Some people pay for therapy, but the way Tyler Gingras sees it, therapy pays him.
Gingras, who turns 22 on Wednesday, is one of approximately 140 million people who have ADHD, a disorder whose symptoms often include difficulty concentrating or focusing, staying organized and having difficulty sitting still, especially in regimented situations like school.
That’s why Gingras is taking a break from his studies at Mississippi State while continuing work as a pet-sitter, a job he says sort of fell into his lap.
“My ADHD isn’t so much about being hyper but trying to focus,” Gingras said. “School was pretty stressful for me, so I’m taking a break. In regular life, ADHD doesn’t really affect me very much. For me, pet-sitting is very therapeutic. For people who have anxiety or depression, animals are calming and great to be around. They have a calming influence.”
Gingras said he’s always loved animals, beginning with the pet cat he considered his best friend as a child and all of the pets that have followed.
That love for animals manifested itself through his volunteer work at the Oktibbeha County Humane Society. It was there that he was presented with an opportunity to make money looking after pets for their vacationing owners.
“I wasn’t really looking for a job at that point,” Gingras said. “I was just volunteering, trying to help the animals there find their forever home.”
That changed one day in April, when he answered a call from a woman who was looking for a recommendation for a pet-sitter.
“It just kind of fell into my lap and it worked out perfectly,” Gingras said. “I started getting calls from other people and before you know it, I was pet-sitting just about every day.”
Gingras became one of the thousands of pet-sitters who are a part of the national pet-sitting service Rover.com.
“At first, I really wasn’t thinking about making a regular job of it, but every time I pet-sat it was just so much fun,” he said. “It’s mostly dogs, but I have taken care of other animals — cats, rabbits, turtles, ducks — a pretty good variety.”
Gingras said that most of his clients hire him for a few days, but he’s pet-sat for some customers for as much as three weeks. At the customer’s request, he’ll either stay with the pets in their homes or check in on them and take care of their needs several times a day.
“The most important part of this job is listening to the pet owner very carefully,” Gingras said. “Dogs, especially, have their own personalities and the pet owner’s routines with their pets are all different, too. The idea is to keep things as close to normal as possible for the pets. Most of the job is just regular maintenance. In some cases, they need to be given medication, but other than that, it’s not much different than taking care of your own pet.”
Although some dogs can be aggressive, Gingras said he’s never encountered a bad situation.
“What you have to realize is that you are coming into their territory,” he said. “Some dogs will be shy while other dogs can be a little aggressive, but it doesn’t take long for them to see that you aren’t a threat. In the time I’ve been doing this, I’ve never been bitten. I think a big part is just respecting them and learning from the owners all you can about their personalities.”
Gingras said he’s not sure if pet-sitting will be a permanent job for him.
“I’ve loved every minute of it so far, but I don’t know if it’s something that I can make a career out of or even if I want to,” he said, noting that as the summer is ending requests are going down.
“It was steady in April and really picked up in May or June,” he said. “I was pet-sitting every day, but now that summer is over and school is starting again, people aren’t going on vacation and I’ve seen the bookings go down.”
That doesn’t mean he expects to quit pet-sitting anytime soon. He said it might evolve into a side job.
“I plan to stay with pet-sitting, one way or another,” Gingras said. “ It’s something I’m very passionate about. I love dogs and I love taking care of them. It’s cool.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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