Hello everyone. We are embarking on our first sit in a couple of weeks and as it’s local we’ve met the pets and pet parents, so I’m feeling quite happy. But I’ve just read about Welcome Guides and suddenly realised that I probably shouldn’t have accepted the sit without doing a bit of due diligence first!!
I’ve ask the HO to look at the Welcome Guide page in case there’s anything obvious that she hasn’t told us, but is there any sort of Welcome Guide for us sitters that I need to read to make sure I’m feeling a bit more prepared than I am for future sits?
I’ve looked on the main THS site and can’t see anything obvious and this forum clearly has a huge amount of info, but really I’m just after the basics of what I should be looking out for/asking before accepting a sit and where I might find that.
Admittedly, I am a bit puzzled here @JoJoRichardson.
Did you use the Welcome Guide request button through the THS platform and then receive it? This step can only be done with a confirmed sit. Is this a first time homeowner too?
You have done more than what most housesitters do, which is meet the pets and the house owners.
Do click on the “welcome guide request” button as @MaggieUU suggests, and see if there are any details on it that haven’t come up yet. Since you still have a couple of weeks, there should be plenty of time to clarify those with them.
At this point in time I wouldn’t expect huge surprises. Enjoy your first sit!
Oh, I don’t think I’ve even seen that button, I just saw discussion of the Welcome Guide
To be honest with you this homeowner had a sitter through another site booked for months and they let them down, so they joined THS and the sit is a bit last minute. I’m not sure if the sit has technically been confirmed through the site! No, it hasn’t, I’ve just looked.
So that’s probably why they haven’t seen the guide blurb and neither have I, which is why it’s now making sense.
I guess once she met us and was happy she hasn’t gone back onto the app/site either to confirm that we’ve got it or to do any other admin.
Ok then. You have some additional steps within the THS platform.
You have applied for the sit.
The HO needs to now invite you for their dates.
Then you accept. Then and only then is it a confirmed sit.
Then you will have it displaying on your dashboard. You can then hit the Welcome Guide request. The HO will be alerted to complete the guide so you can access it as a resource for your sit
Don’t stress, it will be fine I’m sure. I am quite experienced now but if I was new I would feel like you are feeling now reading various posts on this forum.
I do local sits and often meet the dogs and owners first also. Let us know how you get on after, wishing you well
You must get the sit officially confirmed on the THS platformfor any of the THS policy’s to apply ( third parties , internal cameras , aggressive pets, liability insurance etc ) - please do follow @MaggieUU step by step on how to do this or ask member services for help to do this . If you don’t get it confirmed then it’s basically a private arrangement between you and HO and not covered by THS .
You also won’t get a review if it’s not an officially confirmed sit . As you are new sitters that first review will be really important to help you to secure future sits further away from home. It would be a good idea to discuss with the owner how important that review is to you and to let them know that it has to be done within 14 days of the sit ending .
Our first two sits were for owners new to the site so we had to help each other work out how to use the THS platform to confirm the sit and send Welcome Guides etc . I’m happy to say both sits worked out really well and we have been back to both of them and they have had other THS sitters subsequently. They were a great start to our THS house sitting we’ve now had 20 sits confirmed or completed .
There are a couple of threads that you might find helpful to read as you are starting out with THS
You have received some great advice already, I just wanted to add if you check out the help desk article link here You can then check out the sit section which has articles about ‘before a sit’ and ‘during a sit’ plus lots more THS information.
Thank you for that - yes we are both definitely learning as we go along. Luckily because we’ve met I’m confident that all will be well. But thanks for the heads up about the review and the time limit. The sit is now confirmed in both directions and I certainly know what to look out for in the future, but thanks for the threads - I’ll definitely have a good read of those
