Frequently Asked Questions
Pretty much 24/7! We offer daytime services (drop ins, walks, etc) usually between the hours of 7am and 10pm. We also offer overnight stays (we spend the night in YOUR home with YOUR pets) from around 10pm-7am (8-10 hr stay). We are even open on Federal holidays.
Remember, service availability all depends on staff availability. If no one is available on schedule for a specific day, we are technically considered “closed” or “unavailable”, though, that is very unlikely to happen since we have a vast team. Contact us for further inquiries about service availability.
Our office hours for client support (via phone and email) are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.
Yes! Would we even be a professional pet care company if we weren’t? This is how we hold ourselves accountable to the pets and pet parents we serve. We are covered by State Farm, one of the largest providers of insurance in the pet care industry.
To request visual evidence that we have insurance, please email support@myhandsnpaws.com.
We offer four types of services: Dog Walking, Pet Sitting, Cat Sitting, and Overnight Stays. Please navigate to each page to learn more!
No. We are an in-home pet care company, meaning that we come to YOUR home to care for your pet(s). We do not offer kennel or boarding services because we honestly believe that pets are happier and more comfortable being cared for in their own homes.
We have lots of clients to take care of, and with that, will need ample time to get to your place to care for your pets! We work in 2-hour time blocks for arrival. This allows us the flexibility to take on multiple clients in similar/overlapping time blocks as well as account for drive time in between services.
Please note that the time blocks that we offer are for ARRIVAL TIMES. So, let’s say you schedule a service for 3-5pm – the earliest the assigned team member can arrive is 3pm and the latest he/she can arrive is 5pm.
You can schedule services directly in your client account. If you don’t have a client account, it’s likely because you’re new and haven’t had your meet n greet yet.
If you are a new client, please schedule your meet n greet by clicking here.
If you are an existing client, you can learn more about scheduling services here.
Our service cancellation policy is as follows:
- 100% refund is issued as an Account Credit if cancellation is made at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled service(s).
- 50% refund is issued as an Account Credit if cancellation is made at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled service(s).
- NO refund is issued for same-day cancellations/less than 24 hour notice.
PLEASE NOTE: Refunds are NOT transferable. Should you be eligible to receive an Account Credit (based on terms above), that amount will be auto-added to your client account and auto-applied to your very next invoice with us.
If you’re a pet parent interested in using our services, click here to schedule your virtual meet n greet.
Then, select a day and time on the calendar. Once you schedule the event, you’ll be directed to a thank you page in which you can get started setting up your client account.
To learn more about meet n greets, click here.
Yes! We encourage everyone to complete background checks before they get started working with our clients. You can see proof of who has completed their individual background check by looking for the green shield icon within user profiles on our service pages.
We fully understand your concern, which is why we do not take this topic lightly. Ultimately, we realize that we’re looking for team members who we trust to come into your home (unsupervised) to take care of your fur babies. That being said, we have an extensive vetting process in place to ensure we are finding the best people possible to join our team of dog walkers and pet sitters. Everyone undergoes two interviews, a background and reference check, and an introductory session that shares all of our best practices for working at Hands N Paws. Above all, we ONLY hire those who have previous pet care experience AND exude a passion for working with animals. Everyone on our team is rated 5 stars. You can see more about team members by looking at user profiles on our service pages.
We are also fully bonded and insured with State Farm and have all 5-star ratings on Google.
Another reassurance factor is that we extremely customer-service oriented and take pride in treating all pets like family members. Being a small business allows us to have the bandwidth to truly take care of our customers as individuals and give them exactly what they’re longing for when they first come to us: true and genuine peace of mind.
We sure do! Our company app is called Precise Petcare. This is where clients can access their accounts all at the touch of their fingertips! If you are a client of Hands N Paws and have not downloaded our app yet, you can do so here for iPhone users or here for non-iPhone users.
All new clients are required to purchase a lockbox before they begin working with us. To learn more about why we require lockboxes, please click here.
We also charge additional fees on services in the following circumstances:
- Last Minute Service Request (less than 24 hr notice): $15 fee per service.
- Holiday Service Request (see list below): $20 fee per service
- Additional Pets: $7 fee per pet per service (after first two pets)
- Out-of-Service-Area Service Request: $5-10 fee per service
Essentially, if you want to avoid the first fee listed, just make sure to schedule services with more than a day’s notice. That way, we can make proper arrangements for coming to see your pets without having to scramble too much!
The holidays in which we include a surcharge are:
- New Year’s Day
- Easter
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving
- Day After Thanksgiving
- Christmas Eve
- Christmas Day
- New Year’s Eve
As long as you live in our service area, you can avoid out-of-service-area fees. Our service area currently includes:
- Bexley
- Clintonville
- Columbus
- Grandview
- Upper Arlington
- Other smaller towns near/in these cities in Cbus
The only other time you would be charged additional fees (though unlikely) is if team members are instructed to (or see the need to, with your approval first!) purchase items for pets while under company care, including but not limited to: pet food or treats (if run out!), litter or cleaning supplies, transportation to the vet and/or emergency expenses for general care and wellness of pets, and more. We will retain and share receipts with you as proof of purchase! You will then be charged ASAP for these additional items.
Here at Hands N Paws, we work as a team to take care of our clients. This means that we don’t normally assign a primary person to work with pets. If you’ve noticed that a single person has been caring for your pets for awhile, and now all of sudden there are different pet sitters or dog walkers providing care, it’s likely due to any or all of the following reasons:
- Your “primary” dog walker or pet sitter is taking time off from work, whether out sick, on vacation, or just because.
- Your “primary” dog walker or pet sitter is busy with other clients/pets.
It is NOT possible to guarantee that one single person is available at ALL times certain clients need services. This is why we operate as a unit. Our team members are encouraged to follow our best practices for completing services, so that way we can deliver consistent services to the pets in our care, regardless of who you get.
Needless to say, everyone at Hands N Paws is passionate about working with our clients as a whole, so whether you’ve got a single person or multiple people caring for your pets, we can promise that you’ll be satisfied with the service quality. To learn more about our current team members (and the loving pet-people they are!), please visit our check out the user profiles on our service pages.
Our team of dog walkers and pet sitters will be very communicative with you while you’re gone. In our app, Precise Petcare, they’ll be sending you journal reports after completing each service on schedule. To learn more about what’s included in journal reports, please click here.
We do also allow team members access to client numbers should any questions or concerns arise when they’re on services with your pets. We encourage clients and team members not to take advantage of this access, but to only use it for urgent communications. The team does have the ability to communicate with other team members, so if less urgent things arise, they will likely use that resource.
If there is anything that’s highly important that you wish to communicate with Hands N Paws in general, please call/text our office number at (614) 636-6644 and someone will assist you as quickly as possible (M-F 9am-5pm; ASAP for more serious matters).
We have a policy that states that all new clients of Hands N Paws must purchase a lockbox for us to use. The lockbox most of our clients use is available on Amazon (but you can use/get whichever one you prefer). Once it arrives in the mail, you set your unique code, place a spare key inside, and affix it to or near the door you’d like us to enter through. Then, you’ll provide us with the code so that way we can get access to the key inside and enter your home accordingly.
If you have a keypad or garage code you’d like us to use instead, we are more than happy to accommodate! As long as you feel the key codes are a completely reliable way of entering your home, we’re good to use that for entry.
We sure do! It really depends on the team’s availability, but more often than not, we’ve been able to accommodate almost ALL requests clients submit.
Please keep in mind that we do charge a premium price for any last minute bookings, but only if under a 24-hour notice.
Typically, yes! Our team has had some experience with other animals here and there (reptiles and fish, specifically); but majority of our work is with the doggos and kitties.
Please contact us should you have inquiries about working with other animals!
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Our Service Area
*Contact us if you don't see your city listed!
Bexley
Clintonville
Columbus
Grandview Heights
Upper Arlington
German Village
Italian Village
Gahanna
Dublin
Worthington
Reynoldsburg
Groveport
Grove City