November 16, 2008

One pet sitter's membership and accreditation site is now taking its course of study online. (Pet Pulse Illustration Courtesy of the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters)

NEW YORK -- Taking a healthy puppy on a five-minute walk is one thing, but caring for a special needs cat can prove a tricky task, which not all busy pet owners feel comfortable entrusting to a neighborhood kid.

Turning to professional pet sitters, however, also encroaches on a gray zone -- pet owners want to trust their pet sitters, but without state requirements for formal licensing, they don't always have a reason to.

One nonprofit organization, The National Association for Professional Pet Sitters, is now hoping to add a new strand of legitimacy to the pet sitting businesses with its soon-to-be launched online accreditation program.

NAPP joins Pet Sitters International as the two leading membership and accreditation organizations for pet sitting companies and individuals.

Active since 1998, however, NAPP is the first to take its efforts online. The four-month accreditation program will be accessible come Jan. 5, 2009.

"We decided to take it online to keep up with the times, so to speak," NAPP President Felicia Lembesis said. "We want to provide the tools in a more encompassing format, to continue to make pet sitters successful business people who are good at what they do."

Not all of NAPP's 1,000 members -- both companies and individuals across the country -- are certified under the now defunct program, in which pet sitters would order and read textbooks and papers on animal behavior and care.

They would then take an open-book test after several months of at-home study.

Now, Lembesis said, people can activate all of the materials online and gain exposure to an expanded curriculum, which explores business skills, animal health and medical treatments.

It's training that can help set studied pet sitters apart from novices, former NAPP president Jerry Wentz says.

"The accreditation legitimizes the level of experience that someone has in running their business and the knowledge they have about pets," said Wentz, owner of a pet sitting business in Raleigh, N.C.

The knowledge base provided by the course could also help assuage nervous pet owners' fears of leaving their pets with a stranger, NAPP officials say.

"People who use pet sitters are often using them because they have had an unpleasant experience with a neighborhood kid or a random person they hired to watch their pet," Wentz said.

"They don't want some average person coming by. They want someone who is going to pay attention to the problem, and be able to address different issues."

The online program will cost $200 for NAPP members and $300 for non-members.

Natalie Irwin, owner of Madeline, Claws and Paws Sitter in Philadelphia, says she can't remember how much she paid for her course, which she took in 2002. [Then, it was $179 for members and $240 for nonmembers].

Still, she says, the amount -- and time -- proved well worth her while.

"If I didn't have this accreditation, I wouldn't have a lot of the wonderful clients that I do," she said. "I can't imagine not having a backing like I do with this organization."

NAPP's site -- PetSitters.org -- allows users to search for accredited pet sitters in their area by zip codes. Irwin says she thinks the site has driven a solid amount of business in her direction, and that its member forums have also provided her with a much-needed community.

"It can be lonely, being a pet sitter," she said. "I work alone and I don't always have a lot of other people to talk with. The chat forum can be very helpful and I have a lot of 'A-ha!' moments on it."

Still the majority of NAPP members remain unaccredited.

Adam Light, co-owner of a pet sitting company in New York City, Throw Me A Bone NYC, started his business venture with a friend after they left their Wall Street jobs in June 2007.

He joined both NAPP and PSI shortly after launching his business.

"To be a professional service, you have to have the credentials to go with that," he said. "It's a great network."

While Light hasn't yet received accreditation, he says the program is something he would consider -- especially now that it is online.

Wentz hopes more pet sitters will follow Light's lead and increase the number of accredited pet sitters, both members and non.

"One of the goals of this program was to also expand the knowledge base of the pet sitting industry providers in general," he said. "It's just so obvious that this is a way to make that information accessible to everyone."

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