These are great recommendations! I have had many sits for HO with too many missing reviews or former members, puppies, senior dogs, extreme weather (and no backyard, so you’re often walking in 17° or 112° weather), and very bare welcome guides (which are absolutely the worst). While I did make the most out of these sits, these areas are a hard boundary for me.
This is exactly the advice I was looking for!
@KC1102 Thank you for your offer, especially with you having so many years of experience! I will definitely be reaching out to you for more advice.
I ask all these types of questions, too. You can’t rely on the owner to provide this info proactively. You have to ask. Some just don’t think to do it, especially if they’re new to having sitters.
@Colin If you don’t mind me asking, do you specify each account as sitters working as a couple, or is each account for a single sitter, with you potentially informing pet parents that two of you will be present for some of the sit?
We’ve missed some lovely sits because we can’t apply to discuss a short overlap period, but am not sure how to frame a second account.
We each have our own account as a couple account with the other as the plus one.
We always tell our hosts that we may overlap a day or two either side of their sit, which means there is a chance one of us might show up to wave them off, and only one of us may be there to welcome them back.
We emphasise that this is mainly for their benifit so that we can be completely flexible in their departure and arrival times
Thank you @Colin .
I just went nomadic end of October and feeling anxious I filled in dates, but now I am more particular. I filled in some dates with a short sit, but it requires me to spend 3 nights in a hotel between sits, then missed a great sit, where I wanted to be. So I am now waiting. Also, I had a sit cancel, then took a short sit in Philly, so I wouldn’t be with relatives so long. It turned out to be a beautiful home in central Philly, the HO is a young doctor, offered me everything in the fridge. The dogs are delightful, low maintenance. There are great sits, and some some not as good sits. Trying for the great sits and taking the risk of not filling the dates.
I get the impression that “burnout” is probably more common among “full-time” sitters without a homebase or whose home is being rented out to generate income while living a nomadic lifestyle. It also feels that sitters dependent on sitting for accomodation, may be inclined to take iffier sits leading to more disappointment and more burnout. All of my sits have been great fun and afforded me sufficient opportunity for site seeing and other activities. A few of the homes haven’t been as tidy as I would have liked, but I have fairly big tolerance and none were really bad, just not “hotel” clean. As all the sits were under two weeks, I could tolerate some iffy conditions and drawbacks. I imagine that even if sits are good, adjusting to new pets and new conditions would be tough – not to mention moving on after a longish sit with adorable pets. Sheesh, 6 days, and my spouse was almost crying when we had to leave the dog!
Yup, and some personalities aren’t necessarily suited to full-time sitting. We see it in my line of work, too, which requires high comfort with risks and unknowns, high adaptability and such.
If someone is anxious, uncomfortable with risks, values full clarity even though it’s not possible, is fearful, etc., sitting nomadically will inherently be harder for them vs. folks who are more easygoing, trust that they’ll be able to work things out, etc. People who are fearful will tend to struggle with sitting and a lot else, because fear short circuits logic and judgment.
It’s only been 3 weeks since you went nomadic so hopefully the anxiety will dissipate. There was a really good post a few weeks ago by a full-time sitter (sorry I cannot recall the poster). She summarized well how she fills in her ‘feature’ sits and then her ‘filler’ sits. If anyone else has better recall (or even the OP!), perhaps they can direct you back to that post.
Perhaps this one (Feature v Filler sits) - Multiple applications? - #9 by GotYourBack
Or this one (feature vs filler). Think concept raised in two threads. Withdrawing applications after no communication from HO - #40 by GotYourBack
This is the one. Cheers
Actually it has already. Now that I have dealt with a cancellation, missed a desired sit because I took a filler sit. Just starting to chill. And I am booked for the next 2 months, except for a trip to Bali, so it is working out.
Amazing how quickly things can change
Also @Marion sometimes sitters just get tired of the responsibility of taking care of pets in addition to thoroughly cleaning the home upon departure - it’s a lot of work and even more so with back to back sits. I travel full time and have completed multiple sits on 4 continents. Now I just want to travel without the responsibility of pet sitting. I have had some great sits so far but I just want to live wild and free!