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, this 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!
Our office hours for client support (via phone and email) are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.
Yes! We are a company that prides itself on being fully professional and accountable for 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.
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 anyways.
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 frames, and that allows us time to take on multiple clients in similar/overlapping time frames as well as account for driving 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 pet care technician can arrive is 3pm and the latest he/she can arrive is 5pm.
You will be able to schedule services in your client account AFTER you’ve completed your meet n greet. You can learn more about scheduling services here.
Our service cancellation policy is as follows:
100% refund is issued as Account Credit if cancellation is made at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled service(s).
50% refund is issued as 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.
When you’ve decided you’re ready to work with us, click Get Started! Then, select a day and time on the calendar that works for you to have your FREE meet n greet with us (see Meet N Greets to learn more). Click Confirm. Then, fill out the form and click Schedule Event at the bottom of the page. After that, you’ll receive a text confirmation along with a welcome email that details what to expect of the event.
Yes! We don’t take letting 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 visiting our About page and locating the green shield checkmark icon in the team member profiles.
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 current team has all 5-star ratings for their work.
We are also fully bonded and insured with State Farm and have all 5-star ratings on our Google page.
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 and give them exactly what they’re longing for when they first come to us- more pet-parent 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): $10 fee per service
- Last Minute Service Request (less than 12 hr notice): $20 fee per service
- Last Minute Service Request (less than 6 hr notice): $30 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: $10 fee per service
Essentially, if you want to avoid the first three fees 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 holiday’s 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
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 About page.
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.
NOTE: We do not support the exchanging of phone numbers between clients and our pet sitters and dog walkers. Our team has specific work hours and we don’t want work-related things getting intermingled with their personal lives. Precise Petcare (our app) is well-equipped to support any and all communications between team members and clients. If there is anything that’s highly urgent 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.
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.
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Pet Services in Columbus Ohio
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