I just read a post from a sitter who found herself in a terrible situation. And I have to remind myself, and maybe others, that people only post extreme situations. Just like the news. You never see a news report of “Well, today was pretty typical.Some bad, some good, but mostly just regular stuff.”
We have had only good experiences with our sitters, and they seem to like us because we get good reviews. I like to think that this is how it is for most of us. Maybe we should post about just regular good sits once in a while.
I’ve been looking at listings this week for November/December and I do think that some/a few are potentially terrible sits for the wrong sitters. It’s just about matching at the end of the day. At the moment there are maybe 30 sits I could easily do BUT I’d not be happy on those sits. As I am able to recognise the features that would make me pretty fed up pretty quickly I don’t ‘toy’ with my psyche or poke my misery muscle!
Easy to forget that, per THS Annual Report, there are approx 6,000 pets under housesit on each average night. That’s a whole lot. Given inherent assistance nature of THS Forum then the outlier problems tend to be posted.
We continue to believe that vast majority of pet parents and housesitters are good people with good intentions. Specifics and degrees vary on both sides. But there appears only a small minority of people, on both sides, that somehow cause/encounter material challenges. We’ve experienced two last-minute international cancellations and initiated a Member Dispute - ugh. But even that’s a small fraction compared to the many wonderful experiences.
I’m currently on sit 30 and 26 have been excellent–both the pets and the homes! 2 were awful due to dogs with bad behavior (including one that had to be boarded because it would not let me inside the home and was displaying aggression/defensiveness), and the other 2 were meh. Not bad stats for 2 years I’d say!
I’ve done 30-odd sits (on THS and beyond) and only one was subpar. The pets, hosts and location were lovely. They had clearly tidied up, but there was longtime grime built up in the kitchen and dining area.
That exception early on taught me to screen better for cleanliness. No problem since.
We have been doing this full-time for quite a while now, and have only had one bad sit. Unfortunately, it is human nature to complain but not to praise.
Such a great reminder. I started traveling full time with THS last year and I have had THE BEST home owners and pets. It has restored my faith in people in this crazy world. Although I feel for the sitter who posted that I do what to say thank you for that reminder to express gratitude once in awhile. I wish I had found this site years ago! Such a great way to travel and have dogs in my life all the time:)
48 sits for us 2 x meh the others were great.
for the future 
and often a combination of small things… but I’m adding to the list all the time!