As a pet parent and sitter, I pride myself on my relatability to the joys and challenges of both worlds. Despite my emphasis during an interview with Sitters on the importance of walking the dogs for 25-40 minutes and knowing there is a ring camera, why would any sitter continue to think that once you get a sitting opportunity, you should ignore it? As a pet parent, trust was given based on your words, and trust and promises should be kept. As a sitter myself, I would ask about what the priorities for the dogs are and adhere to that or don’t apply at all.
Can we all talk about the elephant in the room, the ring or outdoor camera? Have you experienced a sitter not doing what they promised or breaking the rules, such as smoking or not walking the dogs as asked for the duration you requested through random outdoor camera notifications?
Having read your thread titled “Micromanaging” and now this one where you appear to have another problem, maybe with the same sitter, I am wondering what you aim to achieve from this new thread?
Firstly, sitters do not expect to have an “interview”, more like a 2 sided conversation. Secondly, most sitters do not ignore the pet owners instructions.
I feel that this new thread is unnecessary
Maybe to you, it is unnecessary. To me, I am open to others’ opinion. In my experience with my dog throwing up, I found out that she was not taking the time to walk my Shiba as requested, that is when I asked her if she might not be giving him the time to throw up outside as she rushed the walk a few times. Thanks for your perspective.
Does Shiba often throw up outside? That’s what your comment here implies.
Of course sitters should walk dogs according to the detail in the listing, which should be repeated in the welcome guide. We always do walk dogs and so have nothing to hide, but I’d be mortified to find HOs were monitoring and timing these walks via their exterior cameras. I think that’s totally untrusting and verging on micromanaging, yes. I would hope that our hosts were busy enjoying their holidays, not timing how long their dogs are being walked.
The elephant in the room isn’t the outdoor ring camera. The elephant in the room is that you’re using an outdoor security camera to monitor the other party. It’s doubtful they were aware of this before agreeing or commencing the sit. And the red flag is that you’re describing this as a one-way opportunity for the other party. It’s supposed to be a two-way, equitable exchange.
@FaithHopeLove, @Itchyfeet makes a good point. Sounds you have may have significant concerns with trust of housesitters.
If you have specific expectations then suggest detail them in listing. Most listings state, to various levels of detail, exercise expectations.
A housesitter not executing pet exercise and disregarding an external camera strikes us as unprofessional, stupid, and hopefully rare. State related facts in their review - that’s the purpose of the review system.
Could they have possibly gone through the garage door where the ring camera doesn’t record? Whatever is agreed to during the application process should be what happens. Sometimes I will take the car for an outing with some of my kids for a long duration so it may seem like I left the dog alone too long. In actuality, my husband or my high schooler is still in the house to let the dog out to pee and play with them. I’ve never had a host question me because I always explain any possible weird situation in my nightly updates in case a nosey neighbor calls them and says we were gone 6 hours or something.
This post is surprising on top of your micromanaging post and adds more colour to your issues with your sitter (you neglected to mention the camera in your micromanaging post). It reinforces our decision not to take sits where outdoor cameras are present. We were micromanaged once on a sit where the HO commented several times on our movements outside (nothing to do with their pets). This made us VERY uncomfortable.
We take sitting very seriously and meet our obligations so “the elephant in the room” for us is lack of trust and this post reinforces that cameras combined with human nature = unhappy sitters and home owners.
Like the op I’m a pet parent and a sitter. However, I live in a city apartment and while there are cameras all around me, I have no access to any of their findings! I’ve been on several pet sits with ring cameras and a dog sit where the dog had a tracker and honestly, I’ve never given any of them a moments thought.
Wow fast judgement here, just because I checked once it didn’t mean I was “monitoring”. Who has time for that? I actually turned off my ring notification.
Your judgement of me micromanaging is after realizing my sitter texted me my dog threw up ALL OVER the place..yes she had it all caps. Then followed by my inquiry after 45 min. Is he okay..then followed by 23 hours of no reply from the sitter? Tell me, as a dog parent, what could you do? But I understand there are three sides to each story. Not everyone is conscientious about their responsibility. I certainly chose her because I trusted her. Who doesn’t?
I definitely mentioned it in my listing, emphasized it in the interview. Stressed the importance of long walk as Shiba is very quirky. They took forever… It requires someone patient to own a Shiba. They are also nervous with changes. The sitter told me she loved long walks…and we walked twice together. So as much as I would like to. I cannot paint the full picture here. Just want to share that we as sitters were entrusted with a home in exchange for the said responsibility. Responsible sitters would do accordingly.
Our unit is one way in and one way out. I appreciate your perspective as it’s always best to give someone a benefit of the doubts. I wouldn’t have checked the camera had I not got a text of my dog threw up ALL OVER the place. Yes received that in all caps. Then my follow up question on how is he doing wasn’t replied after her report of a pet issue.
Whatever has happened is teaching me lessons. As HO, I believe trust has to be given as that’s the merits of the system.
Yet it seems like there are sitters that don’t fulfill the requests as stated.
Throughout our life, trust is earned. On THS, trust was granted until it’s broken. Sadly.
Not sure whether your question is genuine, but if it is, the answer is: Because some people are untrustworthy and don’t consider (or don’t care about) consequences or don’t care whom they hurt, as long as they get what they want.
Or shorter version: Because some people are jerks.
it’s not an interview. if you see it as such, you picking a candidate, not a mutual agreement, then this is the route of your problems, for this sit, and I would think future sits.
Does knowing there is an outside camera change the sitters behaviour?
Not mine. I ask. I read. And then I do what the host wants us to do with their pets. In return I hope I get the same treatment and not be spied on. If I am, there is no return sit.
Do you have a back yard? Possible the sitter was throwing balls or frisbee in the yard for hours for exercise. Maybe to switch things up. Dogs love to play with balls thrown, some may prefer that vs a walk. Please trust sitters. We do try to do our best, but some homeowners expect very exact times that may not work for a sitter.
I have come to realize that I need to use the word chat on the forum and in my emails to sitters, but an “interview” isn’t just a job interview. I’ve had to do interviews on both sides for volunteer positions and all sorts of “jobs” that aren’t paid jobs and even to get rentals or go buy an apartment. You might feel strongly about this word, but I’ve had great sits where homeowners may have used the “i” word.
its obvious to me though, that the person who posted here very much sees themselves as being above the sitter, and having interviewed them (one way process) for this particular sit
All interviews are a two way process, so not sure what the hang up is with that word. When I interview with a company, I am also interviewing them to see if I’d be happy there.
As far as cameras, I have no issue with someone monitoring when I come and go. If I agreed to walk a dog for a certain amount of time, I am going to do that and probably more. You can’t just blindly trust people. I had one sitter forget to give my dogs water so they were drinking out of the toilet. My little one had no access to water for who knows how long. An outdoor camera is obviously going to be monitored, just don’t be crazy about it.