Choosing a sitter - age

As a pet parent,
How likely is to choose someone young to care for your pets? I am worry about some comments about how age influence. That’s the only thing that stops me to choose a plan.
I really like the idea of ​​taking care of a pet and staying in a new place for a while (in different countries) while working remotely.
Im in my early twenties and have 3 dogs, How likely is for you to choose me as a sitter? :crossed_fingers:

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Hello @anabel and welcome :wave:t3: We’re experienced full time sitters, digital nomads and previous dog owners too. It will really depend on the quality of your profile, your experience (great I’d imagine and you have dogs of your own), good pics, some external references and then the type of HO you apply to especially if they have dogs of the same or similar breeds to yours would be a good place to start (if you’re location flexible. Also that you’re remote working as HOs love that their pets will have more of your time at home. Younger HOs sometimes choose people similar in age to them (we are occasionally “too old” even at 47/50 :joy:) & then your application tone and attitude when you write and talk to them. There are definitely sits for 20 somethings, a nice post yesterday on here talked about how good a 24 year old sitter was with her horses and remote property. Are you planning on taking the three dogs with you as that could be your biggest challenge? One yes, three tricky. Best of luck with your plans :raised_hands:t3:

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Hello @anabel

First I will say, I am not a pet parent (at the moment), I have been but what I am is the parent of a woman who began pet sitting (and traveling the world and I mean the world)in her very early 20’s. It was she who introduced me to pet sitting, something I felt I was too old for.

There are lots of discussions here in the forum about age, young vs old as well as other concerns new people have about not being the right fit and such.

You’ve heard it before, age doesn’t matter.

It really doesn’t.

Focus on building your profile and your applications, conversations on what you have to offer in the love and caring of pets.
Get as many references as possible from people who can vouch for your character and experience.
What people want are people who can provide evidence of being caring and responsible.

If this is something you really want to do, go for it. What you will learn will enhance your life in ways that as yet are unimaginable.
I can tell you that I am so glad I did.

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Hi @anabel and welcome to the wonderful world of house and pet sitting.
I completely agree with what @Cuttlefish and @Amparo say, both experienced sitters and world travellers.
Why don’t you attach your profile to your forum profile so that we, and other members, can have a look and give advice if we feel it needs improving? Here’s how:

Make sure when you apply to sits that you personalise each application, including the names of the animals and mentioning the experience you have with such animals and maybe an anecdote or two. You must treat each application just like you would applying for a job.
Age is just a number, so don’t fixate on that.
Good luck!

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An easy way to gauge how young sitters do: Take a look through existing sitter profiles and see which ones have a bunch of reviews. With those, take a look at their profiles and the sits they’ve done.

@Maggie8K, how can we see other sitter’s profiles? I’ve never done/seen that…

Hi @Purdie. All you need to do is click on Find a Sitter on the website and then peruse sitter profiles. As there are thousands of them you could restrict it to a certain location.

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Hi @anabel
Age is one factor. But will you be sitting with your 3 dogs? That might be a whole different ballgame. Not many hosts would be open to accept 3 visiting dogs.

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It goes mainly on the strength of your profile. But just a tip with you saying “How likely is to choose someone young to care for your pets?”, yes it’s about being mature enough and responsible to care for pets, but you didn’t mention anything about being responsible enough to take care of a very expensive property too (that’s because you’re in your early 20’s) so just a tip, make sure your profile covers the property aspect of things too, that’s how you can help ensure you appear to be responsible from both angles.
If you are undecided, write a profile for yourself, and treat it a bit like a CV or job application, focusing on pets, property, and garden, and by doing that, you are likely to know the way forward.

As I HO I don’t care about someone’s age. I look for a person or couple that seems reliable to me.

However, I have 2 cats that are very easy to look after. So I’m not too picky. It might be different for someone who has more animals or pets that need to be handled a specific way or that need an experienced sitter. But even then your age is not the important factor, your experience is.

To show you’re experienced, maybe ask friends or relatives to write about how you are with animals. Having other people say nice things about you is always better than saying it yourself :wink:

Saved your listing.

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Thanks for replying. I definitely wouldn’t take them with me, I mentioned it to give context that I am a petlover and have experience looking after them.

What makes you think people over 30 have experience of looking after a large property? But it’s less likely that people in their early 20s will have owned/even rented a property, no matter what size. I’m 66 and have housesat in one large detached house in the UK and have owned my own homes since the age of 25 so know the kind of things that can go wrong. So, guess what you really mean is people who have owned their own home, no matter what the size, because only the lucky few get to own an exclusive and large property.

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If a property is large and exclusive, better to hire professionals.

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I must admit @Maggie8K that was my first thought :wink:

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Age is not important, experience is.

I recently finished a six month sit on a beautiful ten acre property. I had problems with the pool chlorinator, had to organise a replacement. Had a problem with the rideon mower, it had to be taken away and parts replaced. Had a problem with the essential front gate that keeps the dogs in, it literally fell off so I had to get that fixed within hours. I had problems with the dogs health and had two trips to the vet, both resolved. I had problems with the contractor not turning up to clean out gutters full of gum leaves (total current fire hazard) which I did. And more! Normal issues that would have happened had I been there or the HO’s, but I could competently deal with them.

So not saying I am anything special, I just have the life experience to know how to deal with and in most cases, fix myself, all of these and other potential issues which maybe someone young may not. My own son is 33 and still trying to figure out the simplest of things at times so I think in the case of a large property, a sitter with more life experience is a better option. If just a normal home in the suburbs or something like that, age probably is of no consequence.

Just covering all scenarios here.

I’m curious… please elaborate on what makes a property “exclusive “? I’m guessing that’s a term that has different meaning in different regions.

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So apart from all those problems, no problems? :joy::rofl:

@Smiley a few more but who wants to complain :joy::joy::joy::joy: