I disagree. I think there have been several posts where sitters just write that dogs can last 8 or more hours, nothing about being tired on the walk.
I have seen those too and I agree some dogs regularly stay home alone that long when owners are working.
That is something different and what I have read is the same as @Garfield mentioned, not that people are not willing to walk the dog as much as agreed but the dog doesn’t seem to be used to long walks. I clearly remember some posters mentioned getting the total walking time in more walks so that the dog would not get so tired.
What I do remember is HOs complaining that their dogs have not been walked as much as agreed, they have information from neighbors or cameras. So, yes, not everyone (sitters or HOs) keep their part of the agreement but they don’t usually come to the forum to boast about it.
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@Huronbase Exactly, but the OP did not initially state the candles were new, just that her ‘main issue’ related to ‘burning candles in jars’.
We’ve done sits in homes where there are such candles, clearly already used, and we’ve occasionally lit them to create a bit of ambiance in the evenings. We wouldn’t do so if they were new and especially not if boxed (detail which was not added by the OP until her later post). If candles are for decorative purposes only, or if they’d prefer for them not to be lit - for fire safety etc - this can easily be made clear by the host.
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When gift boxes are left out ( whether these are toiletries in the bathroom , food items in kitchen or candles in living room or bedroom ) it can look like it is a gift the host has left for the sitter .
To avoid any misunderstandings it’s best for hosts to put things away that are not intended to be used by the sitter .
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Host had put out things for us to use as a gift, but we didn’t understand that it was a gift.
It could be perceived as entitled and ungrateful that we dismissed a gift we were given. But as the host said after sit that it was a gift, we got the opportunity to say that we didn’t realise.
So communication is key. And not assume the worst if one doesn’t know.
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I agree it can be confusing. My 3rd sit, there was a basket of snacks. I assumed they were how they kept snacks for themselves and didn’t touch them. On a later sit, there were a basket of snacks with a note they were for me. Now I think back and probably the earlier snacks were for me, but it is best to leave a note.
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@EmmaNew23
Why do you think they used so much cleaning products and your candles?
For future sits, may I suggest you make it clear in your welcome guide what is expected, allowed and out of bounds.
Also mention that the candles are decorative only as they are dangerous to your dogs, and mention that the towels are for show only, and not to be used…
This will help you and any future sitters.
I have really enjoyed reading many of the threads on this forum and felt it was time to join in! The question of an honest review prompted me to write this …
We have used TH as HO many times, almost all successfully (see below!) and with many repeat visitors who have since become friends, but I feel the need to tell the story of the not-so-good sit that happened a couple of years ago.
We were due to go away for a week and had our HS in place, a single man, with some positive reviews on the TH Website. We met him the night before our planned trip and all was going well so far. Our dog seemed to like the man and we felt reasonably comfortable.
Then a minor disaster struck at the airport and, as a result, we weren’t able to take our planned trip so we returned home. We explained the situation to our HS who told us that he would have to stay as he had no other place to go to. It was slightly awkward, particularly as we seemed to have very little in common with the HS, but we understood and tried to be as accommodating as possible.
Fortunately our house is so configured that he was able to stay relatively easily and be separate from us. He had a separate lounge, bedroom and bathroom and could share the kitchen with us. We suggested that he pretended as much as possible that we weren’t there - he could continue to look after our pooch, taking him for his walk each day and we would take day trips and eat out as much as possible to keep out of his way and to enjoy a slightly different holiday to the one we had planned.
And so, we were able to observe at first hand the man in our home and the way he looked after it and our dog. We weren’t entirely happy.
The dog walks were exceptionally short, the HS would come back and then take off on much longer walks on his own. We were told that he preferred to leave our dog at home as he (the dog) couldn’t keep up with him. We found this quite at odds with the dog we knew and who had been on long walks with previous housesitters.
So, at that point, we agreed to resume total care of our dog, who walked perfectly happily and capably with us as we expected.
The man himself took over his side of the house, spreading himself comfortably over our furniture, watching TV with cushions piled up around him, feet on the sofa and making himself very much at home. His food was spread over the kitchen surfaces, despite us making cupboard space for him.
When it was time for him to leave, we saw how disorganised he was. He had sprawled out so much that, if we hadn’t gone round after him before he left, he would have left behind quite a few of his possessions.
Now, this is the tricky part. Had we not been staying in our home at the same time as the HS, what would we have seen? A daily photograph of our happy dog out on a walk? A message saying all was going well, that everyone was doing fine? Would the HS have felt under less pressure as he was packing up if we hadn’t been there and so wouldn’t have forgotten some of his stuff? We certainly know what we wouldn’t have seen!
So, in the spirit of fairness, we decided that we couldn’t honestly leave a review for this sitter. It was interesting that he didn’t review us either.
The rhetorical question is - Was that the right decision?
PS I see that this particular HS is now inactive!
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I’m not sure your solution was the best. If there was an airport issue and you wound up cancelling the trip, that does leave the sitter stranded, and they could "dispute the cancellation – claiming you could have gone elsewhere or done something else. Instead you invited the sitter to stay. But as you were there, the sit was officially over at that point and should have been cancelled. And the only reviews should have been an explanation of why the sit was shortened to one day! It was very kind of you to have him stay over as a houseguest, but it wasn’t an obligation – although certainly offering him at least a night or two so he could make other plans would have been kind. I don’t know whose idea it was that he’d do dog care once you were home but it sounds like messy boundaries.
The main thing though is once you were home this wasn’t a sit and should have ended regardless of whether or not he was your guest.
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that’s just wild to me!
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This guy sounds strangely familiar. Oh, that’s right — I’m confusing him with one of my adult kids who came home during the pandemic. 
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Welcome to forum @scheeperssue !
As Marion says - as I see it the sit ended when you returned. After that it was no longer a sit, it was you inviting a houseguest.
But as you treated it as a sit both of you it seems - i think you should have left a review if you regarded it a sit. Because that is what the “trusted” is about. Having reviews.
This was a problem before (and might have been during this sit) because the reviews weren’t blind and one could use reviews retaliatory if given a less than stellar review.
It is much better now that the reviews are blind, as the other party can not see the review they’ve got before they have submitted their own or when the 14-day limit is up - either way they can’t alter their review after (but both can give one answer to the review they’ve got).
So now it is important to give a review. For various reasons
- As a fellow member I think it is a responsibility we have as contributors to the community, we have a mutual responsibility to do this
- As feedback to sitter so he can know what you weren’t happy about - improve and be able to get sits in the future
- To other hosts so they can pick the right sitter
- To other sitters - so that they will be rewarded for giving a 5*-sit and not get same review as the under par sitters
Or as a control-question - would you have picked him had you known?
You are right that we don’t really know what happens when we are not there. Sometimes it is vital information, sometimes it is not. Some hosts require that one mop the floor daily or keep it tidy during sit. I don’t apply. I don’t think it is up to them, so then it isn’t a good match for me. I see my responsibility to deliver result - as clean when they return. If I have an empty pizza box on counter while I’m there, then that is my problem as long as it is not there when they come home.
I rented an AirBnB once where I suddenly realised that the owner came home when we were out. I noticed because I saw that the laundry on a narrow balcony changed. That wasn’t really very comfortable to know - and I kind of wish I didn’t know. Had I known before booking, I probably wouldn’t have. So this can go both ways.
One can know if the dog has been properly walked or pet taken care of in many cases. Is the pet calm and harmonious - or very energetic, overweight, constipated, skittish… I think in many cases there are signs.
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Thanks for your detailed reply. I agree with so much of what you’ve written.
Your AirBnB situation sounded difficult. We’ve stayed in a couple of AirBnBs and wondered what the owner must have thought when they came in for one reason or another! We were there with our two grown-up kids and their partners, who seemed to revert to their teenage, untidy selves and spread out their shoes everywhere!! Always shoes!!
But, as you say, if you live untidily in my home for the duration of the sit and then have a mad clean up before my return, if I didn’t see or know about the “mess”, then I’m happy and the sitter gets 5* for cleanliness.
I can’t see the HS profile now as he is no longer active on TH, but I know there were enough positives about his profile that we were happy offer him the sit originally.
In an ideal world, I would have written a review but, when I looked at the situation objectively, if we hadn’t been there, we would not have seen any of the irritations we experienced. We may even have given the sitter 4 or 5 stars if we’d come home to a tidy house and a happy dog. That would have encouraged others to invite him to sit. At the same time, knowing what we knew, we wouldn’t have invited him again and so couldn’t honestly recommend him.
It was a tricky situation and one that ultimately I ducked! But, as with many things in life, it was also a good lesson learnt!
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I think you’re right in some ways. We probably should have cancelled the sit officially.
The difficulty was that the HS told us categorically that he would remain at our house for the duration of the planned sit. He was of “no fixed abode”, had nowhere else to go and no interest in looking for another sit.
At the time, being relatively green about such matters, we didn’t consider any other solutions as, fortunately, we could accommodate him without too much disruption. For us to find alternative accommodation would have been very costly on top of the expense of our already cancelled holiday so wasn’t really an option either.
Maybe we shouldn’t have suggested that he continue to look after the dog but he offered and he didn’t appear at that time to have anything else he’d rather do. We only discovered later about his preference for long solitary walks!
Happily no one came to any harm and, as I said earlier, if we’d not been there to observe, I’m sure we wouldn’t have seen anything to complain about. He may even have got a 4 or 5-star rating!
Hence the difficulty in knowing what to write and the decision not to review. We laugh about it now but the lack of review has often troubled me!
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I still think it was probably better to not review for both parties. No housesitter wants to be watched by the hosts. My cats have a complicated feeding routine due to different nutritional needs and health issues. My SPOUSE gets upset if I’m anywhere near the kitchen when he’s feeding them. He says I make him nervous!
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what is the THS policy, should this happen? Can you ask him to leave under their rules? I would think, if travel was canceled, the sit was canceled. And you could have asked him to leave.