Hello All

I am very new to the forum, so please excuse me if i am making any mistake.

But i a intrested in Dog sitter, if anyone is intrested, please let me know

You want one or are one?

If you want one, elaborate on when, which days, time etc, whether they will look after dog in your home or pick them up for the day.

If you are one, likewise, elaborate on your availability, your charge out rate, area you will operate in, whether you can pick dogs up or want to dog sit in the home.

let's put that in a nicer way. Can you please give more details about what you require.

Cant edit, so repost for Keith's benefit:

It would be ever so pleasant of you, dear poster of the wonderful EF forum, if you could confirm as to whether you want a dog sitter, or are are offering the services of one? Many sincere thanks in advance.

If you do indeed want one, please elaborate on when, which days you need help, time etc, whether they will look after dog in your home or pick them up for the day. I can't thank you enough in advance for making this clearer in your post.

If you are a dog sitter, likewise, do please elaborate on your availability, your charge out rate, area you will operate in, whether you can pick dogs up or want to dog sit in the home.

Wishing you a pleasant evening, wonderful life, and best of luck in your venture.

Warm and loving regards

Hello, My apologies for not being very clear of what i am intrested in . I live in Kloten and i would want to dog sit on weekdays after 6PM and on weekend as per requirement, if anyone is intrested kindly PM , so that i can give in more details

Hello!

I also live in Kloten and I would be really interested! Can you please send me your email, because I can´t send you any PM, I don´t know why

I am working as an au-pair in Kloten (live-in) and the evening are free!

yours,
piia

It sounds to me as if you each wish to dog-sit for others. Please be aware that there are strict and specific regulations regarding caring for dogs for pay here in Switzerland. Some of it varies by canton, you can probably get proper info from a local vet office or from the your geminde (city office).

For starters, for dog walking / dog sitting in someone else's home, you need to take the SKN theory course and receive certification. Here in Basel it was a 6hr course, taken over two days. It was pretty "easy" - basically a lecture with opportunity for questions, covering basic dog behaviors as well as people behaviors around dogs AND what rights dogs have as well as what rights people have regarding dogs. The course is mainly aimed at folks who are looking to have a dog as a pet, but it is still required for everyone who will have a dog in their care.

You also need to have insurance in case something happens to you, to the dog, or caused by the dog while in your care. Additionally, if you are intending to have a "business" doing this, you probably need a license for your small business, to make sure you're keeping things legal with the canton.


Now, those three things are what I understand to be necessary in Basel. For your area, it may be different. They also are minimum requirements for watching a dog temporarily within the owner's residence (or dog walking, whatever).

IF what you wish to do is to watch a dog (for pay) in your own home, the requirements are quite different - if I correctly understood what I was told, it seems that it's an in-depth course required which is a 3yr study program. (Hopefully I understood right, I don't like to spread wrong info ... hopefully Meloncollie will correct me if I've got it wrong / am misremembering)

You are correct, Peg.

This is something everyone who wants to offer commercial dog sitting, and every pet owner who wishes to hire a dog sitter needs to know.

Dog sitting is a regulated business in Switzerland. As Peg points out, the course required to set yourself up as a dog sitter varies by the type of sitting you plan to do.

If you do dog walking, or plan to care for a dog in the owner's home, you would need to do the SKN course.

If you care for dogs in your own home (a Hundehort) you are technically defined as a private Tierheim. Caring for fewer than 19 dogs requires the Berufsunabhängig Ausbildung (BFA), a 40-odd hour course. Caring for more than 19 dogs requires the 3 year Eid. Tierpfleger Diploma. As described here:

http://www.bvet.admin.ch/themen/tier...x.html?lang=de


And from page 4 of the BVet's FAQ 'Haufige Fragen zu den Kursen für Hundehalter und zur Hundetrainerausbildung', click on the link at the right for the .pdf:

http://www.bvet.admin.ch/tsp/02222/index.html?lang=de

Ist ein „Spazierdienst“ oder „privater Hundehort“ ohne eigene Hunde verpflichtet, eine Ausbil- dung mit Sachkundenachweis vorzuweisen? Und wenn ja, ab wann und mit welchen Hunden?

Personen, die gewerbsmässig Hunde betreuen (Spazierdienste) müssen zumindest den theoretischen (wenn sie selbst noch nie einen Hund gehalten haben) sowie einen praktischen Sachkundenachweis (gegebenenfalls mit einem fremden Hund, wenn kein eigener vorhanden ist) absolvieren. Ein Hundehort wird rechtlich einem Tierheim gleichgestellt. Es ist in diesem Fall nicht ausreichend, nur einen Sachkundenachweis zu absolvieren. Sind bis zu 19 Pflegeplätze vorhanden, muss eine fach- spezifische, berufsunabhängige Ausbildung absolviert werden. Bei mehr als 19 Pflegeplätzen muss die Betreuung der Hunde unter der Verantwortung eines Tierpflegers oder einer Tierpflegerin erfolgen. Der Betrieb eines Tierheimes – auch dann, wenn nur ein Pflegeplatz vorhanden ist – ist meldepflichtig und muss dem zuständigen kantonalen Veterinäramt gemeldet werden.


By the way, of interest for volunteers in shelters, there is no SKN requirement, as this is not paid work:

Müssen Personen, welche regelmässig Hunde aus einem Tierheim spazieren führen, dafür ei- nen Sachkundenachweis-Kurs besuchen?

Nur, wenn sie dies gewerbsmässig tun. In der Regel handelt es sich um private Aktivitäten – dann ist kein Sachkundenachweis erforderlich. Allerdings sollte sich das Tierheim rückversichern, dass die Person, der ein Hund anvertraut wird, auch mit ihm umgehen kann.


The same applies to private non-commercial care. If one cares for a dog without being paid one does not need the courses. And this only applies to dog care; caring for cats and other pet animals does not require qualifications.

So Piiab and ExploreZurich - if you have further questions about what qualifications you need in order to work as a dog carer, contact the BVet.



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Congrats on gaining the qualification, Peg, and wishing you much success in your new venture.

(Lucky Baslers. )

Does anybody know that in Switzerland is recquired a specific certification in order to be allowed to breath air above 2000 m.s.l or that you also need to be certified to drink water from public fountains?

This is to say that in this country there's nothing you can do without a permit.

Mattverick,

I certainly understand that the requirement for training classes for all dog owners and course work for dog carers, the licensing, the database registration, the dog tax - the whole bureaucracy - takes many people coming from other countries by surprise. But there is a good reason why this was implemented.

The rules came into effect when the Animal Welfare Law was revised in 2008, in response to the overwhelming public outcry following the Oberglatt tragedy in Dec. 2005 - a tragedy caused by a irresponsible dog owner, one that should never, ever have happened.

To ensure that all dog owners understand their responsibilities to their animals and to society around them - hopefully to prevent a similar tragedy - Switzerland instituted the SKN classes. And it goes without saying that anyone in charge of a dog, i.e., a dog sitter or walker, needs to have that same level of knowledge and understanding at a minimum.

While I utterly condemn the BSL that followed thanks to the anti-dog media hysteria in the wake of Oberglatt, I welcome and encourage the education requirements. A well-trained owner is needed before one can have a well-trained dog.

The SKN is a win-win for dog owners and non-dog folks alike.

Anyone know whether the dog sitting / handling classes qualifications can be done in English?

LOL, common sense does prevail sometimes. My neighbour regularly looks after my dog, and she does not have qualifications. Same for lots of people here. But if you are going to be a 'dog sitter' as a job, for money- then you do need to attend a course and have the necessary qualifications.

Yes, they can. It isn't as easy to find though, you can search online or ask at your vet and / or local teirheim for recommendations.

Dog etiquette

Didn't know what triggered all this training for new dogs onwers and the like, not that I am against but the opposite.

And it is not useless to say, that permits always cost money, and are performed according to the highest (and strictest) swiss standards which, as anyone knows, are higher and stricter than any in the world.

But they're a darned sight cheaper than getting caught working on the black

There seems to be a plethora of posts offering dog-sitting services lately, I assume for pay, by people who are not stating they have the requisite qualifications. I usually assume this omission to mean they don't have the qualifications as it would be quite a USP. I think PegA's and Meloncollie's posts above should be merged into a sticky