VIRGINIA PET AU PAIR, LLC (VAPAP) POLICIES AND PROCEDURES:

MEET AND GREETS

Before any overnight stay, we require a 30-minute meet and greet to get to know your pet and be informed of their needs. If more meet and greets are needed with the same pet au pair so you and your pet are comfortable, additional fees may apply. During our meet and greet, we'll go over everything from leashes/harnesses, feeding and to the home information. 

INTAKE AND WAIVER FORMS

A pet intake and waiver form must be completed prior to any pet services being done by our staff. This guarantees we have the most up to date information on your pet(s) and home. We ask that the waiver be completed entirely with no sections skipped. If you would like to provide an additional document with further pet information this is great but not required. We do ask that if you list information on your personal document that you still include that same information on our intake form and waiver. Please do not put, “see document attached.” For legal and liability reasons, we ask that you complete ours in its entirety. 

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND INJURY

Like humans, pets are suspectable to injury with every day, normal and routine actions such as playing fetch or running in the yard or walking. VAPAP does not accept responsibility or liability for animal behavior, normal or otherwise, which result in injury during the service sustained by the pet. If a Virginia Pet Au Pair staff is harmed or injured by the client’s animals, the owner accepts full responsibility for the cost of any necessary medical attention sustained by our staff or by the animals involved. 

In the best interest of potential clients, their pets, VAPAP staff and the greater community, Virginia Pet Au Pair, LLC does not provide services to animals who have a history of biting or attacking other humans or pets. Should your pet, unprovoked, bite or attack another animal, VAPAP staff or person, clients will be held liable for the representative’s medical care expenses and damages that result from an injury to all affected parties and persons. If any pets have a history of aggression or threatening behavior, VAPAP has the right to turn down service.

ANIMAL EMERGENCY PROTOCOL

Sometimes emergencies happen and our team is ready to jump into action should your pet need medical care. We will first reach out to your vet to schedule an appointment, if they are unable to accommodate, we will then take them to an emergency or after-hours vet. If we cannot reach you, you authorize “VAPAP”, its agents and assigns to secure any necessary medical care and treatment for your pet while in our care at your expense. 

VACCINATION RECORDS

To keep everyone safe and healthy, we ask all our clients to ensure they are up to date on their rabies and Bordetella vaccines. 

CANCELATION POLICY: DROP- IN AND IN-HOME OVERNIGHT CARE

Virginia Pet Au Pair, LLC books out months in advance and times are carefully scheduled to accommodate our client’s needs as we do turn down business once a reservation is made and we are at capacity. This helps to ensure our team is compensated for their time and efforts as many rely on this income to support themselves and their families. In order to reserve overnight care, we require a 50% non-refundable deposit which includes in-home overnight care and drop-in overnight care. If the reservations is canceled within 30 days from the first day of care, the deposit is non-refundable. If canceled before the 30 days, a full refund will be issued to you. 

The deposit is NON-REFUNDABLE with the following exceptions: death of an immediate family member (grandparent, parent, sibling, spouse, offspring), natural disaster to the surrounding and or local area resulting in severe structural damage to homes, or acts of domestic terrorism. We strongly encourage all of our clients to purchase travel insurance prior to any trips so if you need to cancel for reasons outside of our cancellation policy, you are able to use the insurance funds to cover all travel needs including any accrued pet fees due to canceling.

In the event that our team member becomes unavailable we will reassign the reservation with another staff member. If we have to cancel your reservation there are no associated fees and your deposit will be refunded. 

All health and happiness visits and walks must be canceled 4 hours prior to the scheduled time. If you have a walk or health and happiness visit scheduled before 10 AM, we must receive a notification by 6:00 PM (close of business) the day prior to avoid a late cancellation fee of $10. Cancelations can be texted to the assigned pet au pair directly or sent via email to admin@virginiapetaupair.com.  

PET AU PAIR SCHEDULES:

Some of our pet au pairs have part or full-time employment outside of VAPAP. Owners must be okay with pet au pairs leaving the home for up to five hours at a time and up to 10 hours in a 24-hour period. To ensure your pet is properly cared for both physically and mentally, we sometimes will send an additional pet au pair to check in on your pet to provide relief, love and physical activity if the main pet au pair is unable to be back in the five-hour time frame. You will be notified if a check-in is needed based on each au pet pairs personal schedule. Additionally, many of our pet au pairs will leave the home periodically during the day to check in on other animals. By staffing jobs this way, it allows us to best use the resources that are currently in the neighborhood – increasing efficiency and maximizing staff who are currently here so we can provide our clients competitive rates as most of our team lives 30 to 35 minutes away.

HOME SECURITY, ACCESS, AND SITTER SAFETY:

Many times, we get to a home and a keyless entry option has been updated. We kindly ask that you keep us abreast of these updates so that we can care for your pet seamlessly and on time. 

We ask that clients disclose all cameras, motion detection sensors, ring doorbell systems, and alarm systems. This is for everyone’s safety, especially if our team is spending the night in homes where recording devices are present. While the care of your home and pet is the utmost importance, we also want our staff to feel comfortable and not be caught on camera in any uncompromising situation especially in private areas of bathrooms and bedrooms.

During your time away, we politely ask that our team be the primary caregiver while you are away and limit the amount of people in the home. For the safety of our pets and staff, we ask that contractors, service repair (unless an emergency) and neighbors be limited during our stay in your home. This helps to reduce a potential lost / missing pet escaping from the home, as well as the staff not being startled by unknown persons entering the home. Many of our clients have cleaning crews, we just ask that you coordinate with your assigned pet au pair ahead of time so they are made aware. We want to avoid any confusion or accidents that could arise with multiple people having access to the home and pet while you are away. While we understand the occasional need for additional assistance, please note that we cannot accept liability for anyone else in your home before, during, or after our services.

PARKING:

Virginia Pet Au Pair staff are not responsible for paid parking lots. If you live in a home that requires parking in a garage or paid/validated area it is the client/owner's responsibility to provide a way of entry that does not result in cost to our business or staff. If our staff provides receipts of having paid for parking Virginia Pet Au Pair reserves the right to charge the client/owners card for accrued parking fees. If you live in an area that requires a parking pass, fob or ticket validation we request you communicate with your home's office to provide our team with a free parking solution. Oftentimes, a garage pass, approval from the client to their home office or designated rented key fob from your home office provides our team with free entry. 

DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY

VAPAP is not responsible for damage caused by your pet in your home. This includes but is not limited to: tearing up their kennel, toys, furniture, rugs, pillows, harnesses, leashes or any personal items. Our team will always make you aware of any such situations prior to your arrival home. If your pet has a history of destructive behavior of home items, we ask that you take measures prior to leaving to ensure such damage cannot be caused. 

PET ACCIDENTS

Our team will tidy your home and belongings prior to our departure on the last day of our service. We always do our best to keep your animals routine, however accidents can happen. If we notice a urine or stool accident, we will notify owners immediately and do our best to clean up. However, we cannot guarantee that the stain will come out and cannot accept any responsibility or damage of property or flooring. We do not offer any refunds or credits if your pet destroys something in your home before, during or after our time of visit. 

CANINE POTTY BREAKS

We strongly advise you not to leave your dog(s) outside, unsupervised, in a fenced-in yard or electric/invisible fence. If you choose to do this, we will still care for your dog(s), but we assume NO responsibility or liability if they are injured, become ill, or run away or escape. If your dog has a history of jumping fences or escaping, we ask that you let us know immediately so we can take proper precautions to ensure your pets safety. If your dog has a history of jumping fences and running away, we will only offer leashed potty breaks while outside. This is to ensure your pet is safe. 

OUTDOOR CAT POLICY

If your cat is an outdoor cat, we do not allow cats to roam outside under our care. Virginia Pet Au Pair, LLC assumes no responsibility or liability if they are injured, become ill, run away or die as a result of their time outdoors prior to us being on-site (before care begins).

PET HEALTH & MEDICATION

If a pet has any open wounds or stitches, please inform us before service. We also ask you to provide detailed instructions for your pet's medications should they need them. This information should include dosage, frequency, and any other instructions or information that it requires. We will do our very best to administer requested medicines, if your pet shows aggression or refuses to take required medicines after our very best efforts, we cannot be held liable for unadministered medications. 

PET PRIVACY

We always ask for your permission to capture and share pictures and videos of your pets on our social media outlets.

WEATHER POLICY

In the case of inclement weather, such as extreme heat, storms, snow, etc., clients will be contacted if service isn’t able to be provided due to safety hazards for both staff and pets. This could include an adjustment in scheduling and an arrangement of other care options.

HOME READINESS

Please ensure your home is safe and anything that could cause harm to your pets is locked away. Please ensure our team has a clean space to sleep over and spend time with your pets. We ask that all clients offer clean linens (sheets and towels) and dedicated room/sleeping space. Please ensure your home is clean and sanitized. Once our team is done with the service they will tidy up before they leave.

TIPPING

Tipping is not expected but greatly appreciated in any service industry! 100% of your tip goes directly to your assigned pet au pair and nobody else. If you do choose to tip, we really appreciate you thinking of our staff who works diligently to ensure your pet has the best care while you are away.