When I edited my listing I found THS has added a section on how long your dog can be left. The options are 30 minutes, 60 minutes, up to two hours and two hours plus. (I think that’s correct)
I have indicated up to two hours for my dog. He can actually be left for up to four hours occasionally, but not every day. So I wouldn’t want mislead people into thinking they could leave him frequently for four hours. Later on in the text, I explain we have family close by who will help out if a sitter wants a day out, subject to their work commitments. We’re a retired couple, the dog is used to being at home mostly with one or the other of us.
I am getting a few comments from sitters saying this is not long enough for them. And some really nice applications, so I am not worried.
I like dogs and dog walks, but would not apply for a dog sit when it is not possible to do any tourism at all. THS was supposed to be a fair exchange. I do not want to be a dog’s slave.
Some people will be ok with it because they work from home or aren’t planning to leave for long periods anyway, but I think most sitters would find a two hour leave time very limiting.
From what I can tell, most of our sitters take advantage of the fact that our dog could be left alone for around 4-5 hours. And in truth, so long as they do a check-in and take him out for a walk/make sure his needs are met, they could do a total of more hours out of the house on the days where their activities require it.
If you are only able to leave the house for two hours max, that’s basically running a couple errands and you’re done for the day.
So a couple questions…
is this two hours max per day or two hours max at a time?
if someone is planning to go site see, how many days in a percentage of someone’s sit would your family be willing to pop in?
If the time Is that limited , that is stuff I would want to know up front.
Example:
Our first sit was for an elderly dog and his owners said we would be ok to leave him for up to 4 or 5 hours.
We found it was actually better if we only left him up two 3-4 hours due to his bladder. The sit was only one week and we weren’t able to do a massive exploration of their city but we were fine with that because our main goal was to attend a wedding and then just do nothing. We visited stuff nearby and made sure our activities allowed for checkins at least every 3-4 hours but even in this case, technically, we could have left the house for most of the day so long as we came home at reasonable intervals to let their dog out.
So yes, you may find some people who are ok with only two hours but most would definitely not see that as a perk or benefit.
I agree with others that 2 hours isn’t long enough although, I don’t usually go out every day - depends on the location. If the dogs are up to it I like to take them out exploring with me as much as possible.
Here’s a useful article on the subject:
I agree, I’m not sure why THS are asking for this info if not to display it on the HO’s profile. It is really needed. I am often put off applying when it’s not mentioned because I don’t want the HO to get the impression that I want to leave their dog all day, when really I just want to know if I can go out for lunch or dinner a few times without worrying that the dog will be unhappy.
I understand. Personally, I wouldn’t apply for a sit if I could only leave the dog for max two hours but I would be ok with four hours. I think your sit would appeal to more people if you said ‘up to four hours but not every day’ rather than ‘up to two hours’. Then you can discuss with your applicants what that looks like. As it’s a long sit, it will probably appeal to people who work remotely so you might find they’re home a lot during the week anyway and only want to explore at weekends.
I telecommute from all of my sits and spend more time with the pets than most sitters and there’s zero chance I’ll pursue a sit with a two-hour window for leaving the pets. That’s because even if you just go to lunch or dinner with a friend or such, with traffic / transit, you’d have to worry about whether you can get back in time in many places.
I was offered a dog sit where the pet parent said I needed to be with the dogs at all times. I initially was interested but before confirming on the platform I declined the sit, as how is that rewarding to travel somewhere to only dog sit, with no free time? And without even travel costs paid for? Then the potential sit pet parent sent a nasty text or two so essentially, I was emotionally abused on top of it. This is an example of a situation where the pet owners should consider paid services. TH should add features to their site for paid services when appropriate.
Everything else though, agreed. If you require that level of attention for your pet, a paid service may be a better fit, but again, there may be someone willing to do it on TH, just not many so one would have to be prepared for fewer applications. But you never know!
If that’s the case then you must rarely have the opportunity to apply for dog sits! There should be no reason not to be able to leave a dog for a few hours, as a dog owner recently said to me “they have no sense of time”. Most dogs will just go to sleep and be surprised when you return Having said that I have rarely left a dog longer than 4 hours because I love their company too much and prioritise them, as most owners on this site would. I think a lot of the problems have come from people getting dogs during lockdowns, when owners may have been working from home so the dogs got used to them being there 24/7. ‘Separation anxiety’ is often mentioned and if I see those words in a listing I’ll scroll on.
Presumably that selection is for all pets and not just dogs. I’ve seen a few cat sits lately where the HO is looking for someone that is at home most of the time as their cats are not to be left for more than 3-4 hours. Even if I am working from home I scroll past those sits very quickly.
It’s not for the length of time to leave the dog in those tick boxes @Blean, it’s how long the sitter is prepared to walk the dog for. We’ve completed them and ticked the max of 2+ because we love walking! If you ask a vet they’ll say 4/5 hours is perfectly reasonable to leave most dogs for. If you’re having unpaid sitters then they don’t want to spend all day with the dog, even remote workers like us need a greater window of freedom than that. 4 hours is a very average expectation hence the comments you’re getting. Double so as yours is a month long sit. #mightwantarethink Also, @Carla & @Jenny can you shed any light on why we’re ticking these boxes for walking times or leaving times but they’re not displayed on the sit when you apply? Isn’t that the point of them?
This has become a recurring problem since the covid lockdowns. People were home 24/7 and now pet parents perceive that their animals need someone with them all the time. I’m not saying they are wrong. It’s their pets and they know how they want them treated so who are we to argue. The best way to deal with this is not to apply if you are unwilling to look after the dogs the way the pet parent wants. Then they either get what they want or get nothing because no one is willing to sit for them.
Ours is not to reason why……
@Blean I’ve asked the same question, but still don’t know the answer. I just didn’t tick any of the boxes. That information (at this point) is not visible to anyone anyway and I do explain it in my listing.
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Having said that I have rarely left a dog longer than 4 hours because I love their company too much and prioritise them, as most owners on this site would. I think a lot of the problems have come from people getting dogs during lockdowns, when owners may have been working from home so the dogs got used to them being there 24/7. ‘Separation anxiety’ is often mentioned and if I see those words in a listing I’ll scroll on.