How did you learn about Trusted Housesitters?

I first heard about TrustedHousesitters when they reached out to the dog rescue I volunteer for, The Animal Pad. They wanted to help our rescue efforts and PAWtnered with us to save more dogs in need. Once I learned about the concept I fell in love. My two biggest passions in life are dogs and traveling. TrustedHousesitters combines the two, so it was an obvious decision to join the THS community! My first sit abroad was just outside London watching an adorable pup named Milo. We went on adventures every day, it was so much fun. I’ve been hooked ever since! And I’ll be going back to sit for Milo and his new fur sibling in June, can’t wait!

9 Likes

I learned about THS thru a friend whose boyfriend has been doing this for 3 years. He spoke very highly of this program. We researched THS because it is very difficult to find good care for your loved pets while you are away. The last time we used a kennel for my 3 dogs my smallest rat terrier came home almost dead. She was blind and required extra and obviously did not get it. Finding friends to help is hard too. So here we are. We meet Vicky tonight and she comes back Wednesday when we leave for 17 days. So far Vicky is great and we look forward to our meeting this evening.

6 Likes

This is so great to hear. I think this is the same Facebook group I’m part of because they mention TrustedHousitters very often. I’m an empty nester too. Just donated all of my furniture and I’m hitting the road next week to start this new chapter and journey of my life. Truly excited and grateful to be here.

11 Likes

How fabulous! Wishing you all the best (I’d love to do this someday).

2 Likes

Hello @FranklyT52 and welcome to the Community Forum :wave:t2::slightly_smiling_face:

It sounds like you have some exciting adventures ahead :clap:t2::earth_americas:

For reference if you are a member, once your listing is completed you can also add your TrustedHousesitters profile on to your Forum profile by following the attached link, should you wish. This will then enable others to offer you helpful advice and feedback.

If you are unsure how to do this, or if you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to ask, we are all more than happy to help. Also, remember you can use the spyglass symbol at the top of the page next to the TrustedHousesitters logo and search for any questions that you may have as they have most likely already been answered on here and of course if not then please just ask! :blush:

To help you get started I have attached a thread you should find helpful

1 Like

Hi @Samox24 Thanks so much for the warm welcome. I’m very much looking forward to this new chapter of life. I didn’t know about adding my TH Profile to the Forum profile but I will do that now. Thanks also for the instructions.

3 Likes

In the end of 2017 my husband and I started to research and plan our “year of travel” as we were starting the process I came across a few websites/blogs that had mentioned TrustedHousesitters and I was amazed! I thought it was the best idea EVER especially as we were so eager for any kind of pet interaction as we had longed to get a pet for years but work/travel wouldn’t allow it. What a perfect blend for those of us that want to travel and have the connection and bond with a loving pet…and yes save money too!

We signed up that night and were a little leery if we could even land a housesit. We had past experience taking care of pets for friends and family that was paid and thankfully those references paid off because we were able to book two sits in Australia. We were a little flabbergasted but excited! We didn’t do any video calls just emailed back and forth. We had no idea what the homeowners looked like until they picked us up at the airport. We fell in love with one of the dogs in particular Miles and English Springer Spaniel…this dog was something special and was the cure for us weary travelers that were in need of some good dog love. He’s the reason we ended up getting an English Springer Spaniel months after our trip around the world. We’re still in frequent communication with Miles’ parents in Cains and now we use THS regularly to take care of our dog…and this year we have our very first housesits lined up as a family of three. We’re so excited to now bring our daughter on the housesitting journey and hope someday to take her to some mini-farm housesits as she loves animals, we love slow travel with a toddler and want to continue to foster that love of animals and travel with her.

8 Likes

Hi @FranklyT52 I went ahead and added your THS sitter profile link to your forum profile link so other members can easily find your page and provide helpful feedback if you wish. Please let us know if there is anything else we can help you with. Welcome to the THS community and happy travels!

2 Likes

Welcome, @FranklyT52! Congratulations on entering this new chapter. I see you’re in Plano. I’m not too far away, in Van. If I were closer to the DFW area, I’d consider more sits in the area. The short ones can be a great mini vacation! Many like to travel farther, of course. Where do you want to sit?

1 Like

We learned about THS from friends of us. They used this side for some time and always mentioned to us, we should do the same. It took a while, because I am not a Cell phone person, or Computer person at all and really have to steal the time to sit on my laptop to do the work and research. I do not regret to join and hope to find future solutions to make traveling easier. I guess there is nothing better out there than THS.

4 Likes

I was writing a book on how to plan, fund and execute a life of full-time, long-term travel for a well known travel publication. House and pet sitting came up while I was doing my research and THS was one of the many platforms. So we gave it a try to get further insight, found we loved being sitters and were good at it, so decided to make it one pillar of our full-time adventures. (The other 2 are bicycle touring and back packing)

7 Likes

When I started fulltime traveling I joined some Dutch sites and a paid site for housesits.
The Dutch sites have mainly Dutch houses so that didn’t really work.
The paid site was good, I had some very nice international sits from it.
But… not really crowded, as in many sits.

So I googled more and finally saw THS, checked it and was surprised by the many international housesits.

Together with a nice app and forum it’s my main site for housesitting.

Strange that I only found it after hours and hours of googling.
THS can increase their findability for sure.

4 Likes

Thank you @CamperCarl for joining in with the suggested thread, and I am pleased that you finally found TrustedHousesitters! :clap:t2::slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes

@Samox24: Thanks for reminding us about this thread! How did you hear about TH?

I guess I should share my story, but it’s really innocuous. In summer 2022, I was chatting (texting) with a world-traveler friend, and I probably mentioned Airbnb or couchsurfing. And she said, what about TrustedHousesitters.com? I had never heard of that, but I’m trying to have a growth/improve mindset, so I went to the website. Interesting idea. My friend doesn’t really pet sit and isn’t a TH member, but she probably heard about it from a travel site or magazine.

I was in the middle of a 100-day train trip around the U.S. At some point, I was going to Minnesota and then Chicago and didn’t have a friend to stay with. I decided to pay for a year of TH and hope to find a last-minute sit to save money vs an Airbnb. That was a bit naive of me, and I don’t think I even found anything available to apply for. Oh well.

When I got home to rural/East Texas, I felt I should try to get at least one sit and see what it was like. I also noticed the forums.

I’ve done only 4 sits on TH so far, but thankfully they’ve gone well and the PPs all seemed happy. I’ve also learned a lot about what I want and don’t want. Turns out that I like staying home! :sweat_smile: My favorite part of TH is reading on the forums about people’s journeys. I don’t mean like traveling around the world, but the personal growth from newbie sitter to super-experienced sitter. Then seeing those experienced sitters encourage the new newbies.

8 Likes

I saw an ad in a magazine back in 2017. I was at vet school so it looked ideal! Told my bf (new at the time) all about it and he was also sold. We started with a house sit in Bath and havent looked back. I have a WFH job with travel all over Scotland so i use it for work and pleasure! Plus seeing friends and family all over the UK, it’s brilliant and we’re always telling ppl about it. Every sit is an adventure :purple_heart:

8 Likes

THS sounded like a perfect solution for this pet mom who struggled to figure out how to go somewhere and have good care for my pets. I found them online and did some investigating before joining. Excited to meet my sitters visit my son for a week in San Diego next week

2 Likes

@Max2 thank you so much for joining in with the suggested thread and have a lovely time in San Diego next week :clap:t2::slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes

I first heard about THS through a friend of the family who has used the site for a few years and had great results.

We used to get a company to pop in a few times a day when we just had the cats but I always felt guilty that they were on their own over night and no one was there to play. When we got our puppy the idea of putting her in a kennel left horrible and love the idea of all the kids (pets) can stay in their own environment where they feel safe plus the extra sense of house security with someone being in is a bonus.

3 Likes

I joined in autumn 2012, then it was hard to get a first sit, there were not that many and it wasn’t as organised as it is now. I had lived in France and looked after people’s pets locally when they went on holiday or visits back to England but I didn’t live in. My partner became ill with a rare untreatable blood disease. When I came back to England a friend from France suggested this and another site. I looked at both and joined TH and did my first sit in Norwich for 5 weeks for a Professor from the university. It was a first sit for her to and she was going to India for textiles and would be out of touch most of the time.
I met her at Christmas she had the builders in they would be finished by February she said. They weren’t of course, ( wouldn’t be allowed now) it was a baptism of fire. But I had a great time catching up with friends and relatives and living in a house that had been Anna Sewell’s of Black Beauty fame. I could have gone back to work when I came back to England, instead I do house sitting, see loads of places and meet new people.

1 Like

My daughter was a full-time travel blogger for five years, and she and her husband, who’s a writer, enjoyed many sits through Trusted Housesitters during that time, many throughout the UK. She’s the one that recommended that we take a look at Trusted Housesitters as HO and we’ve been using it now for a number of years. She found out about Trusted Housesitters from other bloggers/travelers on Facebook. They now have a five year old and she has a part-time job that she can do remotely, so they still do many sits, but primarily keep to the western third of the U.S.

3 Likes