Tedium is exactly what I want to avoid by being able to filter the search!
I do not like that poultry is listed as one. Why can’t it allow owners to specify how many? I had a sit with poultry listed. Silly me did not think to ask how many. When the owners are both working full time and have chickens, you assume it is just a few in their backyard. This couple had 20 chickens plus geese that were not disclosed prior to my arrival.
It’s not really tedious at all if you’re setting up a search & saving it. I have different criteria for different trips; sometimes that includes hard limits depending on my situation. Check the boxes once, and only the sits that meet my needs will pop up.
What is tedious for me is opening listing after listing, scrolling down to the ‘Responsibilities’ section to check how long a pet can be left alone, see that it’s unsuitable, so now find & click the “X,” and then the “back arrow” to close the listing — only to move to the next one & start it all over again.
Even more tedious? Being notified a dozen times a day that a sit matches my search, stopping whatever I’m doing to open the app, thinking “Ooooo!” — but then going to the ‘Responsibilities’ section only to find it’s not a match after all. Again.
Everyone has different reasons for sitting, & that changes the way we each use the application & what makes it most efficient for us. Since the time that pets can be left alone is often an important consideration for many sitters, it seems worthy of a filter.
For those where that’s not an important factor, it’d be easy enough to just skip past it…but I use the app a lot and my time is important to me, so I like to do things efficiently where possible.
Just seems like overkill to me. Maybe stick to cats who can generally be left for a few hours, and avoid dogs which can’t.
I like dogs, so that seems like a rather impractical & extreme suggestion…& as noted, without a filter it’s harder to find dogs who can be left alone for 4h. Perhaps you could just not use any search filters that aren’t useful for you? 
Of course location matters. And of course sitters want to explore the area or visit friends or relatives and of course it’s important how long the animal can be left. I question only whether that should be among the top priorities.
After all, if there were such a filter, no HO whose animal can be left for less than four hours would find a sitter.
Only those sitters that consider it a priority would use the filter, so sitters that don’t prioritize it, would still see sits for pets that need constant or near constant care.
It seems contradictory that you say both that is shouldn’t be a priority for sitters while also saying that if sitters could easily filter them out, sits with animals that cannot be left for 4 hours wouldn’t find sitters.
Lastly, why exactly, do you “question whether that should be among the top priorities” ? What “top priorities” for sitters do you approve of?
A confusing reply. The ONLY reason that I look at listings in two locations is so that I can visit family. I certainly don’t think ‘Oo I fancy sitting a lovely labrador now where can I do this?’ Yes I get that a few might do this but not many I’m guessing. Occasionally I sit cats for short periods near to home because I miss having cats around…..but tbh it has to be a perfect listing to persuade me to leave home.
My priorities: location- freedom to visit family -home comforts- nice pets
I hope you are not implying that it’s OK for sitters to walk blindly into a sit without knowing how long pets can be left alone.
Right now, there’s no such a filter but there’s a specific field, which includes the options: “up to two hours” and “can’t be left alone”. People who select these options still get some applications and if they don’t, that only shows THS is not a good platform for their needs or expectations.
If you think of it in this amusing way, can you imagine leaving a house sit and counting the fish in the tank and going, "Wait, there are only three in here. Could have sworn there were 20 fish in this tank!
"?
Ha Bonnie you got me, I’m the mad one who sees a cover shot of a lovely Labrador and immediately goes " I love him, I must sit him" 
stacks in my favourites lists. Sadly the dates and locations rarely line up but I live in hope 