I see there are many topics happening here. Im a bit confused. I thought your pet is the judge of good character. Surely if you meet a sitter 1st zoom etc the owner then makes the commitment for their pet am I right?
Unless the pet has super advanced communication skills, then yes. Its usually agreed by humans on both sides
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Morning yes pets are very intelligent. Maybe thats its then super power owners. I mean the 5 rule. But who wants to vet more more more?
Not sure where this thread is going but I would say it is important for both pet sitters and homeowners to âvetâ each other. If it takes more than five applications then that is what it will take. It needs to be a good match for all concerned, humans and pets.
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Its a big step for a HO, so understandable they want to feel 100% confident they have picked the correct person. They are letting a complete stranger into their house to look after their pet.
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Yes halt when i read some threadâs all the different situations and opinions makes me feel well ??? HO living more rural takentheir time. Where as more city people seem quite sharp in their decisions. Am i right? Thats how it is for me anyways. I think it would be simply crazy as you really must love pets completely an have patience too tc
Iâm not sure what point you are trying to make. Are you a sitter or a HO? Whatâs the issue?
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If what youâre getting at is that in this system, the in person meetings usually only occur AFTER the sit has been agreed on, then yes that is the case.
This can be hard for both experienced pet parents and professional or semi-pro sitters to grasp since a âmeet and greetâ is usually a must in paid sitting situations.
I often see THS sitters in person before the sit when they come to pick up the keys the day Iâm leaving or before. Mostly my cat Walter will greet them while the other guys hide. The one time a sitter seemed uninterested in Walter, they wound up cancelling and despite its being last minute, I felt like I dodged a bullet.
Because humans are doing the vetting, itâs super important that the pet parents do some work on this and donât automatically âtrustâ sitters just because they are members of trusted housesitters. This is why references and reviews are super important as are application letters and how sitters present themselves on video chats.
This is Walter:
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Precisely i started a thread and the point is different opinions different feelings. Yes thats the point no issues ok dont you think its interesting how many directions this threads goes off on? Right im a sitter. All the vetting is done by TH already. Maybe just try intuition maybe when trusting someone with your home an pets maybe???
Evening Marion sorry you had been let down. Seems crazy to apply then cancel. You really need to love pets an animals to start with to join. What a creative photo thanks tc
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EDITING THIS SLIGHTLY FOR CLARITY AS I THINK IT WAS MISUNDERSTOOD:
Gotta disagree with that. I sit as well as host. Beyond an identity check for sitters and superficial background check in the US, TH does not vet sitters. When petparents join, as I remember I think THS also requires Petparents to submit a photo id, and allegedly a human looks at photos of the house submitted on a listing and the pet parentâs listingg before it goes live the first time, but thatâs it. Sitters and petparents arenât actually vetted in any meaninful way. This is matching site, and for safetyâs sake, weâve all got to properly vet each other.
Iâm sorry, that is not a cat, it is a gray tiger prawn. 
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I donât think you can say country people are slow to respond and city people are fast, itâs more about their personalities and general style of comms. What does come up a lot and is worth noting is that good comms is EVERYTHING alongside trusting your intuition. From the outset @Sharonshepherd1 - if both sides are not clear, friendly, prompt and open then itâs not a sit for us or many others. If it feels âoffâ for any reason at all then simply donât do it. #trustyourgut
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How cute is this little guy 
cuteness overload
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Oh my word yes the US yes Im in the UK. Of course if both parties agree to further ID checks fine. For me i like the way the actual stay is tracked. I dont know are paid sitters under this type of scrutiny??? Ok tc
Oh well maybe someday someone may have monkeys to sit not just tiger prawns
Arr thanks cutterfish. I see we all have different experiences valuable to know. Whats comms please sorry bout my ignorance ok yeah i like the ignorance thing. Maybe TH do they put a time limit on making decisions??? Also you wait means then you cancel others you see ok tc
Comms stands for communication. No, there is no time limit on responding to sits or applications but good ones go fast and if you donât respond quickly as an HO (home owner) then you will lose good sitters. 48/72 hours is considered polite. Once you have confirmed one sit then yes, you should quickly cancel your other applications to sits to free them up. Hope that helps @Sharonshepherd1
That is absolutely incorrect. THS does not do any vetting whatsoever. It can verify ID, etc., but members do the vetting themselves.
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Iâm in the UK and from our experience those living more rural areas DO NOT take their time at all, as we get given the go-ahead very quickly.
Maybe you just arenât the right fit for the rural sits that you are applying for, whereas maybe you are the perfect fit for the ones in cities if you feel they are quick to decide.
Just a thought, but maybe ask yourself how many sits have you completed? How many sits have you been accepted for? How many sits have you applied for? Then see if thereâs a pattern as to why you think that way, because you could save yourself time by going for the sits you are most likely to be accepted for, which is perhaps City ones.
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