I’ve been house/pet sitting for 10 years now and I always follow the HO’s directions re the number and length of walks for the dogs. However, I can’t tell you how many times neighbours have commented that the dogs have never had so much exercise and attention. I think HO’s frequently overstate how much time they actually spend at home with their dogs and the walks they do with them. I’m happy for the exercise but it does make me smile and after longer sits I wonder how the dogs readjust to missing out on their fun daily walks.
5 Likes
I once was instructed to take the dog for really long walks. But then on the way back, halfway home he just lay down on the path, exhausted 
1 Like
Hah, hah, the concept of ‘long’ obviously needs to be defined.
I’m new and just trying to get the feel for “industry standard”, so this is very helpful. I was thinking the same thing and wondering if it isn’t somewhat like negotiation process for some people: Ask for more that what you know you need assuming others will bring it down to what you actually expect.
Obviously, it’s a matching site and you can talk to a homeowner and try to negotiate some stuff, but realize that if the sit is in a competitive location, someone may be willing to agree to the homeowner’s demands (even if they don’t follow through) and a lot of things may be non-negiable – eg a pet that needs medication on an exact schedule, a dog that really will pee in the house if left alone more than x hours.
@DBarnes in most circumstances the owners requirements are not negotiable. If they say that their dog can only be left alone for 4 hours then that’s it and a sitter can’t negotiate for more time away .
The exception might be when a homeowner is willing to arrange for a dog walker once a week during a long stay so that the sitter can have a day out
2 Likes
This many times over @Wendy - the dogs have never had sooooo much exercise as from sitters 
Too many negative experiences:
“The dog needs to be walked off-lead. She has great recall” - The dog does not have great recall and likes to play keep-away for hours. Also she likes to attack small dogs or puppies. Every dog-walker in the park knows this but for some reason the owners spun a different story.
“The dog is in great health she just needs a little medicine in her food each day” - The dog is incontinent and the medicine is to try and control this. They have the dosage wrong and even when I adjusted it correctly and walked the dog 6 times a day I was doing multiple cleanups every day.
Dogs who pull on the lead, jump up at every person the encounter including you, try and attack any dog encountered on a walk. Basically just untrained dogs due to either lazy owners or idiot owners who think dogs magically train themselves or just excuse the behaviour especially if it’s a small dog. This is before lockdown. Lockdown dogs are even worse.
Then it’s just the requirements listed in the sit posting:
Multiple walks a day (and I don’t mean out of an apartment for toilet breaks but actual long walks), can’t be left alone at all or more than a few hours, etc.
I just filter dogs out of any search now as it’s not even worth checking the listing to see if the requirements seem reasonable. Mostly because they are almost always neglecting to mention the truth.
For rabbits almost all owners seem to let them roam free in teh house and this means it’s covered in urine and feaces. One property the carpet in multiple areas was literally being dissolved by this as they had favourite toilet areas. And they were renting. Definitely not getting their deposit back.