My wife and I are considering signing up as hosts for the first time as we’ll be away over Christmas and need someone to look after our whippet.
Before taking the plunge and paying the membership fee, I’m hoping to get a sense of whether we’re likely to find a suitable sitter. We live in London in a nice area and have a comfortable flat, so I think the location itself should be reasonably attractive. My concern is more about our dog’s needs.
He’s a lovely boy, but quite an anxious dog and it takes him a while to warm up to new people. When we’ve used sitters in the past, we’ve generally built things up gradually, leaving him with a sitter for an evening first, then a night, before leaving him for a longer period. Because of that, I’m wondering whether there are many local sitters in London who use TrustedHousesitters, or whether most sitters are travellers passing through. Ideally we’d love to find someone local who could do a few meet-and-greets beforehand.
The second challenge is that due to his anxiety, he really can’t be left alone. Ironically, he’s also the laziest whippet imaginable and has little interest in long walks or adventures. In practice, it means we’d be asking a sitter to spend most of their time at home with him for about a week over Christmas. I appreciate that this isn’t necessarily the most appealing sit compared to looking after an independent pet while exploring a city.
For those of you with experience, is this the sort of sit that people regularly take on, or am I fighting an uphill battle? Have any other owners of anxious or “velcro” dogs managed to find good matches through the platform?
I’d be very grateful for any thoughts, particularly from London-based hosts or sitters.
I’ll let our experts (our lovely members!) give you their advice, but one thing I did want to mention, is to be very clear about how long your boy can be left alone i.e. be upfront in your listing, make sure you discuss it with potential sitters in advance, consider options like offering to have a dog walker, friend or relative come to walk him so your sitter can have a little time away.
Hopefully our members will pop on soon with their wealth of experience!
Hello @Worried_Whippet and welcome! We did a similar sit in Zurich one Christmas because we wanted to spend time with family close by. The pooch - a PWD - came with us everywhere and we had use of their car too so it all worked. A week was enough for a Velcro dog though. Your pluses are that it’s London, one dog, whippets are like cats so sleep a lot & you sound welcoming and open. Challenges will be trying to get meet & greets beforehand from the same sitter as that’s more unlikely on THS. Can you invite the sitter for a full 24 hours beforehand and host them instead for warm up time? Also, will your whippet go on the buses and tubes happily as that would help? And can the sitter take the whippet out to meet friends in cafes etc for some flex? That could then all work nicely. Post soon if you’re keen, we’re already booked for Christmas time the other side of the world as are lots of sitters so definitely get on the case soon! #openminded
It’s London. You will get a sitter. With the restrictions of the sit, it may not be an experienced sitter who believes in the mutual exchange concept of THS.
However, London, over Christmas will land you someone.
Personally I think you would be better to pay for a sitter with the restrictions you mention. The fact that you live in London would be great if your dog could be left for a few hours. It doesn’t sound like your dog would be easy to take out & about as suggested by @Cuttlefish given the laziness & anxiety meeting new people. The sit wouldn’t really be a fair exchange & I don’t think THS is the right platform for you
@Worried_Whippet, we lived in London for many years. And have completed several housesits there. Fun times.
Christmas is an atypical period for housesitting. Extreme excess demand for housesitters - many pet owners want to travel; many housesitters want to stay home.
We agree with prior comments that - provided listing is good and situation attractive - you are likely (but not guaranteed) to find a housesitter.
Perhaps pay THS fee and take a chance. London is not a cheap place. Paid pet care, over Christmas, is probably very expensive. So one mindset (that we used when starting out as housesitters) was to pay the THS fees and frame it as an experiment.
Gain experience ASAP. Consider completing one or more short housesits as soon as possible. Even if one or two nights then it will frankly obligate you to create a listing; gain experience of application/video call/housesit; and accumulate initial reviews.
Invest time in listing. Good photos (no clutter, all key rooms). Complete amenities section. Add info on travel, transit, attractions. Make listing shine.
Consider ‘gives’. Housesitting requires a fair trade. Some pet parents sweeten their listing/offer by including use of vehicle; ability that housesitter arrive early or leave late; or otherwise.
Fair point @Smiley - I missed the “not keen on adventures bit” in there. That makes it a pretty dull week, although if you don’t like Christmas or your family then it could make a great escape #planb
I’m sorry, but it sounds like the OP wants someone to be held captive in their home during the winter holidays. Maybe appealing to someone who works from home, but I would think a lot of people are off that time of year.
If the OP travels throughout the year, then THS may be worth a go. Would only need to find one sitter to make up for the cost of a subscription
You would need to vet extremely carefully considering the dogs anxiety. You will get plenty of takers for sure, but will they all be truly prepared to basically stay home all the time? The London location might well as be Timbuktu if you can’t go anywhere. London is an easy city to take dogs places, perhaps the key to all of this is working on your dogs anxiety, socialising them more, taking them out and about and making it easier for the sitter, and thus yourselves.
If you don’t mind me asking, how does his anxiety tend to manifest when he is left alone? I’ve encountered a couple of timid whippets/lurchers, and am always interested in learning more.
I think you’re likely to find someone, but I’d focus less on whether the sit is “appealing” in the usual London sense and more on finding the right sitter.
There are definitely sitters who enjoy local sits, quiet time and being at home, including over Christmas. The important thing is being completely upfront that your dog cannot be left alone and that this means the sitter’s freedom will be limited. That will naturally reduce the pool, but the people who apply should be doing so with their eyes open.
I’d also suggest being flexible about the settling-in process. A series of separate meet-and-greets may be difficult to arrange, particularly before Christmas. A video call followed by an early arrival or an overnight “settling in” period could be a more realistic solution.
And I wouldn’t underestimate the value of a sitter who likes anxious dogs. Someone experienced with them may actually see your whippet’s need for company as a positive rather than a restriction.
So yes, I’d give THS a try, but make the listing exceptionally clear and concentrate on finding the right personality rather than simply the first sitter who applies.
Umm it might work for a sitting couple but it depends on why they plan to be in London. We live in Brighton an hour away so it’d be easy for us to offer to sit, however it’d mean never going anywhere or only one of us at a time. I’m curious how you cope yourselves? It must be a strange life?
We’ve done a house sit with an anxious dog, and it worked really well because the owners were very open about his needs and we found a routine that suited everyone.
He was actually fine being left for a few hours during the daytime, as this was something the hosts already did with him. We could also take him on walks without any problems, as long as we kept him on a lead and were mindful of other dogs , essentially anticipating situations that might trigger him and managing them before they became an issue.
He wasn’t particularly comfortable in cafés because all the activity, people and other dogs were quite stimulating for him. However, the hosts reassured us that he was happy to settle in his bed and sleep in the car for a short period while we went to a café or did some shopping. This worked perfectly for us. It was winter in the UK, so obviously there wasn’t a concern about him overheating in the car.
He was also fine with visitors coming to the house. He would initially bark and get excited, but after a while he settled. The hosts were happy for us to have friends over for dinner during the sit, which was a big plus for us.
So, for us, the combination worked really well as a mutual exchange: we were mostly working from home, could give the dog his walks at places we wanted to explore and rather than go out in the evening were able to have guests over.
It might be worth thinking about whether a similar arrangement could work for your dog. For example:
Can they be left for a few hours during the day if that’s already part of their normal routine?
Are they comfortable with visitors once they’ve had time to settle?
Would allowing the sitter to have guests at the house work for you?
Obviously every anxious dog is different, but sometimes it’s less about finding a sitter who mirror your lifestyle exactly and more about finding a combination of arrangements that works for both your dog and the sitter.
I can imagine taking the dog with us to pubs etc or for walks, but if it’s very anxious it might not like the crowds and the general madness of London at Christmas. I think the OP needs to offer lots of detail in any listing. Not many sitters would do multiple phased visits, this sounds like a job for a paid sitter. The biggest issue for the Hosts would be a free sitter agreeing to everything to get the location then ignoring it due to impracticality.
Dog sitters, family etc. His anxiety definitely makes things more challenging, and it’s something we’re working on and not accepting of, but we live a normal life.
I doubt if you and your wife stay home 24 hours a day, yet that is what you are asking a sitter to do. Even if you both work from home I’m sure you go out on the town, visit friends and family, etc. Since I read on here that London is a desirable sit you will probably get applications. Will they be honest about staying in 24 hours a day, I doubt it, especially during the holidays. What happens if the dog is left alone for 4 hours? Will your house be destroyed or the dog will just sleep?
