Pet Sitters International (PSI) Celebrates 20 Years as the World’s Leading Pet-Sitting Association
King, N.C. (PRWEB) March 10, 2014 -- Pet Sitters International (PSI), the world’s largest educational association for professional pet sitters, celebrates 20 years in business on March 17. Founded by Patti J. Moran in 1994, PSI has helped tens of thousands of pet lovers start their own professional pet-sitting services by offering access to pet-sitter specific business and educational resources.
For the past 20 years PSI has also been committed to educating pet owners about the importance of selecting quality pet-care providers. Thousands of pet owners search PSI’s Pet Sitter Locator each month to find local professional pet sitters.
“In the last two decades we’ve made great strides—as an association and an industry—to raise awareness of the valuable services professional pet sitters provide,” says Moran. “A career that was once seen as a mere hobby has now gained recognition as a viable, valuable career and PSI pet sitters are leading the way—offering their clients peace of mind by being insured, bonded, certified and providing proof of clear criminal history.”
Moran also notes that with the influx of pet-care directory sites popping up in the last couple of years and news stories touting pet sitting as an easy way to earn extra cash, more and more people are deciding to cash in on the growing need for pet care.
“The pet-sitting industry is at a crossroad,” Moran explains. “As we look forward to the next decade, PSI’s new challenge will be to educate pet owners on the importance of using a ‘professional’ pet sitter and to continue to equip its professional member businesses to stand out in the ever-growing sea of so-called pet sitters.”
To help its nearly 7,000 member pet sitters succeed, PSI offers access to group rate pet-sitter insurance and bonding, free pet-sitters forms and marketing materials and access to industry credentials, such as the PSI Certification Program and the recently-launched PSI Locator Designation Program, which offers third-party verification of pet sitter’s clear criminal history.
As PSI celebrates its 20th year, the association is providing members with even more opportunities to set themselves apart from less professional pet sitters, with new free member resources like PSI’s Prepared Pet-Care Professional Series and Early Education Program.
New members joining PSI by March 20 will also receive a complimentary Pet Sitter Service Contract CD when they join using referral code CONTRACT.
“At PSI, we’ve been promoting professionalism in pet sitting since we opened our doors twenty years ago,” adds Moran. “A lot has changed in the last 20 years, but one thing that hasn’t changed here at PSI is our commitment to helping pet sitters succeed.”
To learn more about PSI, pet sitting as a career or to local a professional pet sitter in your area, visit http://www.petsit.com.
Beth Stultz, Pet Sitters International, http://www.petsit.com, +1 (336) 983-9222 Ext: 323, [email protected]
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