I’m about to post an honest review about a hellish sit that was the most challenging in over 25 years of house/petsitting.
This host has lots of five star reviews, with the occasional sitter docking one point for cleanliness or pet behavior.
Dirty house, neglected property, completely untrained and somewhat neglected dogs (I cut matted fur off both of them, and one of them was severely underweight according to the vet that we visited during the sit).
I wish those sitters had been as honest as I am about to be.
Perhaps there’s been a recent change in circumstances though- people get old/ill or lose a partner or suffer new mental health or physical issues. If many previous sitters had good experiences let’s maybe believe them, and see the odd docked star as early signs of maybe things going awry for this Host.
Maybe there’s a sad story underneath this experience.
Yes please Review honestly with the facts.
I’m sorry this landed on your watch.
Be it mental health, age, and/or illness, no sitter should have to suffer the consequences. Also, if any or all these issues apply, then rehoming the animals is the most considerate thing they could do for them. Tough, but when you love your animals…
Agreed no sitter should have to experience this, but it doesn’t mean that previous sitters weren’t truthful about their experience with the same Host. My first thoughts were ‘What’s gone wrong for this Host?’ What might these signs mean?
The point is not why the conditions were such as you found them (Sadly the owners may be having challenges which contributed to the problems) but the objective fact THAT you found them.
I’m sorry that you had such an awful experience and that everyone involved - you, the pups and the HO’s - is ultimately ok.
Than you Bonny. The vet said what you suggest: it sounds like the host is overwhelmed.
I am composing the review in my head and haven’t written it yet, but I will definitely approach it with your compassionate angle.
Lots of the reviews are from the past year: 15 different sitters in the past 12 months over 80 days. It has been a revolving door of intermittent strangers for the dogs to adjust to.
That sounds like a difficult situation, a lot of sitters in a short time. Feels pretty unfair to the dogs. Definitely seems like something has gone wrong for the host. Nothing wrong in mentioning delicately that the host is possibly under some pressure or difficult situation which has resulted in the sit being challenging. It does nobody any favours when we gloss over things in the reviews.
It’s always so hard to be the first sitter to leave a negative review. I’ve had to do it twice now because leaving honest reviews is the right thing to do. It’s the only way the system works
A few months ago for the first time, I docked a few stars for a sit which wasn’t so favorable. I really had to think about doing this. The house was absolutely gorgeous but I had a problem with the pet. I recently looked up the listing and saw that another sitter after me had docked a star as well. Since then, the homeowner has provided much more detail about the personality of the pet so it was definitely worth leaving an honest review. I commend the homeowner for amending her listing as to the personality of the pet for future house sitters. So as a sitter, please be honest in your reviews for future sitters!
Reading back in the reviews: in February 2025 the host surprised a sitter with the second dog, a foster the host decided to keep so the first dog would have some company. No word about the second dog before the sitter arrived for the sit.
Second dog is now 3 years old and completely untrained. Still house soiling at night even when he gets a walk before bed. Jumps on the table to steal food.
Going forward I’m going to read EVERY word of EVERY review.
A previous sitter said the host’s instructions were too lengthy and confusing. The host took that seriously and told us she rewrote them using AI but AI left some things out so she reprinted the old set but her printer jammed so it only printed out part. So we got incomplete instructions (missing the veterinarian’s name and number) with some conflicting information.
Oh, and did I mention the backyard with at least a year’s buildup of dog poop? And that we were supposed to administer prescription eye drops for one of the dogs but when the host showed us how to do it she discovered that the bottle was empty? Or that our first day the dogs chewed their way into our closed plastic tote and ate some raisins (potentially poisonous to dogs) precipitating a 30 minute trip over a foggy mountain road to the nearest 24 hour emergency vet, where we sat up in the waiting room until 5am?
Yes. Docking a star in order to leave a completely honest review does somehow seem to give later HOs/sitters a kind of permission to do the same. Which is yet another reason it’s so important to be honest.
I recently had to be the first of over a dozen reviews to dock a star (should have docked stars in 2 categories but chose only one) and it was very hard to do. I sandwiched the truthful comment in between positive comments.
But it’s true that it is easy to tell others to be honest and unemotional, it’s much harder to do it when it is your turn!
I was toying with docking a star for cleanliness, but didn’t as the furnishings were more ‘shabby chic’ so not really about being clean. I’ve noticed the sitters who followed me did dock a star so it was certainly borderline for them too I’d say.
