The Importance Of Having Your Home Look “Lived In” While You’re Away

Finally! The weather is warming up and that long-awaited vacation away from the stresses at home and work is within reach. Plane tickets are purchased, hotel is booked, activities planned, and you’ve hired a pet sitter to spend some time with kitty and give your dog the walks and exercise he needs while you’re away. Great thinking on hiring that pet sitter, but not for all the obvious reasons you may be thinking.

While a great many home breaks-ins may seem like a spur of the moment/opportunistic crime, you can be assured, most of the individuals who commit such crimes are much more calculating. Burglars regularly case neighborhoods to better understand schedules, a method that can reduce their risk of getting caught. They’ll target a home or homes, and take note of who comes and goes. Busy homes typically present too much risk; they’re in search of the sleepy home, and homes can certainly look sleepy while you’re away.

There are old standard tactics that can be somewhat effective, such as setting lights to go on and off with a timer, putting your mail on vacation hold, etc., but these can be thin veils. That’s why we commended your thinking when hiring that pet sitter. Hiring a dog walker or pet sitter to care for and spend time with your pets while you’re away is a great way to not only assure your pets get the loving care they deserve and maintain their routine in the safety and comfort of their home environment, but also makes your home continue to look lived in. Obviously, a pet sitter’s priority will be the well-being of your pets, but here are some additional tasks that you could ask any professional pet sitter to perform:

· Make visits to the home at regular times. Three times daily is best, in the morning, afternoon and evening.

· Turn lights on/off, and open/close blinds.

· Retrieve the mail/paper.

· Turn on/off the radio or television

Having somebody keep your home looking lived in while you’re away can be a big deterrent against the risk of burglary. Again, great thinking on hiring that pet sitter!