I have been contacting sitters in our area for a one month sit due to low applicants. I’ve screened out several that indicate they either own a pet or their photos show pets that appear to be their own (several years of same dogs).
One particular one doesn’t indicate if they still have their pets. I’d like to be able to ask them if they travel with their pets or not before sending an invite, just not sure that’s an option. I would not invite them if they bring their pet(s). I’d feel bad inviting, then saying Not if you bring your dogs(s). Seems rude. Not sure how to handle this. Is there a better way to ask up front? Thx.
Just because they have pets doesn’t mean they automatically want to take them on sits. We had a couple sit for us who have a dog but it stays with relatives when they go housesitting. Just add to your invite that you notice they have a pet themselves but unfortunately you can’t accommodate another animal in the home because of X.
We have a cat, she stays at home with the neighbours. Just send the invites to as many sitters as possible and then weed out the real dog owners/travellers from there. The individual invites don’t tend to have a great hit rate TBH so you may as well send as many as possible to stand a chance of finding someone @kallie. #massmailing
Same pets over and over doesn’t mean they own those pets. They may be old pics and the pets or gone. or they could belong to friends or family. If you’re concerned, just ask. But, invites rarely work. Have you had your listing reviewed to make sure it’s complete and provides all of the info sitters want?
ETA: never mind, I see you’ve had your listing reviewed. The date is going to be your #1 problem. If you want more traction you should really figure out a way to change your dates.
@KChev Thank you. I find it awkward enough asking without having to invite then add stipulations but if that’s the only way, perhaps I can word it that way. Just can’t see a way to message without invite. Thank you. That does help. I do appreciate the ones that state if they wish to bring their pet up front.
@Cuttlefish Yes I’m finding that difficult. I know I wouldn’t leave my pets to care for someone else’s so would not expect that from someone else, especially for a long sit. Just trying to make it less awkward. Thank you for your reply.
Many sitters who may prefer to travel with a pet understand that most people probably would not feel comfortable inviting a strange animal into the home. So I don’t think many would be offended if you mentioned this. And if they were, that has nothing to do with you…this is a perfectly reasonable preference shared by many hosts.
As how to word it exactly, you could say something along the lines of knowing your own pet, you don’t think they would respond well to sharing their space with an unknown animal, so it would not be possible to host a sitter’s pets.
Kaleden without a car is impossible (as you know) so is there any way you could offer the use of your car to make it more appealing to applicants who could then fly in? You’re restricting your pool of applicants to only those able to drive to the interior for a month in the winter and that’s a pretty small pool. Especially as even though you don’t have snow, the passes getting to you often do.
If you were able to offer airport pickup from Kelowna/Penticton and use of your car that could boost your chances of finding a sitter. If you do decide to offer your car, I’d add that to the headline of the sit.
As for your actual question…I think it’s fine to invite people with the caveat that if they sit with their own pets you wouldn’t be able to accommodate that. I don’t think that’s rude at all.
@meow Yes, I do realize a car would be very important, just not sure the insurance implications but may have to check that out with ICBC. That is exactly why I’ve been reaching out to THS sitters within our area. Also worried about counting on flight arrivals and mountain pass drives. All stressful. Thank you.
Just popping by to say that I do have a pet, but never bring her to sits. Family members look after her, sometimes I pay for kennel for her while I petsit. So it is not a given that petsitters bring their pets as others have said. Travelling internationally it would often imply cargo travel, import regulations and possible quarantine also, I guess.
Hi. Your beginning date might make the sitter pool smaller as sitters might want to enjoy new years eve instead of traveling to a petsit. Is there a way to give them more time to get settled in? Also, I agree with including a car as that might open up to sitters who don’t live in the local area.
@Garfield Oh I can totally understand international travel. We do have an applicant that does have 2 dogs that they would be leaving behind. It’s the fairly local ones that I am reaching out to that I would never expect someone to have to leave their dog behind to care for mine for a month.
@IHeartAnimals Oh absolutely! Have lots of room to accommodate people earlier. I have changed the date a few times. Recently shortened it as I’m focusing on sitters in our region. That way no worry about delayed flights or snowy mountain passes and vehicle requirements.
@kallie, we’ve completed multiple housesits in interior BC. Nice spot. But, for clarity, we’re fully booked during your dates. Comments in case helpful
- Invites. for expectations … we receive steady trickle of unsolicited invites from pet parents. for us, it’s never worked out due to combination of date mismatch, geographic location or other aspects. if using invites, consider local area as likely have own car.
- listing. love fact that you’ve clearly offered ability for housesitter to arrive one or more days prior to start date. on month+ housesits, we find early arrival is common request. given time of year, and weather uncertainties, then this seems frankly necessary.
- car. you noted intent to call ICBC. I’d be surprised if adding temporary driver were a technical challenge (depending on country of license of housesitter) but there’ll be a cost.
- housesitter pet. we don’t take pet on housesits. others have given good feedback
- your pets. 2 dogs + horse + rabbit seems above-average pet care. even without winter conditions. may deter housesitters. suspect subset of housesitters experienced with horses. consider asking a neighbour to care for the horse, and restrict housesitter responsibilities to dogs and rabbit
- puppies. oh boy. this will deter many housesitters. i see listing contains good info on puppies. ensure plenty on age, behaviour, toilet training, sleeping location.
- christmas. THS community folks with experience have commented on other Forum posts that housesits over christmas period can be atypically tricky. many housesitters are at home with their families
- pets left. can your pets be left for a while? how long? some housesitters may be attracted to your area partly to explore surrounding natural beauty. some may even seek to ski (can a neighbour check on pets if housesitter skis for a day?)
- backup plan. encourage reflect on what’s most important to you. it’s possible that xmas + puppies + horse + rural + no car + month attracts small pool of housesitters. hopefully you’ll find someone fabulous but if struggle with courting housesitter then you may need to get creative or compromise
Do you mean you’ve been sending invitations to apply? It rarely works out that way and is much better to respond to sitters who apply to your listing. You can specify in your listing that you will not accept sitters who wish to bring their own pets.
Good luck!
a thorough review with lots of suggestions was done a couple weeks ago. IMO the biggest issue is the start date. Few people will want to start a sit on NYE.
I immediately amended my post @CreatureCuddler when I realised the OP has already done this.
Agreed.
I see the listing now commences with ‘Our travel starts Jan 1, but we would welcome you to arrive a day or several days prior to the sit to familiarize yourselves and settle in’. Since sitters check out dates first and foremost (well, we do), I’d suggest @kallie that you amend your official dates to include an early arrival - at latest 30th December - than identify that you’ve added two days to the beginning of the sit, but that sitters are welcome to arrive even earlier, or as late as 31st if they prefer. By flipping things around like this, you might get more interest.
If someone is bringing their pets with them they should always say so in their profile. The vast majority do not take their pets with them, even if they have their own. So to me, it sounds like a waste of a question, like you haven’t read my profile.
Perhaps pop in your profile a very short line with ‘sorry no sitter’s pets permitted’. Any without pets won’t think any of it, and the ones with pets have ruled themselves out straight away.
Also, if you don’t mind sitters that don’t have horse experience, then I would re-arrange your photos to increase the number of sitters that take notice. Because for us, as soon as we see a horse as your first image, then we would click away thinking we weren’t qualified. We wouldn’t read on. Put a different one as your main image, so sitters don’t rule themselves out at first glance.
@GotYourBack Thank you. All wonderful comments. I think the puppies may be a deterrent. They are house trained and can be left for 6-7 hours with outside access. I can update that info. Horse is actually easy. Hay, grain and water at the front door and she’s happy. Last 2 years pre-pups was easy peasy with nice selection of applicants. Be perfect for a nice retired couple. Will give it a couple weeks before full panic mode. I’m almost ready to cancel. Thank you.