Are There Sitters Out There Prepared to Handle a Challenging Dog?

Owner Questions, Advice & Chat
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I currently only have a Sitter account, and when we travel we pay to board our dogs as well as paying a local youth to stop by and feed our cat.

I have been thinking on upgrading my account and listing as a Home Owner, but I’m nervous about leaving our German Shepherd in someone else’s hands. In the past she was quite wary of strangers and would bark aggressively if someone new entered the house. She’s never bitten anyone, and she’s improved a lot with meeting new people, but I still don’t know how she would respond if someone came in while we’re not home. After all, a GSD is bred to guard the property.

So, I’m wondering if anyone out there has a big dog who is protective? Have you successfully found sitters with the needed experience to handle the dog? If so, any trips for helping the dog understand that the sitter is a trusted friend and not an intruder?

I’m feeling like it’s too risky to try, but maybe I’m being overdramatic. When our dog goes to boarding, the professionals there have no issue handling her and she has never had a bad report.

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I would suggest you find a paid sitter and have them stay a night or two alone with your dog first. You can go stay at a friend’s or go see a show and get a hotel overnight but stay local.

If all goes well with that test, then you can list as a HO with some confidence your dog will be ok with a sitter. If not, just continue with the boarding.

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@CarrieGSD, you’re not being overdramatic at all. Rather you’re being considerate and managing risks. We have one experience of an aggressive dog on THS. Bad experience for us and, after dispute, pet parent was permanently barred from THS.

We’d support wise advice from @Felinelover … before consider THS then experiment with a day or two with a known person; then a day or two with a paid professional; and then assess results.

The THS housesitter community is remarkably diverse in sitters preferences, situations and expectations. But we encourage you to build ample evidence and behavioural confidence before listing a pet that could credibly harm a volunteer housesitter.

For context, this are THS related terms.

“5.2.4. ensure that no pets to be left under the care of a Sitter have ever caused a person or animal any physical harm (no matter how minor the injury)”

“5.2.11. not have any inherently dangerous pets (such as venomous snakes or constrictors, primates, wolves or wolf hybrids, non-domesticated cats, alligators), banned dog breeds, or any animal with a history of attacks on pets or people;”

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@CarrieGSD Other posters have made good suggestions for you to consider.

If you decide to become a homeowner on THS, it’s vital that you are upfront (in your listing) about your dog’s characteristics.

We won’t sit for German Shepards at all, as well as other dogs that might be considered aggressive, and some sitters might feel the same way.

But for those who love GS dogs, just let sitters know as much as you can about your pup, so they can make an informed decision.

Many sitters on THS would probably love your GS! Best of luck to you!

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@CarrieGSD Is your GSD anxious around all new people (and perhaps in new situations) or just with visitors to the home who she doesn’t know? Is she a young dog? Does she simply bark at visitors to the house because she’s overstimulated, or do her hackles go up and does she lunge towards them in a threatening manner? How do you currently deal with this?

It’s surely worth taking her to training classes, where she’ll have to encounter strangers and other dogs (but in a controlled environment) to help with her socialisation, or seek the advice of a behaviourist

The suggestions to trial a short sit with a paid sitting service is a good one IMHO. If you do decide you want to leave her with THS sitters in your own home, please do be transparent about her trust issues in your listing and, during the video chat, let the sitter(s) know all about her, including her triggers (and how you successfully deal with them), her routine, what commands she knows, where she sleeps, what her favourite toys are, if she has treats, what she’s like on the lead, what her recall is like, what she’s like around other dogs and people, games she likes to play, if she’s allowed on furniture, whether she’s not allowed in certain parts of the house, how long she can be left etc.

it would seem imperative to invite sitters to arrive the day before your departure, so your girl can do a calm meet and greet and observe the sitters in your home with you before she’s left alone with them. Sitters who’ve experience with dogs will ignore her, letting her come around in her own good time, and will always make their presence known before entering a room, to avoid surprising her into barky-mode. One idea - and this might sound a bit weird - is to ask your sitters to bring some old, worn clothes, and leave a few items around where your girl feels safe, so she can get used to their scents when they’re not actually in proximity to her. Or, give them something they can wear next to their skin for a while - even if it’s tea towels - and then leave those near to your dog’s bed and food bowls etc.

We’ve done sits for rescues with trust issues and one sit included 3 dogs who had previously experienced abuse and horrible neglect. We agreed to do a test-sit of a few days, (the HOs went to stay with family) before agreeing the longer holiday sit, so this might be something to consider (with full disclosure), perhaps after your paid sit. In this case, all went well - from all perspectives - and it was genuinely one of our happiest and most positive sits and we had no problems whatsoever with any of the dogs (who actually had gorgeous characters and very quickly bonded with us once they realised we did fun things with them and used positive reinforcement methods, rather than being a threat).

I’d suggest considering sitters who sit as a couple and who have experience with larger breeds of dog, confirmed by a substantial number of reviews and photos. As sitters, we have many hundreds of photos of our sit pets, so any applicant should be able to supply pics of them with other guarding breeds.

You know your dog better than anyone, so it’s your responsibility to properly assess the risks:

You’ve already found your girl is fine when boarding, so maybe this guarding is a territorial thing and it’s your presence and her home which sets her off. I must just say this: if in doubt (regarding safety issues), don’t.

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Thanks for all this great advice. You sound like the type of sitter I would be hoping to find!

We’ve been working with her for years with a number of experts, and she’s improved a lot. To the extent that I think friends and new people who come over tend to wonder why we are so cautious with her. I may try the paid sitter idea.

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Thanks for your answer. They don’t specify what breeds are “banned”?

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That’s a really good idea, thanks.

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In our eyes, dogs that bark or get defensive because they are scared or frightened are fine in our eyes because they realise quickly that we are no threat to them, but ones that bark in an aggressive-to-humans way, nope, no way, never, you need to pay for that.

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Different breeds are banned in different countries so THS can’t specify.

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If you don’t know how she’d react to a stranger coming into your home, I’d suggest not listing her on THS until you have an answer to that question.

Our last dog died in 2013 long before we had THS. We always left her in a kennel and had dropins or overnight sitters for our cats. It just made sense for her anxiety and protectiveness and for the safety of sitters. No use trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

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As someone with a reactive dog who has successfully and consistently found solid sitters and maintained a 5-star average rating, I would definitely say it’s possible but there is a lot to consider.

You have to be very honest with yourself about if your dog is suitable to be watched by strangers. Our dog is reactive but he is fear based dog-reactive, is fine when given space, and loves humans. And though he is wary of ppl in our landing and drunk, aggressive, or belligerent people/men, that’s the extent of it.

Our dog is strong and fast but also only medium in size (20kg) and responds well to leash pressure/knows what to do when he hits the end of the leash, which is reset. Either way, he is not large enough to overpower a solid handler via brute strength.

We provide extensive guidance, do overlapping orientations with sitters before every sit, and have very strict rules about what is and is not permitted during sits. I.e. our vetting process, transparency, and expectations set mean that there are no surprises for sitters so they know exactly what to expect and can genuinely have a lovely time.

I’m a dog trainer and while my dog is reactive, I know my dog and have put thousands of hours into his training, both personally and with other trainers so is he reactive? Yes. Is he arguably one of the best trained dogs most sitters will experience on the platform? Also yes. And this training also encompasses a vast amount of training specifically done to ensure my dog also knows what good looks like, how to create space for himself, and how to respond and recover quickly when he is triggered when given support.

Something else to note is that while our dog is reactive, aside from the above-mentioned positives on transparency and ample training, there are a ton of other positives that off-set the fact that, while he needs a confident and calm handler, that aside, he is a perfect gentleman, incredibly affectionate, and a lovely dog in a desirable city that a sitter would have ample time to explore because once he gets his walk, sustenance, and bio breaks, there’s not much needed and he can be left alone for hours at a time giving sitters ample time to explore our city.

I’m sharing to provide an example of what a dog that needs more can look like on the app but ultimately, you really need to be honest with yourself about if your dog would be better with a known repeat sitter, if the training and management structures are in place to set your dog and sitters up for success, if there are clear benefits for your sitters, and if you’re sure you’re able to communicate and express clear expectations so that there genuinely are no surprises.

That all being said, there are definitely sitters on the platform capable of handling reactive dogs but still lots to consider.

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@CarrieGSD, we believe that THS policy appears to refer to “banned breeds” per legal jurisdiction of pet parent. Laws vary. For example - UK government lists banned breeds as follows-

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That is a job for a professional sitter.

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My wife is a retired dog trainer and we don’t accept sits with German Shepherds and some other breeds for the reasons you mention. It’s their instinct to guard their owners and property. They may not appreciate having a stranger in their house. If I were a host I’d be concerned that potential sitters may think they can handle such a dog but are overestimating their abilities.

The reason your groomers don’t have any issues is because your dog is outside of its territory and has nothing to guard.

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I’ve had my own large, difficult dog that others sat for without problems, and I’ve sat for large, difficult (biting history) dogs without problems. As everyone says if you’re completely upfront about it (and can be confident your dog will not bite), you might find an experienced, confident sitter willing to take it on.
Out of curiosity, where do you live?

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“If you can be confident your dog will not bite.”

But the OP here can’t be. The bottom line is that NO sitter, in any circumstances, should be at risk of being bitten by the dog they’re caring for. And @CarrieGSD can’t be sure of that. So to my mind, it has to be a No, for THS purposes.