A homeowner who lives near me, selected a sitter to care for her dog while she is away. It has just come to light that the sitter has been staying at a hotel instead of staying in the person‘s home with the dog. It’s my understanding that the dog has been left at home alone overnight, does this violate THS policy?
Did they say why? I once slept in my camper vs in the house because I didn’t trust the state of the bed. They’d been letting their kids crawl all over/in the bed before they left so it would have been full of dirty kid feet/clothes. But it was also only for 2 nights and the dogs were crated in a separate room at night anyway so they weren’t missing me being in bed with them. I would not leave them alone otherwise and definitely not leave them to stay in a completely different location.
The only thing that is explicit in the Terms & Conditions is that the pet should spend the night at the property unless otherwise agreed:
5.3.12: ensure that pets will remain at the Pet Parent’s property overnight, and will not be taken away from the house without prior approval from the Pet Parent Terms & Conditions | TrustedHousesitters.com
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This definitely violates THS policy, sitters are meant to be present overnight. Seems a bit weird to stay in a hotel, usually one of the main attractions of pet sitting, is free accommodation.
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I can see two possible reasons:
- the sitter wanted to sleep well
- the sitter was not allowed to have guests
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One of the reasons HO’s have sitters is that their home is not unoccupied overnight for security issues. Would you want a sitter who stayed in a hotel and not your house?
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I am not much of security. The dog would better at that 
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Since it costs the sitter to stay at a hotel instead of in the house, I suspect that there was a good reason for them to do it. If the pet was okay, I would be asking more questions of the owner not the sitter.
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Yeah, that’s why I’d be curious to hear from the sitter why they did this.
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Definitely a weird one, never heard of this before.
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I once stayed in an Airbnb close by, because I had such an allergic reaction in the house (asthma) that I couldn’t sleep there. The asthma was worse at night. However, in saying that, my husband did spend nights at the house and I just went to sleep at the Airbnb but came back to the house each day. There was one other time where we were sorely tempted to take ourselves and the pets off to an Airbnb, because the house was downright dirty and smelly. It would have cost us a lot, but we considered it briefly. We ended up just enduring the house, it was one (the only) very bad sit.
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Just a random homeowner? not a friend, neighbour or family member?
What is your involvement in this?
How did it ‘come to light’?
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This homeowner is a friend and neighbor of a very good friend of mine. I referred my friend to THS and she in turn referred her friend who is also her neighbor (the homeowner in this case). So I know of this situation through my friend. She feels somewhat responsible as she is the one who referred them to THS.
According to her, it appears the single female sitter seems to have struck up a romance with someone staying at a hotel here, and is choosing to stay at the hotel rather than bring her romantic interest back to the home. I can appreciate that, but the homeowner and my friend are very distraught that the dog is left alone all day and all night. Apparently the sitter contacted my friend (Who is a contact for the homeowner) And asked her to please feed the dog as she wouldn’t be coming home tonight. It’s a small island and gets around. That is how my friend found out which hotel she’s staying in and that she appears to have a love interest there.
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To be honest there is an awful lot of ‘not sure’ ‘possibly’ ‘he said, she said’ in your post.
If I was you I would tell the home host to sort it themselves and keep out of it yourself.
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What @Colin said.
Homeowner should pick up the phone, ask a few questions, try to find a solution one way or the other. It is not meant snarky - that would be the adult way.
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You gave your friend the info of THS, who gave it to their friend, who was the one who joined, who actually chose the sitter, not you or your friend? But they are both distraught, and you are concerned enough to post on this forum.
Has the host confirmed the pets are actually being left and the sitter has not been there? Has the host contacted THS emergency line? Has the host implemented her plan B for someone else to step in, maybe her friend who is also concerned?
As far as the personal life of anyone, whether true or not, has no bearing on anything and any conversations about it should be discouraged by all parties.
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My only question was if sitters are allowed to leave pets alone over night. It appears they are. This is probably not what pet owners are expecting so maybe this should be changed.
Some of you asked for details and I gave you what I had, which is indeed a lot of unconfirmed information, but none of that is the point of this post. It was only to ask the community if sitters can leave pets at night. That’s all- Thanks.
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Would have thought it was a total no-no to leave pets alone overnight (having never read that specific bit of the Ts & Cs), surely it’s against all the reasons for having a house and pet sitter in situ?! Would tell your friend of a friend to seek help and clarification from THS support asap so she can tackle her situation with this sitter. #forewarnedisforearmed
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Again, none of the details really matter, ultimately the homeowner has to deal with whatever the situation is or is not.
I wanted to know for myself if it violates THS policy to not stay with pets overnight so I thought I’d reach out to the helpful and supportive community to get some answers. That’s all.
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I would do as @Cuttlefish suggests and I would also recommend to include that in the review. If the sitter asked the emergency contact to feed the pets and there was no emergency or valid reason, that would not deserve 5 stars in reliability or pet care.
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