Hello! Im Vonda from Champaign, IL, and I’m finding this form very helpful! I decided to start sitting because I’m retired, I have a lot of free time, I love new places, and I love pets!
My 14 year old Shih Tzu died last year in April and I’m still sooo heartbroken over it, so when I heard about this house/pet sitting, I realized this was right up my alley! I can give/get pet luvins as well as enjoy a new place to explore!
[I do have a few questions that I’m hoping someone can help me with… I’ve already booked 2 sittings, one in March, and one in April. My first question, is how do I request a sit confirmation to make it “official”? The sit in April hasn’t sent me one and it concerns me because she said I could go ahead and book my flight, but I’m scared that something can change if I don’t get that confirmed on the app. Any suggestions on what I should do? I always want to be polite and I don’t wantI to come across as annoying or bothersome with too many questions, and I’ve already had to send a few because I didn’t know what times I should be trying to arrive and leave.
Also, I’ve heard that I’m supposed to get a “welcome” from them that explains things? So will this explain everything that I need to know while I’m there? And I haven’t received one yet from either HO so I’m wondering when I should expect to get that? Or should I request one at a certain point before the sit?
And lastly, what do you do if there’s an emergency at home while you’re at a sit? My brother has a fatal disease and we don’t know how much longer he’ll be with us…it cud be anywhere from soon to a few years (
). I’m worried that something may happen while I’m at a sit and will want to rush home, but I assume I cannot. If that were to happen, do I have any options?
Thank you all so much!! 
Hello, @Sevn I would like to wish you a very warm welcome to the forum community. Here you can connect with other members and find answers to your housesitting questions. You can also use the spyglass to find previous topics.
It would also be a good idea as a new member to add your TrustedHousesitters sitters profile to your forum profile so that other members can view it and give you helpful tips and feedback.
Here is how:
https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/how-to-add-a-listing-or-profile-link-to-your-forum-profile
Here is a link that discusses how to request a welcome guide:
Here is a topic on family emergencies:
You can also reach out to Membership Services with questions and to request help at support@trustedhousesitters.com
Congratulations on finding your first sits and I am sure that some members on here will help answer your questions.
Best wishes Carla
Hi and welcome!
You mustn’t go ahead and book your flights until the home owners have confirmed you on the website, and it sounds like they may be new to this as well. I recommend that you contact them asap and ask them to confirm you on the website, then you’ll get a message saying something like “congratulations……has confirmed you” if you’re happy to accept the sit you then hit ‘accept’ and you’re all set!
Good luck!
Hello @Sevn and welcome to TrustedHousesitters and to the Community Forum 
I see that you have now added your THS profile to your profile on here, so thank you for that. I have just had a peruse of your profile which looks great and I see you have added two character references too which is good.
As @Smiley mentioned, you will need to make sure the second sit is officially confirmed on the website so you will need to contact the HO urgently to make sure this is completed. It is most likely because they are new.
As @Carla has attached links with information attached regarding your questions, hopefully you will find this very informative but if you do have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask, we are all more than happy to help.
Please keep us updated with your travels and sits, whereabouts are you heading for your first sit? 
Thank you @Samox24, @Smiley and @Carla !! You have all been so helpful! What a great forum! 
My 2nd sit (that hasn’t confirmed me) has actually had 5 other people sit for her, with one review, but I’ll definitely request a confirmation on the app from her today. She didn’t even have a conversation with me, she just replied to my application and said that she’d like me to sit if I want it. That sit is in Orlando in April, which I’ve never been to so I’m pretty excited 
My 1st sit is in 2 weeks in New Buffalo Michigan. That’s only a 3 hr drive and it’ll be a nice place to explore. She hasn’t sent me a welcome guide yet, so I think I’ll ask next week if she can post that for me…is that soon enough?
After reading some of the topics in the forum, I have a couple of questions for my HO’s but I don’t want to sound bothersome, so I don’t know when I should ask. Do sitters normally reach out to the HO’s whenever they feel they need to? I want to ask if they have back up plan in place or an emergency contact (but I also don’t want to freak them out by asking that), and I also wanna ask if their pet has any personality quirks that I should know about before I get there.
Hello @Sevn you are most welcome and I am glad that you are reaching out to officially confirm those sits.
Once the sits are officially confirmed and appear as such on your dashboard you can request the welcome guide immediately. (see instructions in comments above) This will then notify the owner that you have requested the welcome guide.
The owner may take a little while to complete them so if they do not send them feel free to message them with a gentle reminder. Once they have been completed they will appear on your dashboard and you can click and open and read it.
If you have further questions feel free to reach out to the owner. Maybe request a call or send a message. It really is about forming a relationship and making sure you are well-prepared.
After we officially confirm with an owner (if we haven’t already) we always swap phone numbers so that we can text and ask any last-minute questions, update on arrival times with travel etc and have another contact method on hand in case we do not have the internet to access the welcome guide at any point. Plus then we send cute pets pictures and updates during the sit!
The welcome guide also has a section about emergency contacts so hopefully, that is all filled in for you as well.
I am so excited for you and your first two sits. Keep us posted and feel free to ask any more questions.
Carla 