Hi everyone, my fiancée and I are new to THS and are excited to start using it for when we have to leave our pups at home. I’ve seen in other posts about making the profile more condensed and including more in the Welcome Guide, but it also feels like it’s nice to have all the details upfront for care so you know what you’re getting into. At that point, I’m not sure how much is left to include in the Welcome Guide I would love some feedback from the Community!
Also, we have three German Shepherd dogs, and I know that doesn’t look like the most appealing house sit for sitters when they might be able to get a much easier gig. Anyone else have three or more dogs with good experience on the site? Any sitters with advice on how to make that look appealing/what you first impression is when you see three dogs on the house sit?
Hello and welcome! For me as a sitter, the most important info would be if they can walk off lead, if there is a fenced in garden, how often they need to be walked and how they behave on walks.
I have done two sits with multiple dogs by myself. One had 3 dogs, one even had 4! The reason I could do these was because the dogs didn’t need to be walked (there was a big fenced in garden to exercise in), or in one case only two needed walks.
If there are two people or families sitting, of course their considerations will be different. Yours might be the perfect sit for families who love dogs, and you could say just that in your listing!
You might consider hiring a dog walker to free up the sitter(s) for a few afternoons or such, depending on the length of the sit. Hosts sometimes do that. I have an upcoming sit for just one small dog and the host volunteered that that was available to me if I wanted it.
Hi @saifandhailley and welcome! We sat 5 dogs, 12 chickens, 1 rooster and a cat on one sit. All the dogs had very different personalities, but what I think is important to include in your listing besides what @andrealovesanimals has written is recall abilities and any situations that evoke aggression/excitement/anxiety in your pups. If you are not honest in your listing regarding dog behaviour and your expectations re routines, the chances are your potential sitter’s review of the sit will not be as you would wish it to be. Openness and honesty in a listing is key. Good luck!
Welcome @saifandhailley and great you have already done some homework by reading other posts and learning from them. You have already been given some great advice. I just wanted to add that the age of your German Shepherds can also impact the attractiveness of your listing because if, for example, you have an elderly and a young pup in the mix, they are going to require different routines for sitters to follow, which could be more time-consuming. Be upfront with their needs, including any health issues or medication needed as it’s better to have too much info in your listing than not enough.
We’ve also sat for 3 dogs a few times & two huge German Shepherds on multiple occasions, all have been fine because the dogs were well behaved, good on the leash and/or didn’t need walking as they lived on huge plots that were fenced as others have mentioned. It’s probably better to ask for couples or families (if they’re good with kids) but say you’re open to experienced sitters that fancy the challenge. Other things will be how often they need walking, how long for, where they sleep and then nice stuff like a comfy bed, clean bathroom, fridge space and good comms from you. guys and you’re off. You can share your listing on here if you’d like more detailed feedback. @KiwiSwede is right about setting out your stall from the off. #honestyiseverything
We only have one dog but one thing we did is write a profile of him with lots of details about his routine, habits and quirks. We send this document as a pdf to the sitter once we’ve arranged to have a video chat with them. That way they get the full picture so some of their questions have been answered before the call. With multiple dogs it would be helpful to put each one’s photo along with the text. The sitter you end up accepting then has something to refer to during the sit along with the Welcome Guide.
You’ve been given lots of good advice and, personally, as a single sitter I would scroll right past as couldn’t handle 3 GSDs alone. What no one has mentioned and what everyone will want to know is, how long can the dogs be left alone after having had a good walk? You do need to add that in your listing as, although you might have mentioned it in a tick list it, bizarrely, can’t be seen by potential sitters!
You only need one sitter that knows what the sit involve and can handle it.
I’ve had 3+ dogs myself, and I’ve sat three dogs.
It isn’t so much the number as it is how the dogs are trained and how they go together. I’ve walked three of my dogs 3 times a day no problem single-handed, and I’ve walked two dogs that could pick a fight out of the blue, I prefer the three.
Be truthful and transparent, and then the sitters who thinks it is too much will not apply. That is good! So you don’t really want to sugar the pill - you want to be honest.
Personally I prefer dogs that are good on leash, and I find that dogs that are good on leash often are well trained in general, but that is just my experience.
@saifandhailley keep in mind that you are not trying to appeal to everyone -
Your sit won’t appeal to someone who wants to sit small dogs ,or a maximum of two dogs - that’s fine because you don’t want them to apply .
you just need to find a sitter who loves your dogs as much as you do so keep that in mind when writing a listing and preparing your home - what would you want as a sitter ?
I’ve done solo sits for three dogs and four dogs. With that many pets it’s all about the exercise requirements. Both homes had large fenced yards and the dogs were happy to chase things/play with each other. When I needed to walk them, they were either good on leads or traveled as a tight pack and had excellent recall. Both sits were a delight.
To make it appealing, if your dogs require more work than that, see if you can offer a local walker to give your sitter a couple of free days to explore on their own. Make the walking as easy as possible in any way you can. Maybe let play take the place of some walks.
I would love some feedback from the Community!
