We returned from a trip last week and I’ve been struggling with how to write a balanced review. Our sitters were warm, communicative about problems when they arose, handled a chocolate ingestion emergency really well (called us immediately and then called the vet, then poison control per our instructions, and kept us updated throughout), offered to replace expensive cookware they accidentally damaged, and left the house clean and tidy. Our dog clearly adored them. They are pretty new to the platform with only a couple reviews before us.
We did have some pretty real issues — in hindsight, I think these mostly stemmed from not following our instructions to make sure she goes out to pee before bed. This is listed in at least three places in our welcome guide, including specific guidance to use treats or be firm if she’s refusing (she can be stubborn with sitters) and we covered it verbally as well. This led to accidents on both our bed and the guest bed, one of which soaked through to the mattress. They decided to close our bedroom door for 4 days after washing our sheets, despite me saying she does better alone if she has access to our room, and she then acted out. She got into food on the counter (chocolate chip cookies), chewed a few things in the house, and started getting up on a couch she’s not allowed on (this became apparent after we came home, as she’s still doing it). She hasn’t ever gotten into counter food while we’ve been away, and hasn’t chewed anything up in the house in years. We also had to prompt them for photo updates despite that being in our welcome guide too.
We genuinely think they learned from this, and we’d hate for a review to close doors for them when they handled the mishaps very professionally. But we also feel we owe future owners an honest picture.
A couple specific questions / thoughts:
- Should we mention that our dog got into chocolate that was left on the counter? Or just say that she got into food that was left out? It was a scary situation in the moment, but they handled it really well once it happened. And thankfully she’s big enough that the amount of chocolate wasn’t even close to toxicity levels.
- How specific should we be about the potty accidents — the fact that there were multiple, that one soaked through to a mattress, that it stemmed from skipping the bedtime routine? Again, they were forthcoming here about the mishaps - so maybe it’s enough to say there were some accidents that stemmed from missed details in the welcome guide?
- How should we factor this into the star ratings? Since they handled the issues well overall, I’m not sure if it warrants dropping a full star. But it also feels weird to rate 5 stars when we compare to sitters we’ve had that have truly been stellar.
- I probably will leave out details about the potentially damaged cookware (I did manage to clean it) and limited photo texts – these were annoying but more minor than the chocolate and accidents overall, and I appreciated that they were willing to replace the cookware.
Appreciate any thoughts and guidance. Thanks!
Hi @delilahs.house 
I think you can be both fair to the sitters and useful to future owners without turning the review into a catalogue of every mishap.
Reading your post, what stands out to me is that these sound like sitters with good intentions who handled problems responsibly once they arose - but who may not yet fully appreciate how important consistency and routine can be with some pets. That’s different from careless or dishonest sitters, and I think your review can reflect that distinction.
Personally, I wouldn’t minimise the issues entirely. Multiple accidents, behavioural regression and food being left accessible are relevant details for future owners, especially those with routine-sensitive dogs. At the same time, I probably wouldn’t go into highly granular detail about soaked mattresses, cookware or every individual incident unless it materially changes the overall picture.
Something along the lines of:
“We found our dog struggled when some established routines from our welcome guide weren’t followed consistently, which led to a few preventable issues during the sit. However, the sitters communicated openly throughout, handled an unexpected food ingestion incident calmly and responsibly, and clearly cared for our dog very much.”
To me, that gives future owners meaningful information without sounding punitive.
On ratings, I also think it’s reasonable to separate “good people who tried hard” from a truly seamless 5-star sit. A 5-star review should still mean something. If you genuinely wouldn’t place this experience in the same category as your strongest sits, I don’t think a 4-star review is unfair or damaging - especially if the written comments are balanced and acknowledge what they did well.
I think your post is quite balanced and shows that you’re a nice, thoughtful host. I’m sure your review will be fair.
I am a bit confused about repeated pee accidents. Why would they let it happen again when it’s so messy to clean up? Could your dog be so stubborn that she would refuse to pee no matter how long the sitter tried? Did they explain how it happened?
@WeRPAWsome suggestion is good but I would add at the end what you mentioned in your OP
Regarding the stars, in my opinion, they are not as important as the wording but a full 5* across would be weird and unfair for real 5* sits. Reliability category certainly doesn’t deserve 5*. The most reliable ratings are those that clearly distinguish categories; if there are categories worth 5*, it would be good to rate them as such. This would also work in your favour.
These sitters can’t follow directions and let multiple peeing incidents happen, plus other problems. They’re definitely not five-star sitters.
Imagine what you wish you’d known ahead of time about them, then write your review factually.
If I were a host, I wouldn’t want them as sitters.
Even strictly following instructions can lead to weird behaviour in pets who aren’t happy when the owners go away. We followed instructions to the letter on one sit- but the puppy would not sleep in its crate on the ground floor.We stuck to the Rules for 3 nights but eventually we had to move it to my bedroom and I dangled my toe out of my bed near the door of the crate for the puppy to sniff- hubby went home due to lack of sleep. Their emergency contact agreed with my adaptation…. I was at my wits end. I think HOs don’t always appreciate that pets behave differently with sitters, who have to find a way of coping.
Does all that went wrong sound like great sitters to you? That’s what we’re talking about here.
I don’t know- it’s hard to judge as we’re only hearing one side. The instructions might be difficult to adhere to with a dog that isn’t complying, the dog might’ve been behaving differently to normal, it seems the dishes weren’t damaged in the end and they did offer to replace them. I agree one star docked and a few descriptive bullet points which the sitter can of course reply to in order to repudiate if not entirely the whole picture. It sounds like the dog has a few behavioural issues… which they tried to manage. Most dogs won’t pee on beds…. but do it near a back door etc.
I also think at the moment with sitters being able to be quite picky and there seemingly being a glut of listings in certain Countries maybe an OK sitter that is able to respond appropriately when stuff goes wrong is worth their weight in gold.
I agree that sometimes animals act very differently in their space when their humans are gone. That being a consideration, have these HOs had sitters in the past where peeing on the bed or floor was not an issue?
I sat for a first time THS HO where the cat peed on the floor almost daily. They weren’t aware the cat would do this, so I couldn’t fault them for an unknown. Ends up the cat had a mild bladder infection.
My point, the peeing may have had nothing to do with the sitters. The cookies, well, that’s another issue. I can’t imagine the dog didn’t show interest in the cookies, so leaving them exposed on the counter was a major no-no. Though, were they warned the dog may do that? If usually not an issue, why such an odd change in behavior?
Anyway, seems like more info is needed to get a better picture.
Please don’t give them a 5 star review when they clearly dont deserve it, as that is not fair on other sitters, it is also misleading for future pet owners who may pick them.
I can see you come across as a nice person, a caring owner, and don’t want to offend them, but on this site reviews are so important, to all of us.
WeRPAWsome gives some good wording in their post.
Cookies eaten. Pots damaged. Dog peeing indoors and now jumping on furniture when it wasn’t a problem before. Door closed when it normally isn’t and sitters were told that would cause problems.
To me, a bunch of issues that sound like bad sitters. Write a factual review and let other hosts decide whether they want such sitters. I sure wouldn’t. These are definitely not five-star sitters.
As for us not hearing both sides, this is a forum, not a court. It’s typical to get only so much info and from one side.
Well, in that case, I’m kindof siding for the sitters. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met dog owners who are totally oblivious to their dogs behavior…“oh, she won’t jump on you” - she jumps on me, “oh, he’s very friendly” - growls when I approach, “oh, he likes other dogs” - bites my dog.
Sorry, I can’t immediately side with the owners given the info provided and my lifetime experiences with dog owners.
Hence why I’m a cat person.
Reading this, I would not want this person to sit for me. She may be nice, she may become much better over time, but there were some rookie errors that caused a medical emergency, and there were two accidents which sound avoidable. Did the chocolate emergency result in a big vet bill for you? Did the sitter offer to pay it?
The sitter may have their own side as it does like the dog could be a lot, but the sitter can write a response.
Personally, reading this to me this is a 3 star sit overall as a warning to other homeowners and a 3 star on petcare. I’d shorten some of the details here eg:
- _______ left chocolate on the counter which was not out of reach for our dog, resulting in an emergeny vet visit. She handled things quickly and responsibly, but a more experienced sitter would have known not to leave the chocolate within reach. Thankfully, the dog was fine.
- Normally, our dog doesn’t have potty accidents, but there were multiple incidents during her stay stemming from her not following instructions in the guide which we went over with her – primarily the bedtime routine/potty walk.
- The dog got into some bad habits during the stay that we had to avoid such as getting on the couch and chewing stuff. We feel this was avoidable if they had treated the dog as instructed, and followed our guidelines.
If they weren’t informing you/discussing the dog chewing stuff or going on the couch or acting out in other ways, then that should count toward communication. I don’t know if I’d mention the cookware and probably only if you left specific instructions that were ignored or the damage was clearly carelessness and not ignorance.
As a homeowner my main concern is animal safety so the chocolates and carelessness about the counter is a big deal to me and alone merits deducting at least a star. I’d be livid personally if my dog that doesn’t normally have potty accidents had two on mattresses.
Please review honestly.
I agree bullet points that are purely descriptive rather than speculative as this is useful to future HOs considering these as potential sitters, but equally the original HOs should expect the sitters to reply to each bullet point with their own experiences. And of course in many cases future HOs may allow their dogs on couches, won’t have dogs that pee on beds, or graze counters….
I think if a sit is challenging not all sitters manage to make it 5* as possibly are less vigilant than the HO.
It’ll be interesting to see the Reviews from both sides and the replies to those reviews.
I could be reading too much in, but it sounds like they’ve had previous sitters who didn’t have these issues.
Yes some sits are borderline 5* for some sitters but 4* for others in terms of a match of skills/knowledge/experience/tolerances. In the end it is really about finding a great match. Sitters can pile up a shed load of 5* then come a cropper with an unexpected more challenging sit.
I would mention not completing the bedtime routine leading to accidents and the chocolate ingestion (and I would mention chocolate not food) and probably rate 4 stars. I would expect the sitters to also rate you down for pet behavior as it sounds like your pets were being difficult without you around.
In the future you may want to be more clear at the start with what to do if the dog doesn’t go potty (for example what doors can be shut) and that your dog counter surfs, so all food especially chocolate needs to be out of reach. And make sure there is cupboard space available so they can put food away.
Thanks everyone for the thoughts and recommendations! I think we will end up rating 4 stars overall, and will rate down or up for each individual category accordingly. I still haven’t written it out but will lean on the recommendations here.
Also adding some more context to reply to some of the questions in the thread:
- Our pup is on incontinence meds - she has had accidents indoors before but not within the last year. This is why we have so much detail about taking her out regularly and motivating with treats or a quick walk if needed.
- We unfortunately don’t know how the accidents happened as our sitters noticed after the fact both times. We suspect it was during her sleep - if she hasn’t gone out enough, she won’t always wake up until it’s too late. They did admit that while they offered several opportunities for her to potty, she wouldn’t always go and that maybe they weren’t being firm enough.
- We have had 5 sits through the platform over the past ~15 months and nobody has had issues with accidents indoors or getting into food from the counters (that we’re aware of).
- She hasn’t ever gotten food from counters before, this was new to us. We did leave a pantry shelf empty for the sitters to use - we asked that they refrain from keeping food in the bedroom but weren’t super adamant about leaving counters clear since Delilah hadn’t grazed counters before.
- She didn’t end up needing a vet visit, after talking with poison control they said to just monitor her. From the report they forwarded, it seemed like there was a cost for poison control which they covered. In addition to paying for this, they also bought us flowers and restocked some food supplies.
We have already added more detail to our welcome guide and also plan to get a whiteboard for the kitchen to write out the most important reminders. Every sit, we learn something new to add to the welcome guide!
Thanks for the update. It’s always nice to have feedback from the OP.
