Are you a professional pet sitter who would like to join CAPPS?
All businesses must be ‘legitimate’ to join. Businesses must carry the necessary liability insurance and abide by New York State, County and Federal laws. All members adhere to the Pet Sitters International Standards of Excellence in Pet Sitting.
New members are required to be in business a minimum of six months before they are eligible to join. You are more than welcome to start coming to meetings as soon as you start your business to get to know people, ask questions and network but cannot be a paid member with a listing on the website until you’ve reached six months in business.
Benefits:
- Listing on website
- Referrals
- Camaraderie with fellow pet sitters
- Monthly dinner meetings
- Advertising opportunities
- Facebook group for referrals, event planning & questions
Dues:
Annual dues are $50 and are renewable on March 1st.
Dues are pro-rated for the first year. If you join March-May it is $50, June-August is $37.50, September-November is $25.00 and December-February is $12.50.
Attendance and Meetings:
New members are required to be in business a minimum of six months. They are required to attend 3 meetings within a 6 month period before they are eligible to join the Capital Area Professional Pet Sitters (CAPPS). Once they have attended the required three meetings within six months the group will vote on approving their membership. If approved they will then be eligible to join and pay their dues. Once dues have been received they will be listed on the CAPPS website.
After becoming an official member there is an attendance requirement of two meetings per year. The more effort you put into your membership by attending functions, volunteering at a booth and/or taking an active role, the more your membership will benefit you.
Our meetings are monthly and rotate between Tuesday and Wednesdays. We meet from 4-6 pm and the location will be confirmed on the Facebook group prior to the meeting. Each member is requested to RSVP so we can call a headcount into the restaurant we’re meeting at.
Each month we will have a general topic to discuss, but other topics are certainly welcome!
2023 Meeting Dates:
Please contact us for the location!
Meetings are on hold due to Covid.
Voting:
Each paid member is allowed one vote per membership. Should a member be unable to make it to the meeting where a vote is being taken a deadline for voting will be set.
2023 Advertising (included with membership):
Each year the group decides what advertising will be included in the dues for upcoming year. Included this year are:
- CAPPS website
- Others to be determined as they come up
Optional Advertising (not included with membership):
Occasionally the group will go in on an advertising venture that has not been included in the dues. It’s a great way to reach a much larger audience at a cost that wouldn’t be feasible for a single business. Participation in this type of advertising is voluntary and is not included in the cost of CAPPS membership.
Examples of past optional advertising ventures have been:
- Print Ad in AAA Magazine
- Print Ad in Capital Region Living Magazine
- Radio Advertising
- Television Advertising
- Movie Theatre Advertising
- Display ads in local “Pennysaver” papers
- Verizon Yellow Pages advertisement
- Google AdWords
- Facebook Ads
New Client Etiquette:
We can’t please everyone all the time and there will be the occasional times that a client will look for another pet sitter. Should you get a new client who has used another pet sitter please be courteous and contact that sitter and let them know that the client has called you (if you can find out who the other sitter was). This way there are no hard feelings between sitters and no one will feel like another sitter has ‘stolen’ their client. This isn’t a hard set ‘rule’, merely a good will suggestion.
Booth Etiquette:
CAPPS has booths at many events throughout the year and we rely on our members to volunteer their time to represent the group at these booths. Our primary interest is to promote pet sitting as an industry and to promote CAPPS. Our general rule of thumb for booth etiquette is we primarily hand out CAPPS information to interested parties, however, if you happen to strike up a conversation with someone in your service area and they ASK for your personal business card you may give it to them. We do not solely promote our own businesses. Members are encouraged to wear their CAPPS apparel while working at a booth.
Everyone is encouraged to keep their ears open for opportunities where CAPPS can have a booth. If you hear of something, please mention it to the group for discussion!
Other Businesses:
Many of our members have other businesses that we support and encourage. Members are welcome to introduce their business to the group by either posting a message on the e-group or giving a brief description in person at a meeting. We kindly ask that once a member has made the group aware of their other business that it not be advertised again, unless
someone asks. Our main focus as a group is pet sitting.
Get Involved!:
We realize the importance of knowing the person we are referring to from the CAPPS list to a prospective pet-sitting client. It is much more comforting to refer a member with whom most of us have had the chance to form a relationship. It is very difficult to have a professional, working relationship with each member of the group if we do not also have a degree of personal interaction, which can most readily be achieved through attending some of our monthly meetings. The more effort you put into your membership by attending functions, volunteering at a booth and/or taking an active role, the more your membership will benefit you.
CAPPS maintains a website; localpetsitters.com. All members in good standing will be listed on the website.
Still have more questions? Feel free to contact us at info@localpetsitters.com.