My profile has been up for 2 1/2 months and I have not had one person show any interest in pet sitting. My vacation is only a month away. Yes I do have five dogs which is a lot but there are thousands and thousands of pets sitters that are members of this site. I’m just frustrated. I’ve even sent out 70 request and have gotten nothing back that’s positive
Welcome @Laurie5 to the forum.
If you link your listing to your forum profile we can see it and make some suggestions on how to attract a suitable sitter .
Also if you haven’t already done so you can boost your listing so will get noticed by more sitters .
As @Silversitters suggests, link your listing here and members can have a look and make suggestions to improve it.
Yes there may be thousands & thousands of sitters here but thousands won’t want to take care of 5 dogs, I certainly wouldn’t as am a single sitter. Are you able to accommodate a family? With 5 dogs that might work better.
Could you post your link here? I could take a look and see if there are any suggestions.
Elements to consider:
How appealing is your location and how would sitters know about its good features? Have you included robust descriptions in your listing? Are your photos clear and appealing?
Pet care: Have you been specific about what your dogs need? Would those needs seem reasonable to sitters? Like have you specified how long they can be left alone? You don’t want sitters who leave your dogs unattended for long periods, but most sitters don’t want to be unreasonably house-bound, either.
Are any of your dogs puppies and/or do any require special care? If so, that narrows your pool of potential sitters. It’s not just the number of dogs that matter.
Is your home clean, comfortable and does it have amenities? How much effort have you spent on making that clear to sitters? Are your home-care expectations reasonable?
Does your listing sound welcoming? Sitters — especially good ones — are in demand. There are more sits than good sitters, so they can be selective. Reality is, some sits won’t get chosen by any sitters. How you write your description matters. The photos you post also are judged by sitters from among the countless sits being posted.
There are plenty of sitters on file, but most do only a limited number of sits at any given time. Most sitters don’t do it frequently, because they have onsite jobs and other responsibilities. A sitter might sit only once or twice a year, for instance, and still think THS membership worthwhile. There are nomadic sitters who do this full time, but they’re only a fraction of THS members.
If you’re getting close to your trip, you should consider fallback plans in case you can’t land a THS sitter in time.
Even if you get a THS sitter to agree to sit, you want a fallback plan in case of an emergency or if someone unreliable flakes on you.
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Thanks for all your suggestions
If I can figure out how to do that I will! Thank you
I’m sure there are a handful that would though. I understand it’s a lot of dogs
Asheville is an awesome city in an amazing area! You still have some time, so don’t get discouraged. I would reconsider some of your pics. A picture with used pee-pads on the floor - does this send the right impression? While I get that some elderly dogs use pee pads (I’m the previous owner of two older doxies, one of who was really hard to completely housetrain - somewhat typical for the breed), and I do think their use of them should be disclosed, do we really need a visual ? I mean no offense, you want your photos to showcase your homes best features and should give the impression of cleanliness as that is a top priority for almost all sitters (perusing thru the forum here you’ll see multiple threads about that !). Tidying up a bit can go a long way.
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Welcome @Laurie5 ! I took a look on your listing. You have a cozy home and the dogs seem lovely. As they do not need to be walked, it’ way less work than 5 dogs might otherwise be.
I think one thing that might raise some questions, are the pee pads on the living room floor. You do not mention them in your listing text. Are they used by one or more of the dogs? How often? Do they pee anywhere else?
Also one dog sleeping under the covers with you - do you expect the sitter to do the same?
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Hi @Laurie5
You mention Titan needs carrying outside to potty. How heavy is Titan? Is he accepting of a stranger carrying him out the gate? How far is it to carry him?
You also mention crating him if gone more than 2 hours. How easy is this?
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And I guess that means that the dogs can’t be left for more than 2 hours.
@Laurie5 well done on figuring out how to add your listing.
I am a sitter , so the suggestions I’m giving come from just my sitter’s perspective . Others may have different opinions.
You describe the area and things to do and make it sound very appealing - could you add some photos of the Blue Ridge mountains and local attractions?
The kitchen- unwashed dishes in the sink … this makes me think if the homeowner didn’t wash the dishes and tidy up for the photo - will the place be clean and tidy for my arrival ? This is a deal breaker for many sitters.
The bedroom - there’s only one bedroom shown so presumably this is where the sitter will sleep it shows a slope to assist the dogs to get on the bed - do all 5 of the dogs sleep on the bed with you ? Is it a deal breaker if the sitter doesn’t want the dogs sleeping with them ? Whatever your expectations are regarding sleeping arrangements they all should be clearly outlined in the listing .
“None of my dogs have to be walked”
that’s less work but also some sitters choose dog sits because they want to go hiking with a dog - and that leads on to another question you say it’s a great area for hiking trails- fabulous- but if the dogs can’t come with me how long can I leave them at home alone for ? -this needs to be mentioned in the listing .
And as other have said you show pee pads in the photos but it’s not mentioned in the listing so this will raise questions.
As a sitter, I can’t reach out to you and ask these questions unless I apply , so I would probably skip past your listing … but if all the answers are in your listing that would give me all the information I need .
I hope this helps .
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Thanks for your suggestions above and I have made edits to my profile. I appreciate your input
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I updated my profile as the dogs can be left alone for up to five hours. Thank you
Thanks very much for your input. I am going in and making some modifications. Thanks!
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Thanks I will update my profile with that information
@Laurie5 your photos and listing looks much better now - kitchen is sparkling which is much more appealing -
If you can add some photos of your local area ( mountains hiking trails ) at the beginning that will enhance it even more and attract sitters who don’t know the area ( save them having to go and do research)
@Laurie5 your listing looks good after the changes! Be patient, you only need 1 great applicant.
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I’d suggest more specificity in your description.
“I live in a 2 bedroom one story house in a small development >close< to the Asheville airport. … I have >quick access< to shopping and restaurants. I live in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains so there are many >outdoor activities available< such as hiking, kayaking, biking, etc.”
For example:
• I’m X miles from Asheville airport.
• The supermarket and restaurants are X miles from my house and the bus stop is within X. The bus comes around every X mins.
• My place is within X minutes’ drive of hiking, kayaking. …
Why: Sitters won’t know what close or nearby means to you, and specificity matters, especially if they don’t have a car. It determines what efforts they’d have to make to do X. For instance, I telecommute from sits. That means I don’t want to spend an hour or two going to the supermarket on a bus ride. That’s just an example. Basically, you want to make it easily understandable what your sit entails. Sitters can’t ask such questions without applying and, in various cases, they might not bother and skip your listing.