Trust & safety

🪪 Verified identities

Every member — owner or caregiver — verifies their identity with a government ID and a selfie through Stripe Identity, and confirms a phone number, before they can message or book. "Verified" means we checked who they are, not how they'll behave (Terms, Section 3.4).

✅ Background checks

Every caregiver on a paid plan or a team passes a Checkr background check, renewed every 2 years. A caregiver on the free trial may not have one yet: their profile says so, you confirm you understand before booking them, and they can't do house sitting or be a backup (Terms, Section 11). What's a free-trial caregiver?

🤝 Meet first

Message each other on PetHour and meet before the first booking. Our Safe Meet & Greet guide covers where to meet, what to check, the questions to ask, and what to agree in the booking chat. Before a booking, contact stays in PetHour messages — no phone number is shared until a booking is confirmed (Terms, Section 4.6).

📜 Community Guidelines

Respect, no discrimination, honest profiles and reviews, respect for homes and privacy, and no care while impaired by alcohol or drugs. Our Community Guidelines are part of the Terms, for owners and caregivers alike (Terms, Section 18).

🏠 In the home

• Keys and codes go directly from the owner to the caregiver they booked, are used only for that booking, and are returned or changed afterwards. PetHour never holds them (Terms, Section 4.13).
• Cameras — owners tell their caregiver about any camera or recording device in the home before booking, and never put one in a bathroom or a room set aside for the caregiver to sleep or change in.
• Firearms — whoever hosts the care says whether there's a firearm in the home and keeps it unloaded and locked away (Terms, Section 4.4).
• Walks — dogs stay on a leash unless the owner asks in writing for off-leash time in a secure, fenced area (Terms, Section 14).

📍 During a booking

• Visit reports — check-in and check-out, GPS-tracked walks you can follow live, photos, videos and notes (Terms, Section 15).
• Masked calls and texts — once a booking is confirmed either of you can open a private line that keeps both real numbers private. It needs booking texts & calls turned on for both of you, lasts 24 hours and can be reopened; in-app messages always work.
• Emergency contact — if an owner can't be reached during an active booking (not a Care Bundle), the caregiver can reach the emergency contact the owner added, through a private line, once the owner has confirmed that person agreed to be contacted.
• In an emergency, call 911 first. PetHour is not an emergency service. For an urgent vet visit, see Terms, Section 4.8.

💳 Payments are held

Your card is authorized at checkout and charged when the caregiver confirms. PetHour then holds the payment, as the caregiver's payment agent, until you confirm the service was delivered — or about 72 hours after it's marked delivered — and a dispute case freezes it (Terms, Section 8.1a). PetHour provides no insurance and no guarantee of any booking outcome (Terms, Section 12).

🚩 Report or block

• Report a member from your conversation with them in Messages, from a client's card in Clients (caregivers), or with "Report" on a review.
• Block a member from the same places — blocking is mutual and closes messaging between you.
• Tell us about a safety concern on the Contact page.
• Found a security vulnerability? Read our Vulnerability Disclosure Policy.

What PetHour does about a report is set out in the Community Guidelines.