message the pet sitter safely through the platform to ask questions, or follow-up on booking details.

Can I choose which pets I accept?

Yes. You can set preferences regarding pet size, breed, age, and special care needs to best align those seeking to book with you, with your own service requirements. In addition, because we know there could always be idiosyncracies that come up, you always have the choice to accept or decline a booking, including the opportunity to clarify anything with the pet guardian through our secure in-platform messaging.

Can sitters host pets in their own homes or provide care in the pet's home?

Yes. You can set preferences regarding whether you want to offer in or out of home sitting, or both. You should display this as part of your service listing enabling pet guardians to search for this specifically under the"In or Out of Home" filter on the listing page. If a pet guardian filters for "I am happy to host your dog at my home' it will only display listings that meet this criterion.

What are your screening requirements?

Screening requirements for sitters includes that you: meet minimum age requirements, provide two references, agree to comply with our terms and conditions and with the BC SPCA Companion Handling & Restraint Policy Statement, and complete a criminal record check.

How long does the approval process take?

The initial application is likely to take you 5-10 minutes as long as you have your reference information handy. Once that is submitted, you can either request your criminal record check (CRC) online through Triton, or upload a valid CRC through our submission form. Triton estimates that service is completed within 15 minutes. Once we have your completed form and a valid CRC, please allow 48-72hrs for review & reference outreach.

Why do you require a criminal record check?

We want CruizinK9 Connect to be a leader in providing a trusted, quality pet care marketplace. To help build trust and improve safety for all seeking services through through our community, we use criminal record checks as part of our screening requirements.

Do you provide training?

No. As a marketplace, CruizinK9 Connect does not require, provide, certify, or endorse any specific pet care, business, or professional training for Pet Sitters.

As part of supporting a community of quality pet care providers, CruizinK9 Connect may from time to time provide access to educational resources or partner with third-party organizations to offer training opportunities, workshops, webinars, or other learning events. Participation in any such training is voluntary and does not constitute certification, endorsement, approval, or a guarantee of a Pet Sitter's suitability, competence, trustworthiness, safety, quality of service, or future conduct.

How much does CruizinK9 Connect charge pet sitters?

CruizinK9 Connect charges pet sitters 15% commission on completed bookings, with no upfront membership fees, and no listing fees. You only contribute to the cost of running this platform when you are making revenue from the community. This is important to us because we know many of you are small business owners (or this is a hobby / second job) and we want it to empower great pet sitting, rather than generate money without creating meaningful value.

Every commission fee includes a donation to the BC SPCA to support their efforts caring for animals.

As our community grows we look forward to being able to present special offers, exclusive training and events, and other benefits to strengthen and build pet care services.

When and how do I get paid?

Payments are released after services are completed according to the platform payment schedule. CruizinK9 Connect's marketplace uses Stripe as a third-party payment facilitator. You will be directed to set up your Stripe account as part of creating your pet sitter account, and will be able to provide banking information to enable Stripe to direct deposit any booking revenue to your peferred bank account.

How do clients pay for services?

Payments are securely processed through the platform using Stripe which is a thrid-party service provider.

Can clients book for multiple pets?

Yes, this community is designed to meet the needs of real pet owners whether that's one Great Dane, or 3 Chihauhuas! Clients will only be able to book for the total number of pet spaces that you have available on any given day per your capacity, schedule, and any date exceptions in place. Pet guardians are asked to confirm the number of pets and their name(s) as part of the booking request process (this is a mandtory field).