Hi all! First time I’ve had this happen so I’m curious about your experience and thoughts. I signed on for a sit (1 dog / 1 cat) and spoke with the owners. Since then she’s reached out several times to confirm. What she didn’t mention however is that they got an additional puppy in the meantime. I don’t mind, it’s not a problem - but she’s had many chances to mention this and didn’t, the only way I found out was when I pulled up the profile today, less than a week out, to see a new puppy had been added. I texted and asked her about this and she just never responded. It just felt somewhat shady that they were just going to let me show up and “oh by the way we now have an extra dog”.
Curious if you’ve experienced this.
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This is not right. She should have discussed this with you prior to getting the puppy. This would be a valid reason should you decide to cancel.
Fyi, something similar happened to me. My HO asked me if I would be ok caring for two kittens in addition to their two dogs. I said yes, then they very considerately double checked with me as the date got closer. All went well but these wonderful people discussed it with me first.
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A puppy is no small responsibility! They can be so time consuming. This is not cool of them to not disclose it earlier.
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To give the benefit of the doubt, maybe she’s planning on boarding her puppy elsewhere during your sit? I have two dogs and only list one because the second dog always stays at a friend’s house during my trips. But I still let sitters know that there will be a second dog in the house until we finish the hand off and leave! It’s nice that you don’t mind the extra work of a puppy if it’s staying, but either way it’s not okay that that she never mentioned it (even if it’s being boarded elsewhere) and I’d be a little concerned about her communication and actual expectations.
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Phwoar! I once had some additional guinea pigs not mentioned in a listing - but they mentioned them at the video call, and guinea pigs are very low maintenance (minus the dogs wanting to show them love and affection 
), but a puppy is VERY cheeky since they are so much extra work, possibly not mentioned for that specific reason? I wouldn’t agree to it!
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My very first sit was one where I applied to watch 2 dogs and I received a confirmation to sit without an interview. I was very excited to give petsitting a try so I accepted. After confirmation but before the sit started, I spoke with the HO and she mentioned they added a puppy. Wasn’t sure what to say so I said it was fine. And it was but that week we were there, it was exhausting. It had been 20 years since I raised puppies. Peed/pooped all over the house. Whined all night because he was crate training, and the other 2 dogs didn’t like him. Oh, and the middle dog ran through the electric fence twice to chase squirrels so our whole family had to go chasing after her hoping she wouldn’t get hit by a car. We got through it but it was very exhausting.
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I had a ball python care added to a sit - the HO was planning to have a friend come over once during the sit to feed it - when he mentioned it, I offered to take care of it. Defrosting a mouse and using tongs to put into the aquarium. Harry only eats 1x a week so it was easy. And I got to add snakes to my list of animals cared for. Not sure it it got me a few later sits where there were geckos.
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But the difference is that the HO told you beforehand so you had the opportunity to cancel, and would have been within your rights to do so as it wasn’t the sit you’d signed up for.
Yikes! I could never take that on.
That is completely out of order however, as someone else has mentioned, perhaps the HO has made other arrangements for the puppy during your sit. It’s odd that she hasn’t responded. I think what I’d do, although difficult, is message again and explain that you are unable to proceed with the sit if you are expected, at this late stage, to look after a puppy as well because you didn’t sign up for that. Surely she must respond to that! Please let us know how you get on.
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@Smiley yes you’re right. She did tell me she added a puppy a couple days before the sit start date and i could have cancelled
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Something similar happened to me, in my case it was chickens. They did tell me in advance that they had one chicken, but not to worry about it as they had a system in place. It ended up being more than one AND wild birds would fly in the enclosure and eat their grains. Hadn’t I topped it up regularly, they’d have been out of food in one day.
Hi @ReneeMc. I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this. If the homeowner doesn’t respond to you soon, please contact membership services (either using the chat on the help page or at membership.services@trustedhousesitters.com), and ask them to reach out to the homeowner on your behalf.
Please let us know how this works out.
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Yes, this has happened to me. It is unfair to deviate from the sitter’s expectations AND NOT DISCUSS IT AT ALL!
To me, it’s not at all OK for someone to spring a pet on a sitter. It’s especially egregious with a puppy, because they’re typically a lot more work. Some sitters avoid sits with puppies.
When we consider sits, we all do rough calculations in our heads to decide whether a sit is worthwhile. With surprise animal(s), the HO has effectively changed the inputs. Personally, I wouldn’t enable such behavior, because it would stick in my craw.
I’d also question the HO’s judgment, because in their place, I wouldn’t want someone who’s potentially resentful taking care of my home or pet(s).
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@ReneeMc first impression is that this doesn’t sound good . Extra pet and homeowner not responding .
However it could be as others have said that you are not expected to care for the new puppy and that homeowner has made other arrangements.
I hope it’s been resolved now and you’ve heard from the homeowner.
A homeowner can amend a listing at any time. Does anyone on this forum know a way of finding the listing as it was at the time when you applied ?
The only way I know is to remembering to take screenshots of the listing at the time of application.
Tagging @geoff.hom as I know you are good at answering tech questions .
Have you heard back from the HO yet?
Hi @Silversitters. Looks like the OP (@ReneeMc) hasn’t replied again to this topic. Perhaps there is more to the story and it’s being figured out.
But to answer your question: I don’t know of a way to see previous versions of TH listings. I can’t even do it for my own listing/profile! (e.g., if something accidentally gets deleted and I want to restore it)
So, if we want to save something, screenshots work, or sometimes we can save like a “web archive,” print to a PDF, etc.
As for my own listing and profile, I keep the “source of truth” in a separate document (e.g. google doc) and cut-and-paste into TH.
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Blinkin ek! A puppy is a full time job!!! Definitely should have told you. Is pup toilet trained? That’s a huge job if not.
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It’s pretty lame! Puppies can destroy all sorts of stuff!
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