Hello. I have recently (re)joined Trusted Housesitters. When I lived in New Orleans I had no trouble finding sitters for longer or short term. Now I have moved to upstate NY, I’m concerned about finding a sitter for my dogs for a week next month. Any advice as to how to attract sitters?
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Hello! Yes; you’ve come to the right place - have a read of this blog I inspired for THS.
If you have also already created your listing, you can link it to your forum bio for members to view & give feedback. Here’s how: How to add a listing or profile link to your FORUM profile
You might also want to give this thread a read too: What I am looking for in the “Responsibilities” section
A really important piece of information sitters often want to know is how long the dogs can be left for & where they sleep, so make sure you state this clearly in your listing.
Hope that helps! 
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I admit - I took home pictures and put together my listing while also working, so wasn’t feeling particularly creative. Guess it needs some fine tuning.
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And thank you Nagy26 for that helpful info.
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Nice profile, beautiful first photo, but just a couple of tips:-
You’ve got about how they will not go for walks, but then you leave it quite a while before saying they go in the back yard. You need to put those two bits together. At first glance it looks like they pee in your home or in their crate.
I also wouldn’t put the word ‘dead’ as your sixth word at the top of your listing. A lot of sitters on here will know owners (or indeed themselves) that have lost a pet very recently, so maybe save that for lower down in the location part. Also, it could be lost in translation, there’s a lot of nationalities on here, in the UK we call it a cul-de-sac, pinched from French/Latin, but we know what you mean anyway, but others may not, in Spanish it’s different again. So just leave it until lower down in your profile in the location part, no-one wants to read the word ‘dead’ right at the start, your eyes just get drawn to it straight away.
Hope that helps
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You have a nice looking & very positive & friendly listing I would only recommend that you:
1: You change your title to something exciting such as ‘explore all Rochester has to offer.’
2: While your intro is certainly compelling, most of the details about the local area should be in your home & location section instead, not the intro. Try giving just a brief statement of why this is a great sit and what it offers
3: Home and location section is great, just add where a sitter will be sleeping (guest room or your room?) and how big the bed is
4: Responsibilities section is great, but the statement ‘90% house trained’ is ambiguous. Does it mean they have accidents in the house? How should a sitter manage this? How frequent does it happen? Make sure you fully disclose this, and how you manage it. This issue may be the reason you haven’t had applicants, as unfortunately accidents in the home is a deal breaker for many - but there are ways you can help a sitter manage this. You also talk about the dogs being very timid - what does this mean for a sitter? Will they take well to a sitter, or be quite afraid? How should a sitter manage this? Also, who would suit your sit - a single, couple or a family (are the dogs okay with children? Or other pets?
Hope that helps!
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To a native-New Yorker, Rochester isn’t “upstate” which to me implies north of Albany but still in the eastern part of the state, or no further west than maybe Cooperstown/Glimmerglass. You’re in Western New York. It’s going to be helpful if you can offer a car. But I do think Rochester especially in the fall, and your upcoming sit isn’t quite fall, but close with great weather might attract someone. You are near a major university, so there are always parents who might want to visit their kids. And if the dogs can be left for a bit or if doggie daycare or a walker to releive sitters is an offer you can make, then there is a lot to see and do in your new city.
Just be careful about accepting sitters from Canada as there have been some challenges with border guards which you can read more about here: Challenges with Border Guards - RE the Laws - #174 by Marion
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I think your listing is great and the doggies look gorgeous! Such a pity they are so fearful. I wish I could apply.
It’s not really important but I think it would be better to have individual pictures of the dogs in the meet the pets section. Just Sadie and just Charlie.
I am sure you will find great sitters.
Good luck.
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Thank you Newpetlover. It’s difficult for me to get a picture of Sadie without Charlie also in it. Charlie is a bit more independent so I have one or two of her solo I think. Anyway, I will adjust my listing when I have a moment.
They’re really so much less fearful than when they first arrived 2 years ago. They are happy and spoiled, as is right and proper!
Thanks for the Canada tip. I will say, having grown up in Rochester but only recently returned after decades away - we here have always referred to ourselves as upstate, and laughed at, for example, Westchester being referred to that way. I guess I could have said Western NY, and will change that when I revise the listing. It just came naturally to say upstate!
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Sorry! I honestly never knew that people in Rochester referred to themselves as upstate. And you might be exagerrating slightly about Westchester, but yup, plenty of NYers (the City kind) refer to anything north of the Bronx as upstate!
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