Pet sitting
service a friend to animals in need
By Sherry
Wolkoff
Inside
Cherry Hill
Is your cat
home alone? Does your dog make you feel guilty every time you walk
out the door? Who ya’ gonna’ call? P T’s Pet Sitting Service will
not only feed Rover and play with Fluffy, but will bring in your
mail and newspapers, poop-scoop your yard, water your plants.
Pt’s has grown
from a small part-time operation that was started by business-woman
Tracy Neal as a sideline in 1982 to a full time busting business
that grosses six figures and has been featured on all the television
news programs and major newspapers. Eleven fully bonded employees
swell to eighteen in the summer months, and they service 3000
households in a territory that covers all areas within the borders
of Medford to Pennsauken east to west and Tacony to Stratford north
and south.
“We take care
of your pet as if it were our own,” says Tracy who says she started
the business when she couldn’t find anyone to take care of her
collie when she wanted to spend a weekend at the shore with her
friends. “So I stayed home and took care of everyone’s pets. It was
then that I realized that there was a real need for this service.
Tracy and her
co-owner husband Kevin, both Cherry Hill residents, left corporate
executive jobs to start their business, and they have never looked
back. Although their business imposes an unrelenting schedule that
places massive demands on their time, requires tremendous
organization skills, and tosses up the occasional catastrophe that
can occur when you are responsible for the lives of so many pets in
so many homes, the ebullient Tracy says she loves what she does.
“Tail –wags, kisses and hugs are why I am in this business,” she
explains.
The Neal’s
consider themselves the consummate professionals in their field.
They offer a free consultation with new clients, during which they
discuss the pet’s likes and dislikes, medications, leash locations,
veterinarian information, and other routines. They also gather
essential information about your house, including security system,
instructions, garage door openers, etc.
This is also
the time when they meet the pet they will be caring for, a step
they consider as important for the pet as it is to them. All
information is documented on a form, which is maintained for each
customer. The employee who first meets the pet and his “parents” is
the same one who will be caring for the animal each visit. Each
employee makes no more than 15 stops a day, and on a busy Fourth of
July weekend, there may be as many as 400 runs to cover throughout
the entire area.
It requires a
tremendous deal of regimentation and organization to see to it that
everyone gets to where they need to be on time. Tracy arises at 5:30
am to check messages, which advises her of changes or additions for
that day. By 7 am, all employees have been contacted with their
assignments. The territory is divided into seven districts, and
there is a sophisticated system of keys and code names for each
customer.
Still,
despite their best efforts, there are occasionally times when things
can go wrong. “Usually the problems are house and not pet related,”
says Tracy. “One time Kevin couldn’t get into a house with the
garage door opener because there had been a power outage. He had to
climb over some thorny bushes to break a window to get in [with a
vacationing customer’s permission], or else the animals would
starve. Sometimes pipes freeze, and one time I took home two dogs
with me so they wouldn’t freeze during a power loss.”
When the
Neal's are not out in their jeep pampering pets [as their answering
machine informs callers ], they take care of their two sons, age 8
and 18 months] and their Burmese mountain dog named Percy. “It’s a
difficult business but a rewarding one,” Tracy says. “Pets love us
because we’re there to take care of them and they know it. They are
so happy to see us when we come in that they practically fall all
over themselves. I’d much rather do these than have someone in a
corporate office screaming at me.” PT ‘s Pet Sitting Service can be
reached at 856-667-8352.
Click here to Contact us for a free
consultation,
or just call
856-667-8352
