Hi @Crazydoglady . I am also in my sixties, part-time sitter and always felt there were sits just fitted for me. I chose some that I would be good at and always found good matches. Like being said, this special time of pandemic needs more patience. From all us. Stay hopeful, there are some assignments just for you that are coming.
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I totally agree with your comments. Age is just one consideration that gets taken into account by an owner.
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Hang in there @Crazydoglady! We’re only now seeing owners having a little more confidence in advertising listings in the hope of being able to go away this year. There are far more sitters than owners so it is a very competitive time. It’s understandable that HO may want a local sitter, or at least someone from their own country, or a previous sitter, as there may be less complications should the sit have to be cancelled.
I’m older than you and have plenty more years ahead of me to house and pet sit!! Probably the majority of the HO I have sat for are from 40 years old onwards. I tend not to apply to younger HO, not because of their age but because of their location which is mainly in large cities which doesn’t appeal to me.
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Hi @temba
I’m hanging in by the skin of my teeth lol
I’ve now been rejected 7 times!
I’m not used to it as I usually get chosen straight away 
I’m apply for sits in my country and not too far away.
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I’m a HO and before moving to France and living in UK the lady i used to take our dogs to (you had to take your pets to the sitters home where i lived) was retired and she was brilliant with the dogs, so much that word got around and in the end it was difficult to book her. I certainly wouldn’t be put off at all . I think just with COVID, HO and sitters are desperate to travel so therefore possibly the applications now are far more now UK has now relaxed.
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Hi there, @Crazydoglady I’m a HO and also 60, and when looking for a sitter we tend to lean more toward people of our own age, the sitters that we have coming next weekend are also the same age as us… so don’t give up on age grounds!
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@Foldor13
Thank you for your encouraging words 
I’ll keep optimistic
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Hi Crazydoglady – I’m well into my 70s, a single woman who’s had 36 TH sits in 8 years, in crowed cities and isolated countryside spots, in 10 countries, looking after a wide variety of different animals. Of course some homeowners will prefer younger petsitters (or not want single sitters), often this is fairly clear from the posting, and naturally that’s their prerogative. I’ve pet sat for young people, old people, in-between people, and must say I’ve never felt any discrimination on account of my own age. I think in this time of Covid the vast majority of home owners will prefer to find someone fairly local if they can, rather than someone travelling internationally, and that’s perfectly reasonable. My general advice is to be patient, be personable in your application, tell the homeowners something about yourself (maybe you have things in common), offer to Skype or whatever so they can get to know you better. Hang in there! Things will hopefully get better and open up more again soon. I’m not even applying for overseas sits now – certainly cuts down on the possible rejections, haha!
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Thank you for your advice Phanty I’m so glad to hear your age doesn’t stop you.
After being turned down for 7 sits I was about to give up so I tweaked my profile a little and now I have had 3 wonderful sits confirmed
Sue x
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Age does matter in my experience.It is very easy for young retirees to charm their way into country sits with lots of active dogs. However, it is far more difficult to get a sit in a large town or city. We have tried many times to be chosen for a sit in Edinburgh but never succeeded. Usually the animal owner is a young professional and they seem to prefer someone of their own age. We were very lucky to be chosen for a three week sit in London once and it seems impossible to get one in NYC but we were lucky enough to look after a beautiful dog an hour away.
Hope not or we our snookered 
Unfortunately, getting a sit in NYC is very difficult no matter your age. It’s got to be one of the most competitive places to house sit. I say this as someone who has been sitting with THS since 2016 (usually full time). I look for house sits in NYC twice a year to visit my friends/family there. My partner and I are both in the young category (lol for lack of a better phrase) and it’s still quite difficult, even being from the city and knowing it well. I’ve never sat in Edinburgh but I imagine that is also highly competitive as so many people wanna visit there.
Just wanted to say that as it sounds like your experiences are more about highly competitive places rather than age. Don’t lose hope =)
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Maybe it’s also to do with the competitiveness of sits in major cities. We are in our late 50’s but have had several sits in London, and were due to be house sitting in New York for 3 weeks when Covid struck. We’ve sat in major cities around the world in the US and Australia, but generally it’s been when we’ve managed to get in the first 3-5 applications. I wonder if that makes a difference?
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Great minds hey hey 
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Hi Elsie I have to say that I have not found age to be a barrier, not yet anyway and I’m in the “senior sitter” cohort, if we are categorising.
We have been successful in popular (and oversubscribed) cities around the world with both young and not so young owners, coincidentally though we were unsuccessful in Edinburgh recently I put that down to the post COVID climate, the owners chose a local sitter and already known to them.
As @alternativetravelers says it could be more to do with the competitiveness than anything else, also there are those sitters who sit permanently in cities and rarely look elsewhere which increases the competitiveness as they are on the spot, available to do pre sit visits and have no travel challenges.
Don’t give up it will happen … it just takes the right one at the right time.
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Don’t give up Elsie on Edinburgh as we secured a sit there in 2017 and are in our 60s and from Down Under.
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Hi @Provence thank you for sharing your experience, another endorsement that age isn’t necessarily an issue … when it’s right it will happen.
Never, ever give up.
PS I beat you by three years!
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There is a dog sitting being advertised now in Cramond. It is a lovely area very close to Edinburgh centre. Worth a look
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Yes, and we just got it. Over the moon, a fortnight in this wonderful area. It’s even better being close to the city but not actually in it. The irony is the pet owners are coming down to Poole, five miles from where we live.
A very happy Elsie
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HI @ElsieDownie
Cramond is close to the “beach” and there is a super walk along the River Almond.
What are your dates ? I live in Edinburgh if you fancied meeting up for a coffee and chat.
The photo isn’t quite at the beach but close.
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