@IHeartAnimals I am a little confused by this post. You say you won’t do overnight care…what are you meaning by this since this is overnight care through THS.
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We sleep in the HO’s home but I don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night to let dogs out to pee.
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OK, I see now
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I’m sorry you have to deal with this. That is a very unpleasant and challenging position to be in.
These questions are good, but you wouldn’t think to ask someone if their dog is potty trained if they are eight years old! So I wouldn’t put this on you. I think the HO should be explicit about that in their listing.
Reviews are a great way to judge a HO, but in my experience as HO, we had a sitter that was amazing, but she doesn’t write any reviews for any homeowners lol; when I asked her if there was something wrong, she said not at all. We also had a bad experience with a different sitter and we had to get member services involved, no reviews were left for her and she didn’t leave reviews for us either. She had the best time and loved our home, so while looking at reviews is excellent, keep that in mind. Asking questions is always the best way!
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I’ve had 2 separate sits with cat issues. In one, the cat kept running away and staying away for 4 days (there were no cat flaps) and I was told it NEVER did that before for the ‘other people’ so was made to feel it was somehow my fault somewhat. Then was asked explicitly not to mention it in my review of the sit, so felt that it is very likely something that has happened before, in fact the neighbour told me it had. The 2nd sit was a cat that insisted on large amounts of poo on quarry tiles which was half dried in by the morning - absolutely horrific to clean up and it happened about 8 times on a 3 weeks sit. Again I was told by that owner - This NEVER happens and its only now - then a bit later heard it had done it in the past and apparently doesn’t like going outside thru the flap in the rain. Neither of these situations would be raised for future sitters because of the fear of bad reviews back. A situation which feels extremely unfair and dishonest on all future sitters. There MUST be another way of honestly reflecting to new sitters what to expect to allow them to make an proper decision on whether the sit is for them.
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We have done dozens of sits - only 3 were dishonest. One, the dog soiled the laundry all night so we were cleaning it out every day. The second was a dog so aggressive you could not let it off the lead and the third was a puppy that we were told could not be left alone (this was not stipulated in the ad).
The only house sit we refused to commit to was the third one as we had already arranged to be out for most of the day on a couple of days and we didn’t think it was fair on the puppy. The owner made alternative arrangements for the puppy and we ended up staying.
Now, I am clear with house owners - I ask the following questions:
- Do you take your dog to the dog park? Can it be safely taken off the lead?
- Is your dog toilet trained?
- Does your dog travel easily in the car? Are you happy for us to take him/her on trips with us?
- Are there any medical problems or history that we need to be aware of?
We never take dogs off the lead where leads are required - even if the owner does.
We are honest, one hundred percent committed, caring and meticulous housesitters. We have respect for ourselves, their home and their pets. We expect the same in return from house owners.
We find this approach works well - as house owners quickly get the message that they can trust us . We have had some brilliant sits and have met some fantastic people and fur buddies.
With respect to reviews - I read between the lines because we are all different and have different tolerances for things like pets sleeping on beds, sitting on furniture (or even our laps!) or the number and length of dog walks we are prepared to do.
Hope that helps.
Kind Regards,
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Hi Carmen,
We also had a cat vomiting a lot. We mentioned it in our review by saying all the positive things about the cat and finishing with-unfortunately, the cat was ill several times a week during our three week sit. We notified the owners who said it was unusual for this to occur. I would have been tempted to take the cat to the vet. It is really not fair to leave you with a cat that is so sick.
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I had a cat that regularly pooped outside the litterbox on one of my sits. I mentioned it in my review, to warn future sitters. I didn’t make a big deal about it, just said something like “I bought a new litterbox for Fluffy who was defecating outside the box. I hoped that a new litterbox would resolve the problem”
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I have never had a bad experience like the ones mentioned here. However, this topic does leave me with questions towards THS. Most importantly about the limitations and issues with the review system. I hope this system will be improved soon. But it would certainly like to know what THS says about “retaliatory reviews” and what they do/can do about it. I would certainly not consider it fair if such a review would taint my reputation. I would want it removed or at least commented by THS. I have one experience here where neither the HO or myself wrote a review. And that is indeed a good indication that something was not 100%.
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Yes sometimes people aren’t honest or skimping truth .
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What if THS allowed a format here on the site or an independent way that sitters could speak directly to one another, privately, then we could communicate about these kinds of issues.
The homeowner wouldn’t be publicly called out, but we could inform one another of homes to avoid…
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I am new to THS but it is concerning to me that sitters feel constrained when it comes to writing an honest review for fear of retaliation in the form of a bad review coming their way unjustly.
What is being done about this, THS?
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Hi @suzydawg welcome to your community forum, thank you for joining in the conversation … the review system is a project currently in progress, there will be staged updates as and when work is completed. I hope that helps.
Please browse the forum as there are many topics that I’m sure will be of interest and perhaps we can discover a little more about “suzydawg” as you work your way around.
You can also add your profile link to your forum profile, that way other members will be able to “meet” you … follow these simple instructions to add
Welcome again.
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Those are the questions i always ask the pet owners of animals i care for in my home. So far i have not done pet sitting in HO homes. I am so sorry you had such an awful experience and thank you for sharing it as it makes us all more aware
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Thank you, Angela, for the welcome and it’s good to hear this is being discussed.
I have my first housesit from here in August and am looking forward to it!
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Unfortunately, it appears trusted housesitters is in no hurry to make any changes to the review system. It has been requested and discussed for many years now. Very easy solution, would be to permit sitters to privately message each other. That way, if you work, considering applying for a seat, you could message a previous sitter to get the behind-the-scenes info. I truly wish trusted housesitters would add this feature. Should be relatively simple.
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Hi @Auscal, regarding your review system concerns below is a reply to another member in this conversation …
This is a great idea! If sitters could message one another directly, then it wouldn’t matter so much whether people leave honest reviews. And it does seem that such a solution wouldn’t be difficult to implement.
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Honest reviews are still the long term solution though. Sitter to sitter messaging would be super helpful but let’s not paper over the cracks, let trusted really mean trusted and have honest reviews from both sides 
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