Hi @Lassie
I’m always open for improvement so would love to take a look at it! thank you!
Sounds great @Lassie, I’d like to see it, too. I’ve written my first guide, but I’m sure there’s room for improvement!
If any sitters are interested, this is the form I send to HO upon agreeing to a sit. It’s a constant work in progress; with every sit I amend it slightly because I learn something new…for example. I’m going to add a caveat, in the event the house is inhabitable or the pet care requirements are not as described/agreed upon, I will end the sit early, with sufficient notice.
So after that first page, four more pages.
How do your HOs react?
I would not like it if I was a home owner. I might cancel if there was another applicant that seemed ok.
They react fine. 4 out of 5 have filled it out. 5th one had their own welcome guide but that was also a lesson because that guide contained borderline-OCD instructions but I only saw it a week before the sit and it was too late to cancel.
Considering I’ve received 10 page home and pet care instructions before, this is nothing.
It states clearly at the top that they don’t have to fill it out if they already have that information in a welcome guide or somewhere else. Majority of the questions are about their pets and home anyway, so if they don’t care…red flag.
But going forwards, I won’t agree to a sit/will cancel if I don’t have this information before a sit. I can have this form open during our video call so they can verbally tell me this info.
An ‘applicant that seemed OK’ - what does that mean to you? Someone who doesn’t ask questions about your pets wellbeing or home security? Because if we have learned anything from this whole thread is that HOs don’t always provide (full) information, so sitters have to take on the mental and emotional labour to make sure they have everything they need.
Agreed - I have done around 6 pet sits now and I’m finding it so common that the sitter is at a disadvantage - iv cleaned most if not all house for HOURS because I cant work and live in a place that is dirty, iv arrived to dirty dishes, no clean linenetc - however if the owner is a nice person there is really no way to give honest feedback and reviews. Pet sitters can’t even rate HO which is unfair.