FWIW, i always assume i’ll be paying for a hotel at least the night before the sit starts and potentially the night it ends. staying with the owner is a bonus. cost of lodging while in transit is just the cost of doing business.
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It seems to be quite normal to arrive a day before the sit starts, especially when we HOs leave early in the morning. We (HO) see it as our responsibility to ensure a smooth take over so we would pay for the night in a B&B if spending a night at our house wouldn’t be possible, but obviously not every HO does.
I think the best is to calculate accordingly and add the additional costs to the overall stay.
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A sitter should ask to be shown the circuit breaker box, water shut off in case of a broken pipe of under cabinet hose, and location of fire extinguishers.
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This all belongs in the welcome guide, even if the sitter is shown where everything is to be found. I guess it might be quite overwhelming to be shown a house, one has never seen before and expect the sitter to remember everything. So to be on the safe side, it’s best written (including pictures) in the welcome guide. In case the HO forgets to show it or the sitter doesn’t remember….it’s there to look up.
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Hi @Graham welcome to our community forum and thank you for contributing to the conversation. The Welcome Guide which owners provide should contain all of the information a sitters needs on the pets, home location and any other relevant informations and yes the home info should include the points you have identified.
Thank you again, I hope we see more contributions from you across the forums many topics of conversation.
Angela and the Team
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Manda,these ideas are so great. I also also ask if the pet is chipped and has name tag with address( if mandated)and phone no. Also is they have smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. If it is a domestic sit, I will bring my own detectors if I don’t get an answer.
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One that’s come up for us on our latest UK sit (given the regs now about securing pets in vehicles) - How do you secure your dogs in cars when taking them with you?
We had a sit where the harness went on vacation with the owners 
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Yes. Safe transportation supplies are very important. I also make sure that there are transport crates available and that we go over a disaster/evacuation plan for the pets if I am sitting somewhere coastal during hurricane season. I normally volunteer to take them with us to our home in Atlanta, unless they prefer them to be brought to another location on route. So far, I have not had to evacuate pets, thankfully.
You’ve reminded me of when I was young and oblivious… My two cats quite liked going in the car so long as they werent in a carrier. One would sit on my lap [whilst driving…] and the other across the top of the rear seat, admiring the view.
It gives me the absolute horrors to even think about doing that now!!
Yeah, I’m surprised not to see that more often. If I were dog-sitting, I’d want to know if the dog(s) is happy to come on days out, travels well, etc.
Also important for other types of pets! Not for days out but in case of vet visits. Where are the pet carriers kept, who goes in which (if more than one)? Also, how to secure in car. (I have three rabbits so two pet carriers. I have webbing straps in the car to secure the carriers, as seatbelts just dont work IMHO.)
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Something to consider in advance of a sit: What do you do when the HOs do not list local emergency contacts? For example, if we MUST leave at the scheduled end date but something happens (e.g. the HOs are involved in an accident and are hospitalized at their vacation location) and thus, they can’t return, who is responsible for taking care of the pets?
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I have brought this question up before but I would like some other suggestions. How would you tactfully ask a HO if their home has pet odor? I have asked, as was suggested here, “Has anyone ever told you your home smells like a dog/cat lives here?” I’ve been told, no, I’ve also been told, A dog DOES live here. I would like an accurate answer but don’t want to embarrass the HO. Would it be ridiculous (probably) to ask something like, “On a scale of 0-5, how would you rate the level of pet odor in your home?”
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@mars I’ll address your question indirectly. I was married and unfortunately the ex had custody of our dog. However, I would return to the home where we lived (on agreement) to walk the dog at times. I was surprised by the smell of the home - just standing at the front door - that I had not been aware of when I lived there. I don’t think it was because it wasn’t being cared for (the home or the dog). This article may help understand why someone genuinely may not be able to give you an accurate answer. I must admit I’ve only skimmed the article, as I looked primarily for one that is current. There are many articles online on this topic.
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One important pet question:
Is your dog/cat spayed or neutered - especially with dogs and more so if the male and female are in the same home as this WILL become extremely problematic for sitters caring for your dogs.
We have learned to always ask this question after experiencing a young female that came into season during our sit. It was a messy experience that we do not wish to repeat.
This is something I would never have thought of. I’ve now added it to my list of questions!
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For our current dog sit, during the video talk process we asked if the owner’s 2-yo female was neutered and explained that we would be concerned about running her offlead if she were not. They decided to neuter the dog prior to our arrival. As we know now, this active young working dog absolutely requires to be run offlead and that neutering her was the best solution. Bringing the question to the table was good for everyone.
I would be very concerned if you unplugged my router, I have all sorts of devices using it including my smoke/fire alarms, the cat flap etc. The cat flap would still work but tracking where the cats are would stop. The smoke and fire alarms would still work, but no one would get alerted if there was a fire and no one was home.
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“turning off the Wi-Fi if I could find the router. And if I turned off the router I could use my phone as a hotspot to power my laptop.”
My husband would be furious if a sitter did this without consulting with us beforehand. Of course we don’t have any cameras in the house so it wouldn’t be necessary, but there must be other solutions like covering or unplugging them.
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Well done! Obviously you didn’t get the sit through THS then? I guess it would all depend on the dogs. You might have to take one out for a walk, then the other two. It depends on their ages. If they’re little dogs the owner might have a lead which has 3 attachments, or 2 and a lead for the other. I sit on my own and have only looked after a maximum of 2 dogs at a time as think any more than that could be difficult but, as I say, it depends on the dogs! Good luck!
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