The nice thing about doing short, weekend sits is the opportunity to build a strong base of positive reviews. Any missteps in selecting, planning, and preparing are easier to learn from and work through in a short sit. Applying for more extended stays in desirable areas can be quite competitive, but having several good reviews will strengthen your application.
3 Likes
I haven’t said in this topic that I mostly sit cats, maybe I have mentioned something on another topic. So to clarify, as it seems relevant here:
The majority of my sits have been cats, but I’ve sat for up to three dogs (! 
My adult child accompanied me, encouraged by the host). My criteria isn’t cats, some sitters sit cats or dogs only. I am a dog owner and have been for decades, so I love dogs and would happily sit dogs.
My criteria is to be able to leave the pet 6+ hours. So I guess for the pool of sits the ratio of catsits is higher. This is an issue that is culturally dependent. In some countries the pet legislation require that the pet is not left longer than so and so, some pet-owners have certain habits and some pets are used to different things and have different amenities (kennels, dog flaps, indoor toilet). In my country it is normal to have a dog and the dog being at home for a working day. But some dogs are alone much less and some almost never left at all. So it varies a lot.
I look for this when I consider applying. As I mostly sit solo and travel for holidays, it is not an interesting sit for me if I can’t leave the pet for 6+ hours. I prefer 7-8, which I would with my own dog. That doesn’t mean that I do that every day. When I go on holiday - regardless of petsitting or not - I like longer outings some of the days each week, while I like some days closer to home, and can also take the dog on a longer walk exploring the surroundings. On my longer outings I might visit a temple, a museum, a nearby town. Even not petsitting, I don’t do 10-12 hours itineraries like some love (Americans! ) So sitting a dog would allow for me a «normal» holiday, really.
The bonus with walking a dog is to get to know a real neighborhood where people live, the occasional smile/ nod/ conversation with other dogowners or someone who thinks I have a cute dog 
. I blend in more like a local with a dog, people regard me differently than a «tourist». I love that. I feel that, too. The sense of belonging.
Last time I sat a dog (could be any pet) and arrived at the destination two days prior to petsit, stayed in a hotel in another nearby city and did some sightseeing there. So that is also an option - making the petsit part of your holiday and then some days without. It worked well also in regard to less stress with flights, handovers etc.
So petsitting gives something extra. I don’t do petsitting only. I have a petsit in July, and then in the fall I have booked a good old charter trip to Spain. Chances are I’ll miss a pet. 
2 Likes
I’m in between. I work from home so do a few sits while working in very nice houses, mainly for a change of scene and fun pets. I might explore a bit for a couple of hours at the weekend, but often just stay in. Usually for a dog, sociable cats or a higher number of animals. I wouldn’t want to use annual leave for these.
Other times I’m in holiday mode and sit for independent type cats, often more ordinary homes (but still all been nice) so I can go and be a tourist during the day.
2 Likes
I usually sit for both Christmas and Thanksgiving, with Christmas being a favorite repeat sit.
2 Likes
Given your preferences and parameters (prefer to sit dogs, can’t work remotely, prefer to leave the country for vacations), probably relatively few THS sits would work for you. Maybe if you could take the dog places as you toured around (which is of course limiting — depends what you’d consider a vacation and maybe what the country’s tolerance of taking dogs around is).
Like the U.K. is generally more welcoming of dogs in pubs, some restaurants and such. I’ve done a repeat sit in Stratford-upon-Avon in the U.K., which I find charming and relaxing, and where they allow dogs in many places. I even had afternoon tea with my sit dog, and we rode a hop-on, hop-off tour bus and took a tour boat, for example. He still couldn’t go into most historic sites, but I toured those before or after my sits, because I usually piggyback stays at hotels. That dog also is super social, never met a stranger. He’s good even among crowds, with other pets and with kids. He lives within an easy stroll to the heart of town, plenty of beautiful walks and weekend community celebrations. So it felt as close to a vacation as possible, even though I was telecommuting from late afternoon till about midnight (based on U.S. work hours).
I do THS sits only when telecommuting, when I’m at a sit home for most of the time. Being in various THS locations gives me a change of scenery. I can see friends or sightsee a bit between work and on weekends. But when I want an actual vacation, I pay for a cruise, book longer hotel stays or take road trips — nonsit travel, without any responsibilities, with full freedom.
Personally, I wouldn’t consider sitting a vacation even if I weren’t telecommuting — too little freedom, too much responsibility and risks. Like if there’s an emergency at your sit home or the sit pet(s) gets sick, or such, your vacation might be shot after you’d laid out travel money and burned your paid time off from work. Of course, all this is subjective.
3 Likes
It would be fun if THS released some statistics on this. I have a feeling there are probably more “part time” sitters than full time ones, including combined members. As a homeowner most of the sitters in my home haven’t been full time or if they were it wasn’t that long term.
I work remotely, and my spouse was working remotely for a while but is now hybrid, with some generous vacation time and a boss who will allow him on occassion to go remote for a week or two. We have pets and even though we can get sitters, we don’t like leaving them too much or for too long. So sits are generally anywhere from 2 -4 night getaway to about two-weeks. Last year there were about 6 sits. (I just added it up and it was around 36 nights.) We haven’t done a sit since November but have 3 lined up for the summer/early fall. All within 3 hours driving, all cat sits that will allow us to hike and enjoy some away from the city time. We may add a couple more short ones before the end of the year. If it is just those 3 it will be around 25 nights.
We usually do cat sits where we can be away for several hours but will consider dog sits where the dog might be able to come with us for hikes and other activities. I’ ve heard full-timers dispute the term “vacation” to describe a sit but to me it’s certainly a vacation. Pet care is a regular part of my routine and enjoyable so doing it while relaxing or siteseeing isn’t much of a stretch. There is no way we could afford to rent a house for a week in the country. Well, maybe we could afford it, but that would be our travel budget for the year.
2 Likes
It’s not in THS’s business interest to share such stats, but they would be interesting to see. Even without that info, though, we can easily look at sitter profiles on the app or site and observe that most sitters have done few sits. The sitters who’ve done a bunch are the exception.
1 Like
If you view doing relatively easy (cat) sits as a travel hack for vacations and getaways, it doesn’t take a lot to justify your membership, especially if you are lucky enough to land a sit in a city with high prices for accomodations. And it really is a great way to experience a place the way a local does.
2 Likes
That’s why I typically try and do only pet sits with cats when I’m choosing a sit where I really want to explore the area, otherwise I am open to dogs and/or cats and have done pet sits with both. You can filter what animals you would like to pet sit for when searching for a sit, sorry if you already knew that.
1 Like
We were originally holiday sitters and used THS for long weekends in the UK in nice locations. Now we are on an early retirement trip and able to do more sits abroad which is great. Both work well. I guess the only downside to holiday sitting is that you might not get a sit for the exact dates you want as you don’t have the luxury of much flexibility. Enjoy it though!
4 Likes
It does seem that there’s a particular need for holiday sitters. While many of us are nomads or retirees, we tend to prefer longer(ish)-term sits, and we may or may not sit over holidays. (For example, I use THS nearly full-time, but I spend the big holidays staying with my parents/family.) Meanwhile, there are definitely more listings around the holidays than at any other time of year. So it’s good that there’s a variety of types of sitters on the platform.
I’ve done dog sits where the dog is completely fine and happy being left alone for long stretches of time (and the HO has no problem with it either), and it’s what they’re used to with their owners. Of course, many dogs cannot be left alone for much time, so it completely depends. Read the Responsibilities section of the listing, and confirm these expectations in conversation with the HO before committing. But you might be surprised by what you can find – it just might take a little patience waiting and watching for the right opportunity to come up with a lower-maintenance pet. Cat sits or small-pet sits (rabbits, fish) are also great for freeing up your time.
3 Likes
I use various types of accommodation and travel in different ways, but also used to travel way more traditionally.
Now, taking a 10hour flight just to see one city in a single state, country, or province no longer feels ideal (..might be a travel fomo)
Not only because of layovers in interesting cities, but also in places like the UK, where the entire country is so well connected by train. It just makes much more sense to visit multiple places in one go. All about the journey, right😉
2 Likes
I work in a school, and my boys are at school, so we sit during school holidays and weekends. It allows us to visit new places and to get away more than we could otherwise afford to.
Most of our sits involve dogs, although we have done a few cat sits and one with just chickens and fish. We prefer dogs who can either be left for 4 hours, or who can come exploring with us. We have taken dogs on steam train trips, up mountains, and on buses and the underground around London. Recently we did a day trip to an island, taking the dog on a small boat to get there.
We do enjoy living like a local and exploring the countryside and more “off the beaten path” locations, rather than expensive tourist attractions and full on days of sightseeing. If we don’t see everything it just gives us a reason to return! We have also managed to combine sitting with meeting up with friends and attending dog friendly events.
Once the boys have left school and we are no longer tied to school holidays, I would probably look to work more flexibly and be able to do more travelling and house sitting. A few more years to go before that happens…
6 Likes