Well, I’d invite them to drop the gecko off at MY house… 
2 Likes
Winning answer!
5 Likes
I don’t really mind doing it for friends/neighbors for short periods.
1 Like
I have a paid petsitting business for local sits - I’m happy to do them, but not for free, since I already have a home close by. There’s no advantage to a free sit in your own area, really…unless maybe you need to get away from home for awhile!
2 Likes
I totally get not wanting to do this for people I don’t know well, but my friends and I are totally happy to pet sit for each other when we go out of town. Personally I’m happy to be able to travel and pet sit but I actually would not trust anyone I don’t know with my dog because he is big and reactive. He was a rescue and we’ve done a lot of training but he’s never going to be “perfect” or “simple” to take care of. I feel really really lucky that the members of my community know and love and accept him and are able to meet him where he’s at, and care for him with gentleness and patience while we’re away. Im happy and grateful to able to extend that same care to their pets, or to their kids to babysit, or to them by cooking them dinner, filling up their gas tank, supporting them emotionally and financially when extenuating circumstances arise and generally all choosing to take care of each other in a myriad of ways every day and every week and every year, as much as we all can. Community is the most beautiful thing in the world to me and i feel really really blessed to have such a strong one.
Before we joined THS, my husband and i used to house sit in the summers times when we werent aailing during hurricane season. We almost exclusively sat in the neighborhood we used to live in Atlanta. We’d be close to our friends and my husband had a summertime painting business with a partner in the neighborhood. Several times we had people asking us to sit in a nearby state. It was hard to make them understand that we sat in Atlanta because there was an advantage to us - our friends and work - and that going to a place to sit pets for free where we didnt know anyone and didn’t have a work opportunity, had no appeal to us. They didnt understand that ot was a trade and we were pretty specific on what we wanted out of the trade.
We’ve often been asked by ‘friends of friends’ etc. we say we are happy to consider but let them know we are quite often booked months in advance and joining THS would be a pre-requisite so we capture public domain feedback. Some have, others not. And we’ve even been given money by THS members ( which we have declined).
I think if you are clear about your needs from the outset it all works out, but if you start doing ‘favours’ then it sort of undermines your own integrity.
I do occasional local sits in my area. They serve as mini staycations and I’m able to live-like-a-local in particularly interesting areas of the city and explore on foot.
I also do sits for close friends. Their pets are like my kids and I love looking after them. I’ll be doing a two week sit in July for my BFF and her Great Pyrenees. 
2 Likes
Just have to share… I went to view a house today and the estate agent asked whether I had any pets. I replied that I didn’t have any of my own, but that I did house-sitting and looked after other peoples’. Her eyes lit up, and she asked how much I charged, (at which point, I admit, my eyes probably lit up as well… 
) She started telling me about her Ragdoll cat, and how easy she was to look after… ‘just needs feeding once a day’.
Cue flash-back to previous Ragdoll care… Dear Little Lily, who insisted on sleeping not only on the bed, but under the covers, and if possible actually on me. Dear Little Lily, who repeatedly stood on the pillow at 4am yowling in my face until I got up and fed her. Oh, and liked to be stroked whilst she ate, morsel by tiny morsel… yawn. Dear Little Lily who deposited enough fur around the house that I could have felted a whole new kitten. Dear Little Lily who, despite her delicate appearance, had been known to kill a rabbit, drag it up the lilac tree, and in through the bedroom window! Luckily I was spared this gift, but had to deal with several mice. In pieces.
I should have learnt by now - DON’T MENTION THAT YOU DO HOUSE-SITTING!
P.S. I felt rather flat after the viewing, and it’s taken me a while to realise that the highlight of the visit wasn’t the ‘dream home’, but the vendor’s 10 week old whippet running over to say hello to me in the garden. He wiggled his way under me when I crouched down to say hello, popped out the other side, and was just generally adorable, (puppy, not vendor). Perhaps it’s not a house I need, but maybe this is a sign that it’s time to switch to the other side of THS and become a pet parent. Watch this space…
8 Likes
Yep! Regularly! Friends and acquaintances just cannot grasp the idea. Others often think we get paid too. 
1 Like
I’ve had half hearted conversations with people from work about sitting for them but 1) I don’t really want to mix work with work and I don’t need to know how my work colleagues live and vice versa but also 2) 99% of the time they are looking for someone during peak sitting times like christmas and school holidays and sorry to say I’m either already booked or looking for something more interesting than a house in the outer 'burbs.
2 Likes