Hi everyone,
I was wondering if you have any recommendations on how can I let pet parents-hosts know that I am looking for house/pet sits in their city. The THS support team already told me that if I am looking for sits in a specific city, a saved search and stating in my profile that I am looking for a specific city would be about the only thing to do, but I wonder if someone here has any other recommendations.
Many thanks!
Juliana
You have a better chance of getting a personal invite if you change your location on your profile to where you want to go…not where you currently are.
You could also try favoriting those listings. The HOs are aware of who favorites them. They can only contact you initially if they are offering you private dates to apply for a sit, which isn’t that likely, but it is possible. You can only contact them to apply when they have availability. Socializing is on the forums. It isn’t the worst thing to get social and link to your profile, so people can be aware of you, but not many members use the forums compared to overall membership.
There are two different kinds of saved searches: the ones created in the apps and the ones created in the web interface.
They behave differently. I wrote about that here: App versus website - #23 by pietkuip
The app gets you faster notifications, so you are less likely to be too late.
Do you have specific dates you are looking for? Or is it just a general interest?
In the search option, the website shows owners who are not currently looking for a sit. You could try messaging those who you may consider sitting for and let them know that you would appreciate them keeping you in mind the next time they need someone as you are interested in visiting the area? That way if they have future sits that are not posted, they may reach out to you before sharing them with the general public. (I have never tried this myself, but this is the only other thing I can think of that the site may enable)
THS: Why not change the availability calendar to add a box along side each of your available dates that allows you to select a place you would like to sit or leave blank?
You can use HouseSitSearch.com (includes THS sits) and that will drill down to state level in the US and Canada and country level in Europe which is a considerable advance on THS search.
@KittyKathy there is no way for a sitter to contact owners .
@KittyKathy the only time a sitter can message a HO is if they have an active sit listed. Otherwise, all you can do with those is mark them as favorite.
Dan
Thank you for confirming, I must have been thinking of how you can message a past HO for a completed sit even if they don’t have an active listing. I appreciate the correction!
@Juliana.Riano It would be helpful if you state in your post where and when you are looking for a sit because there is an outside chance that some of the forum members may be able to give you tips specific to that location or know of host members in that area. You should also consider linking your THS profile to your forum profile so that members may give you helpful feedback. Also, if you use the spy glass function in the forum and type in the name of the specific location you are seeking, you may find host members who are located there and you can send them direct messages through the forum to see if they may be open to having you sit for them. Good luck!
My first THS sitter was someone that had favorited us. 
Hi everyone. This is a great conversation. Unfortunately there is no easy way for sitters to contact pet parents with whom they haven’t already established a relationship. And the forum is not designed to be a place where either sitters or homeowners publicize their sit needs, so please don’t list dates and locations here. Thanks.
Thank you very much everyone for your help!
Reviewing your answers, I believe the additional actions that could help sitters/guests to be noticed or invited (whenever possible) by parents/hosts in our location of interest in X time is to:
Post edited to comply with forum guidelines
Just wondering, why can’t there be a place here for sitters to state the areas they’d like to sit in?
I’m a dual member, and if I saw someone posting here that they were interested in sitting in my neck of the woods, I’d be happy to know about it.
If the concern is about opportunities popping up on the forum and allowing people to arrange sits off platform, all you’d have to do is make a password protected category that only current THS members could contribute to.
Aside from all the strategies mentioned we need to remember that we have this wonderful forum and we should use it to build more good will and community. People here are watching, reading, learning and seeing a bit of who we are, as individuals.
What we contribute here can hurt you or it can help you. I am a huge advocate of establishing relationships, having good chats, banter with other members can benefit one greatly.
Linking your member profile allows others to go have a look and you can be favorited, invited, have a personal mssg here in the forum.
Talk about the places and animals that interest you.
Like attracts like.