I commute to night school most days of the week and don’t get home until 12/12:30am, so my sleep schedule is a little different than most. I learned quickly to describe this in length in more than one place on my profile, and during the meet and greet, because owners continue to request 6am/7am breakfast for their dogs at the meet and greet as part of my services. And that’s okay. But I quickly let them know I most likely won’t be able to meet those expectations. I won’t waste their time or take on more than I can handle. If pets nudge me/whine/bark at 5am or something, I WILL get up and take them to the bathroom. But if the owner has created an early morning routine for them, I’m not the best fit.
What I really don’t like (and it’s happened twice now) is when owners say they want me to housesit for them anyway, and insist that this routine can be adjusted. So I agree to book with them. Then I read the instructions they leave for me and I see “breakfast and potty at 7am—please set alarm.”
Any advice? I may try to do it but it’s a lengthier booking and I try very hard to stick to a healthy sleep schedule of at least seven hours a night. I tend to see changes. In my productivity and energy, among other issues, when I force myself to get less sleep.