You can download the free two page Senior Dog Pet Sitter Instructions template right here, fill it in by hand or on your computer, and leave it on the counter. Everything below explains what goes in each section and why it matters more for an older dog than a young one.
Download the free Senior Dog Pet Sitter Instructions (PDF)
No email needed for this sheet. If you want the full care binder pages that go with it, the signup box at the end of this article sends you the free medication and emergency card too.
Why a generic pet sitter sheet is not enough for a senior dog
Most pet sitter templates cover feeding times, walk times and a vet phone number. That works for a healthy five year old. For a dog of eight, ten or fourteen, the things that go wrong while you are away are almost never about food. They are about a missed 8 pm pill, a dog who could not get up the back step, an overnight bathroom trip nobody mentioned, or a sitter who saw something odd and did not know whether it was normal for this dog.
Rover’s own guidance for sitters caring for senior dogs lists the same gaps: owners forget to say the dog needs help on stairs, needs to go out in the middle of the night, or what counts as an emergency for this particular animal. A 2025 study in Frontiers in Veterinary Science that looked at nearly 5,000 online posts about dog medication found that the most common source of stress was simply keeping track of doses, and that stress doubles the moment someone else has to do it.
So this template is built around six questions a sitter needs answered before you leave, not after they text you at midnight.
What goes in each section
1. About this dog, including what “normal” looks like
Name, age, weight, breed and microchip number are the easy part. The line that matters is the one most templates skip: what normal looks like for this dog. Write something like “sleeps most of the day, eats breakfast slowly but always finishes, back legs wobble on tile.” Now the sitter is not alarmed by things you already know about, and is alarmed by the things that are actually new.
2. Who to call, in order
List your phone, a backup person who can make decisions if you cannot be reached, your regular vet, and the nearest emergency clinic with its address. Older dogs are the ones most likely to need the emergency line, and the sitter should never be searching for it at 2 am. If your regular vet has your dog’s records on file, say so, because the emergency clinic will ask.
3. Medications, one line per medication
This is the section that earns the sheet its keep. For each medication write the name, dose, exact times, whether it goes with food, and how you actually get it into the dog (in a pill pocket, hidden in cheese, crushed into wet food, or given by hand). The last column is a checkbox for each dose given.
Two rules make this work with more than one caregiver. First, one dog per sheet. If you have two dogs on medication, print two copies. Combined charts are where doses get given to the wrong dog. Second, make the sitter tick the box the moment the dose goes in, not at the end of the day. A ticked box is the only reliable answer to “did I already give it?”
If your dog is on several medications, our guide on keeping track of multiple medications for a senior dog covers how to set up the chart so it survives a handoff. The free weekly dog medication chart is the fridge version of the medication grid on this sheet.
4. Daily routine, with the mobility notes attached
Write the day as it actually happens: wake time, first bathroom trip, breakfast, medication, walk, rest, dinner, medication, last trip out, bedtime. Then, next to each line, add the note a stranger would need. “Slow walker, let her set the pace.” “Needs a hand under the belly to get up from the hardwood.” “Will not go out in rain, use the covered patio.” Older dogs live on routine, and a sitter who keeps the routine keeps the dog calm.
5. Feeding, water, mobility and comfort
Page two covers the brand and amount of food, treats that are and are not allowed, water notes (some senior dogs drink much more than they used to, which is normal for them and worth telling the sitter), stairs and ramps, walk length, harness notes, where they sleep, and the overnight bathroom question. If your dog needs to go out at 3 am, say how many times and roughly when. Sitters cope well with almost anything they were warned about.
6. Call the owner if, and go to the emergency vet if
Two short checklists, and the difference between them is the point. “Call the owner” items are things you want to hear about but that can wait for a phone call: skipped two meals in a row, cannot get up or keeps falling, vomiting or diarrhea more than once, breathing that looks fast or labored at rest, a missed or doubled dose. “Go straight to the emergency vet” items are the ones where you do not want the sitter waiting for you to pick up: collapse, trouble breathing, a seizure, a bloated hard belly with retching. Both lists have a blank line for anything your own vet has told you to watch for.
These lists are a communication tool, not medical advice. Your vet knows your dog’s conditions, so ask them what belongs on each line and write down their answer.
7. The sitter’s daily log
The last block is for the sitter, not you: date, meals eaten, meds given, bathroom, mood and notes. It takes thirty seconds a day and does two things. It gives you a record to read when you get home, and it gives your vet a record if anything changed while you were gone.
How to hand it over
Print two copies. One goes on the fridge or counter, the other stays with the medications. Walk the sitter through it in person or on a video call before you leave, and physically show them how you give the medication, because “in a pill pocket” means nothing until they have watched it once. Take a photo of the completed sheet so you have it on your phone.
If you board your dog instead of using a sitter, the same sheet goes in the bag. Kennels have their own intake forms, but they rarely have a line for “what normal looks like for this dog.”
Get the sheet
Download the free Senior Dog Pet Sitter Instructions (PDF)
It is two pages, letter size, and prints in black and white fine. Fill it in once, keep it updated when a medication changes, and every future handoff takes ten minutes instead of an hour.
Want the matching pages? The free Senior Dog Medication and Emergency Card is a wallet size version of the medication and emergency sections, and the Senior Dog Care Binder adds the symptom tracker, vet visit prep sheet and weight log so everything lives in one place.
Golden Years Dog Care provides organizational tools and checklists, not veterinary advice. Always follow your veterinarian’s instructions for your dog’s medications and conditions.