Right now, I’m taking care of a dog for two weeks.
The problem is that the house is horribly dirty — it smells like dog everywhere, there were unwashed dishes, and smoke all over the place. Please, what should I do?
I’ve cleaned up, but the place is still awful because the carpet has never been washed. It’s dark, the neighbors are noisy… and the dog often goes crazy.
What should I do? This situation is unbearable.
Hi @Kate567
I’m so sorry to hear about this.
Have you reached out to Membership Services about this? If not, I could pass along your info, and ask someone to get in touch.
Hopefully our lovely members will be along soon to offer you some support.
Jenny
Sorry to hear about your situation @Kate567
Assuming that this is a THS sit - There is an Urgent Support 24 hour Phone line that you can call for support - the number is on your dashboard.
The code of conduct that all members agree to includes the following
“ I will create a clean, comfortable and secure environment for my sitter.“
If the place is so dirty that it’s unliveable and you can not stay - you must not abandon the pets . You can give the owner (a minimum of ) 24 hours notice that you intend to leave because of the unsanitary conditions and also inform THS .This gives the host sufficient time to either return home or arrange for alternative arrangements for the care of the dog.
I also suggest that you take lots of photos of the dirty conditions as you may need to “defend” your decision to leave the sit .
Can you clarify what you mean by this - is the dog scared , anxious, playful or aggressive?
If you can please update the forum about the advice that you receive when you speak to member services as this may help other sitters in the future.
@Kate567, +1 for great advice from @Silversitters.
Sounds like there are multiple issues here. In regards cleanliness, we have come to realize that standards are subjective. In case helpful, we have encountered two or three housesits that we deemed dirty. Our tactics varied based on housesit duration, available options and pragmatic solutions. In one case, my spouse bailed to stay with a friend and i completed housesit. In one case, we deep cleaned parts of the property and closed doors to other rooms. We suspect that a subset of pet parents take employer mindset and believe housesitter duties include deep clean.
Hope that you can take step back and determine preferred outcome. Perhaps best of bad choices. We find that this helps to identify, prioritize and execute remedial actions.
Please reach out to THS MS.
Take care of yourself.
Not sure what’s going on with the dog, but as far as the house goes, look on the bright side.
You don’t have to worry about cleaning it.
That would drive me crazy and actually put me in a depressive state. I can’t stand a dirty house. I also find it disrespectful to leave a house in that condition for anyone who will be staying there. Feel sorry for the dog and you. Your choices are to either stay and just clean up the areas you will be using or contact THS and explain the conditions are unlivable and leave after 24 notice to the homeowner.
I’m so very sorry to hear what an awful time you’re having. It’s awful when you have a dirty house to stay in. As always, @Silversitters gives the right advice and I urge you to follow that advice. Please keep us updated. THS should be supportive in your situation, well I hope so anyway.
Not helpful! It’s clearly extremely dirty and it’s also awful having to put up with second hand smoke.
There’s no second hand smoke to put up with.
Hello, thank you for your responses. I’ve contacted the platform and the owner. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to leave the house!
Hello, thank you for your responses. I’ve contacted the platform and the owner. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to leave the house! The dog is very nervous and whines often.
Hello, thank you for your response. I’ve contacted the platform and the owner. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to leave the house!
Hello, thank you for your responses. I’ve contacted the platform and the owner. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to leave the house!
The OP mentioned smoke.
I interpreted that to mean there were signs of smoking around the house.
How can there be actual smoke if the hosts aren’t even there?
It always smells awful in a smoker’s home. You may not be breathing in smoke, but you are breathing in molecules of the ash.
Because heavy smoking lingers in homes, including in paint, furniture, textiles, etc. It’s a constant and, especially for some folks with sensitivity, it’s an even bigger problem.
True but that’s not secondhand smoke.
The term for this has evolved to thirdhand smoke.
Hi everyone!
I think we might be getting a bit sidetracked on definitions here.
Let’s bring the conversation back to OP’s situation. 
I’m glad you’re in the process of getting things sorted out @Kate567 - please feel free to let us know how you’re doing over the coming days.
Jenny
