We are going on a 7-8 week holiday over Christmas and am having no luck with sitters for Mylo, our border collie.
Had one application, replied and heard no more.
Other application had their own dogs and I have no idea how my dog would react to them.
Have now split dates to avoid Christmas.
Any other tips? .
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Hi @JeanBN, my personal take on this is that there are lots of sitters looking for longer sits over the holidays. I’m not sure I would split the post into separate sits, necessarily. Maybe list it as one long sit but mention that it can be flexible in the headline?
As sitters, travel around the holidays is generally more expensive. I know we’ve seen several sit opportunities that we decided not to apply for, because their start or end dates were on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or NYE/NYD. For some locations, such as in Europe, we would be relying on public transport, and that is largely unavailable on those days.
If you link your listing to your forum profile, I’m sure some of the admins and admins can chime in and give you ideas on what might appeal to potential sitters too.
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Thanks. Wasn’t getting any interest so I thought being away at Xmas was the problem. But you do have a good point.
Can I add something to the split listing?
And how do I do that link you mentioned?
This is what one of the site admins posted about linking your listing:
Hello @JeanBN and a warm welcome to the forum. @Harris2 has given some good advice and I’ve just dipped in to say I’ve added your listing to your profile here in the forum so members can take a look and feedback their helpful comments.
I just looked at your listing and don’t see any obvious issues, from a sitter’s perspective. The dog looks sweet and playful. The house is spotless and comfortable. It’s helpful that you listed how far away the nearest towns are, and that there are shops and a cafe in your village. Maybe flesh out the dog’s description a bit more? Is he high energy, does he interact well with other dogs in the neighborhood on walks, how long can he be left alone in the home?
As for combining the 2 dates, I would maybe add "flexible on dates’ in the headline. And mention it again somewhere in the body, that the two stays can be combined into one long one, which would include the holidays. Who wouldn’t want to spend Christmas with a furry friend in the countryside?
Good luck!
Over a month. I’ve had some interest but very little. And I’m nervous about people coming here with their own dogs. Mylo is a bit unpredictable and what if they don’t get on?
I’ve changed my listing - is it any better?
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I love the extra pictures of the outdoors. And the title change made me laugh (although you might get yourself into trouble with that offer, considering the current energy crisis in the UK)! Also, adding Mylo’s name is nice. I love knowing what a pet’s name is…it just personalizes things for me. Another huge bonus for a sitter is having a car included. I really think your listing is great, and if we were in the area, I would apply.
If I were listing a sit with a young and high energy dog, I would also be concerned about having someone bring their own pet. It seems like it might be a liability issue as well, but perhaps I’m just overthinking the issue. I absolutely understand your concern about it.
@JeanBN You have three photos of what appears to be the same bedroom. I’d suggest you remove the two darker ones and leave the brighter one. You also need to add photos of the kitchen and living room.
In the listing I’d expand on your explanation about combining dates. Make it clear that you ideally would like someone to do from the first date to the last. That clarifies that you mean the full gap between the dates.
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Hi @JeanBN you might want to change ‘contract nudity’ for the ‘continuity’ you probably meant to say!
Hahaha!!! Thank you! Predictive text is a nightmare. What bot decided that contract nudity was what I wanted to say? It’s not even a thing….is it???
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I think that’s the best, funniest predictive text I’ve ever seen 