Super Cali Dog Walker & Pet Sitting Services

Sarah and Doug always go the extra mile for us when they provide services. We are so pleased by our experience with them. Caring and professional, they are happy to accommodate our random schedule. We have repeatedly cancelled or requested walks at the last minute and they have graciously risen to the occasion over and over again.
We would never hesitate to refer them to a friend it family member.

Still using Sarah and her husband Noe! they walk our dogs TWICE a day now that my partner and I are both out of the house working. They take such good care of them. they get afternoon, evening walks and fed for dinner. One of them also stays over for us whenever we go out of town to take care of them. No idea what I would do w/​out Sara and Noe :) Thanks guys!

Finally getting around to sharing my experience. I used Sarah and her pet sitting service a few times and I have to say, everything was going very well. Everything was always handled correctly, in order upon my return home, and I felt that the pet was getting good care.
Unfortunately, I experienced a horrible encounter with Sarah during the Christmas Holiday a few years back when I was visiting family half way across the country. She was finalizing her last visit on Christmas Day when I received a text from her indicating that my house key was left under the front door mat so it would be accessible upon my return home the next day. Only issue is I had given specific instructions NOT to leave the key in writing and informed her of a series of break-​ins in my neighborhood along with the instructions to hold on to the key. When I texted her back and called her to request that she retrieve the key should would not anser the phone. I was only greeted with very unprofessional text message responses. She informed me that she would have to charge an extra fee and would not be able to pick up the key for a few hours. Luckily I was able to reach a neighbor right before he headed out for Christmas Dinner and he was able to pick up the key without incident.
To this day I am still appalled at the situation and flabbergasted at her total lack for respect for the security/​safety of my pet, home, and possessions. Upon informing Sarah that I would be writing a review at some point in the future she verbally threatened me with legal action if I posted anything negative and claimed she had forwarded all my communications to her attorney, of which ironically contained specific instructions not to leave the key.
I have used pet sitters in three major cities in the US and Sarah is the most unprofessional of them all. I have never encountered issues of this caliber with other pet sitters or any other services providers for that matter. I would not recommend her to anyone!

We have been using Sarah for about 3 months, our little Dog Peggy Lee loves her. Sarah has been super flexible with our schedules. I have recommended her to others.

I feel compelled to respond to Sarah’s response to my review. First. I will respond to her comment about Unilocal TOS and services. While I did not hire Sarah, I did accept her offer of a «free consultation» and all in I wasted over two hours of my day. She promised to call me at 1PM so I rescheduled a meeting and at 2:17PM, I received the following email:
«Hi Lisa,
I apologize for the delay. What a crazy day this has been. My husband’s best friend from Pennsylvania just called us out of the blue so Doug (my husband) was using my phone (one phone right now, bad economy, which is why I need your business!!!). So, after that my battery was almost died. I’m charging my phone now & emailing you so you know I didn’t forget you. I do apologize sincerely for the delay. When we get to our next dog walk in about 20 minutes, I will call you immediately to set up a free (in your home) consultation for today if you’re available.
Thanks,
Sarah»
She finally called me at 2:33PM and while I was direct (that’s my communication style — and I was at work), I was never rude or impolite. I was already a little concerned about her professionalism based on the email above and the fact that she was over an hour and a half late calling me back. I asked her each question once, not several times. Personally, I didn’t like the idea of a couple sleeping in my bed. That is A LOT different than having a person sleep in your bed. What I really wanted to understand is what the difference between bonding and insured means… as we wanted to assure our personal belongings were covered… who wouldn’t?
I then canceled a meeting later in the day as we had scheduled a time to meet face to face and then at 3PM, she sent the email she referred to in her response. Totally surprised by that as there was nothing out of the ordinary about our conversation. So basically, I wasted two hours of my business day with this person.
After I posted my review which was OVERLY fair, I received three more increasingly angry and unprofessional emails. Here is the last one:
«Ma’am — Please never email or contact me again!!! Ever! Replying to your unfair and rude email to explain my side of the story — since you don’t listen — is not stalking. You didn’t even listen to me on the phone when I answered your questions. You asked me further questions for clarification that I had just answered not two seconds before. This is very absurd and so is your attitude to all of this. My clients love me for good reason. I’m happy to deny individuals such as yourself. How funny this all is to me! No more emails shall you receive from me, I promise. Why would i want to contact you again except to defend myself. I knew i felt defensive for a reason — it’s from your attitude! I was trying to be honest and you twisted my words and made absurd assumptions! I’m in touch with lawyers to sue
anyway because of their unfair and scam like business practices. I’m sure they’ll remove your review then too. So no worries and no skin off my back! LOL i’ll let God handle this
injustice. :-)
Please — no more communication from you please. I will respectfully lose your email and phone number. oh and while i apologize for not calling you at 1pm — I have other clients to care for. I got to my client at 1:30 (traffic), walked her dogs and finished at 2pm. I couldn’t call you until 2:30. I was trying to help you last minute. You made a mountain out of a molehill! Wow!!! You might want to apply more tact next time with service providers. I’m saying this now so it’s not a surprise — i will reply to your negative review on
to my defense so if you see a message from
from me — it’s not me stalking or harassing you. Why would I stalk you? Absurd! It’s my public reply to your unfair review. While it may be true in your point of view — it’s unfair to lower my rating for simply denying services. Would you expect someone to lower your business review (if you had your own business) if you simply denied services politely and respectfully? Why not try putting yourself
in my shoes? Wow…»
Based on my overall experience with Sarah, I felt compelled to review at least the «free consultation» part of her service. Mostly because I can’t imagine leaving my house or my dogs with someone who is so emotional and unprofessional.
At any rate, I hired Pooch Buddies and I assure you that both Janet and Caroline will confirm how friendly and polite we are. Exceptional outfit by the way. I recommend them highly.

I have to agree with Wendy S. «Sarah is simply not too customer service savvy. I believe she means well but seems inexperienced in business, so be prepared to deal with a bit of an attitude, inflexibility, and possible termination of service with no advance notice if things don’t go according to her plan.»
My experience was very similar. We simply had a misunderstanding about how many days I prepaid for.
She had a very detailed pricing plan, which is good. She also gave me a bunch of discounts, which I really appreciated. She was very reasonable.
She dropped off a very detailed contract at our consult meeting and told me to fill it out and cross things off that didn’t pertain. Nowhere on the contract had she stated the amount of visits. I was to fill that part out– I put down –8 visits. That is what I truly believed I was paying for. I wasn’t trying to pull a fast one. I knew I was going to be gone for 4 days at least, and she was making 2 visits a day= 8 visits. I remember asking her if I came back early enough on the 4 th day, if I could bank that visit and use her another time. But, I wanted to pay for it up front. She quoted me an amount and asked for a deposit, which I gave her, and she received the balance on her 1^st day. I left that trip believing we were paid up through 8 visits.
On my last day of vacation, I decided I wanted to stay another day. I texted Sarah to see if she could do 2 more visits (for a total of 9 visits) She was fine with it and quoted me a price that included 2 more visits. I then realized, I had already prepaid for one of those visits. I thought the 8^th visit was prepaid and that I would only owe her for the 9^th visit. I sent her a text back saying «one of those visits are already paid for, right? Didn’t I prepay for 8 visits?» She then sent me 6 long text messages in a row with her pricing plan. Which instead of reading, I just decided to call and speak to her. Texting can be confusing. Sometimes it is better to talk. I called and left her message saying — I am confused can we talk and sort it out. I didn’t want to fight or haggle with her. I just wanted her to clarify what I had prepaid for. There was obviously a mix up on the amount of visits that I thought I prepaid for, and also she had stated in her text that I paid less of a deposit than I actually did. So, in mind everything was all messed up and we needed to talk and sort it out She did not call me back.
I then sent her another text with 2 very specific questions. I said -” I may be confused– how many visits had I prepaid you for and how much of a deposit did I give you?” I got no response. I then just decided I would pay her the amount she quoted me just to resolve the situation– so I sent her another text saying «I am fine with it, let me know if you are good.» What happened next really floored me. I am still in shock. She sent me a text saying she was terminating service and would be dropping the keys off at my house. (keep in mind that I am still out of town at this point). I was so confused. How did that small discrepancy turn into this?
Overreaction is an understatement in this case.. from a small misunderstanding which could have been easily worked out with a 2 minute talk, turned into her saying I don’t trust you. I will be dropping off your keys. Now in her reply she says «I lied to her». And «I insisted.» I never insisted on anything. I only wanted to talk. I am dumbfounded by her behavior.
and just for fun here is a copy of the «nasty”(her word) email that I sent her.
Hi Sarah,
Had you just replied to my text when I had asked you how many visits I had prepaid for, this would have all been rectified. I was just a little confused. Not everyone is trying to cheat you, Sarah. I was really just confused on how many visits I had prepaid you for. A simple reply saying you prepaid for 7 visits would have been fine. I was also confused when you texted me saying I only prepaid you a total of $ 95 (when I actually prepaid you (105.00) — I think if we had had a brief conversation to clarify everything, things would have turned out differently… it is all very disappointing.
Good luck to you.
Aliza

We (my wife, myself and our dog Banjo) are very lucky to have found Sarah and her services. We have been using Sarah for 2 years now and could not be happier.
We go out of town about 4 times a year for a week at a time and Sarah stays at our house with Banjo. It is perfect, because our dog is old and gets anxious in new surroundings. A kennel is not an option for him and staying at someone else’s house would be too difficult. So having Sarah stay over night is perfect. She arrives in the evening, walks/​feeds him, then she stays at our place for the evening and does the same walk/​feed in the morning, then leaves to return the next evening.
The added bonus is that we have a built in security system. Not that we live in a bad neighborhood, but when you are gone for a few nights, people can notice and bad stuff can happen. But the overnight stay solves that concern.
She has also come over to take Banjo for the day when we were having a children’s party (didn’t want kids pulling on the old guy).
We can tell Sarah loves our dog and Banjo loves her (he is always tired out when we get back). She gives him several medications, waters plants, and the house is always left as clean (or cleaner) than when we left.
Really, its ideal. And I believe her prices are more inexpensive than other similar services… and really comparable to boarding… so do the nice thing for you dog and use Sarah for your dog/​animals needs (unless its a night that we are going out of town).

I meant to write this a while ago. Sarah did write to me and apologize. From what I have seen of her clients, they all love her. I wonder if she will come watch my dogs?

Our 2 dogs love Sarah and so do we. She is calm, patient and makes sure she has fun with them and rubs their bellies and scratches them in all their favorite spots. Both my dogs were rescue dogs but my first one had trust issues with people and was not quick to like them. The first time she met Sarah, it was like she was meeting an old friend. She went right to her, wagging her tail! That gives me peace of mind. I especially love the text message updates she sends after each walk. They make me smile and feel connected to my babies, while I’m away from them. You can tell Sarah really loves dogs and they really love her. I highly recommend her.

Sarah is wonderful. I wouldn’t hire just anybody to help take care of our Scottish Terrier. She has been taking care of Finley for over a year. I have had nothing but good experiences with Sarah. She is a true animal lover and completely trustworthy. She has also been very flexible and worked with my erratic schedule. I love my texting and photo updates while I am at work, it takes away the guilt of leaving him alone. Finley loves Sarah and her husband! They are a great team. It puts my mind at ease to know that when I have a 12 or 14 hour day somebody will be there if I can’t. It is a shame that Unilocal allows a review that is completely unfounded. The person never even used her service. Sarah is great.

I used Sarah’s services for about 3 months (until November 2008); she came to walk my new dog once each weekday while I was at work. She was reliable, relatively inexpensive, seemed to care about my dog, and always called me after she walked my dog (which was my preference).
Unfortunately, our dog-​walking arrangement did not end on good terms. Rather than being flexible to meet the needs of her clients (modifying payment arrangements or method, looking for solutions for situations that arose), she was very rigid and surprisingly overreactive. Her approach to any ‘bump in the road’ (if she had a hard time finding parking that day or if I forgot to leave her the check… but offered to drive it to her or transfer funds electronically so that she still received the payment on the same day) was almost punitive in nature through the written notes that she left me. I felt as if I was dealing with a collections agency! As the client (who happens to run a business herself), it felt rather unnatural to have to be the one to ask her (the vendor) how we can find a solution for things, and I felt compelled to try to slyly coach her on business etiquette throughout the entire time she worked for us. She ended up terminating our dog-​walking agreement through a note with NO NOTICE.
Sarah is simply not too customer service saavy. I believe she means well but seems inexperienced in business, so be prepared to deal with a bit of an attitude, inflexibility, and possible termination of service with no advance notice if things don’t go according to her plan.