I’ve received an invite from someone in my local community asking me to sit for them for around 5 days. No reviews available on the profile. The property isn’t particularly appealing, and I already live here so there isn’t the normal incentive to agree to it. The dog is absolutely gorgeous though, and they’re an older person so I’m assuming may not have funds to spend on hiring a sitter and I’d be willing to help them out on that basis.
Does anyone know if it is against THS terms to have someone’s pet stay at your own property? I would be more willing to say yes if this were an option. If the HO wanted I’d be willing to check in on their property occasionally as well.
The sit is for 5 days during the working week. I normally work in the office but don’t think it would be an issue to wfh for this period.
Unfortunately, that’s against THS policy - owners must provide an overnight stay at their own property and pop ins or any other arrangements aren’t allowed on THS (unless you wanted to make those arrangements yourself outside of the program, which is risky, as that would be a private arrangement where you won’t be covered by any THS policy or support if anything goes wrong and you cannot have a confirmed sit via THS for such an arrangement).
My advice would be that if you don’t like the sound of the sit, don’t take it. It’s a matching platform, and for it work well it has to be a great match on both sides. Only accept a sit if it feels right for you; this is a mutually beneficial exchange and it certainly shouldn’t feel one sided where you feel you’re just doing somebody a ‘free favour.’
Seeing as the HO has an unattractive listing, they are probably desperately sending invites to hundreds of sitters (which is often unsuccessful). What would actually help this HO is if you suggested that they jump on the forum and get some help with their listing, which might help them attract applicants, and explain to them that sending invites doesn’t often work out. Hope that helps
I don’t know it this is against TH policies or not so you may have to check but I would go to their house and meet them before the sit since it is in the area you live in. You will get a better feel of the house and pet. The house may not be as bad as the pictures or worse. You may feel more comfortable about the sit after your visit.
I would ask TH if you stay there can you take the dog to your house for the day as you do some work? Sleep at their house. Again, I have no idea if this is allowed or not.
@seniorsitter Unfortunately, it’s against policy. As per the T’s & C’s, owners must have a sitter stay in their home
With THS, sitters aren’t just providing pet care - they must also care for the home and be living in the home while the owner is away. It provides not just a free and unique homestay for a sitter, but also security for the owner that somebody is occupying and caring for the property while they’re absent.
@FrancescaD
You could offer to do it as a private arrangement outside of THS - but if you did this you would not be covered by THS if anything went wrong .
@FrancescaD You have already received advice about staying in the owner’s home as part of the agreement. The other question you asked is about having the pet stay at your own property. That is not allowed by THS. If this invitation is not to your liking, you are under no obligation to accept it. They could well have sent out many invitations!
Just beware that you can not use THS for your own (business) purposes and such, so it could be a risk suggesting on platform if it could be considered breach of terms.
After 2 very successful sits with the same host, we looked after their dog in our home for a weekend as it seemed the best arrangement for both parties. This was arranged privately. We did another sit for the host last month and this was a combination of living in their home and ours with their dog.
I’m guessing the owners are new to the site and don’t really understand how it works or that they should make the listing public and let sitters find it. They joined THS so that they wouldn’t need to pay for a sitter and would be able to have a sitter in their home. Offering to board the dog for pay or sit in their home for pay could get you into trouble if the owner reported it. You would be doing the homeowner a favor by explaining how things worked and maybe offering a phone number if she wants more advice. You could always mention OFF site and not in writing that if she can’t find anyone and decides NOT to do THS you’d be happy to board the dog in your home for a fee. But I’d be careful about even doing that as it could be misinterpretted and come back to bite you.
