Hi. I’m new to the forum as I’m doing my research and wanting to sign up.
I’ve had dogs for 25 years and more recently a cat… I did some dog sitting 20 years ago for a friend who ran a business, so have done experience, but the dogs came to my house. I want to travel more and I’m considering this as an option. Hubby will stay home and look after our babies.
I’ve read through multiple forum comments about using owners things and cleanliness and getting a vibe that as long as respect and rules are followed, then as a sitter, you should be fine.
Maybe I’ve missed something, but do sitters ever have issues with the pets? When I did dog sit, there were a few mishaps cause the owners never fully disclosed their dogs behaviour!
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Hi @Auzziegirl
If you read a bit more of the forum you will see discussions where there have been some discrepancies between the owners’ description of their dogs’ behaviour and the experience of the sitters. As a sitter I would expect the owner to be honest about their dogs’ characteristics and behaviour. While some things might not suit me there will likely be a sitter who fits the bill.
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Hubby will stay home and look after your children? While a sitter looks after your cat?
That’s not possible through this site. No-one else is allowed to stay at the house while a sitter is there.
It is important to ask questions about the pet’s behaviour before you confirm a sit. This can be done either via the messaging system on the site or a phone or video call with the pet owner.
Ask for the Welcome Guide once you confirm, check through the guide to see if any information differs from the listing and/or your communications. If you have any doubts then you can ask the host to cancel as it is not what you signed up for.
Be assertive and don’t apply or confirm any sitting if you have any doubts no matter how small.
Good luck
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@UKSITTER1 I think you will find the OP is saying the husband will stay home, at their own home, and look after everyone there whilst she travels alone.
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No, hubby stays home to look after our dog and cat and I’m going off to explore the world. He’s still working from home and I’m retired.
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Thanks. Good sound advice 
All the time. A lot of issues are met with the response “oh he’s never done that before” when every person you meet in the park says “oh yeah he does that all the time”.
Agressive dogs, agressive cats, sick animals, not house-trained, can’t be left as long as they say, no recall etc. You’ll eventually experience it all. Owners tend to forget to mention things or don’t see it as bad as it is, either because they’re used to it or because they are concerned it may hurt their chances of getting a sitter or because their animals act up around starngers. Read their reviews left by sitters, read the reviews they leave their sitters. Try and get a feel for them and their pets from that and sometimes animal do things that they really haven’t done before.
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'A lot of issues are met with the response “oh he’s never done that before” when every person you meet in the park says “oh yeah he does that all the time”.
Yep … I’ve had this several times now. It’s irresponsible and annoying, and could actually cause real harm to both animals and people.
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Welcome @Auzziegirl with your experience I am sure you will find lots of great sits . Which countries do you want to travel to ?
We joined THS 18 months ago and have had no issues with undisclosed pet behaviour and we have not encountered overly demanding owners . In fact most of our sits we are now friends of the owners and have done repeat sits for them.
There are some things we do to screen out unsuitable sits ….
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We scrutinise previous reviews from sitters carefully reading all of them before we apply to a listing looking for information about the pets behaviour . We also read the reviews that the HO left the previous sitters to see if they are overly critical. If we read something that is a red flag for us we don’t apply no matter how luxurious the home or attractive the location is.
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We always have a video call with the hosts before confirming a sit and ask questions the pets routine and behaviour ( where do they sleep, are they on medication, are they reactive to other dogs / humans etc on a walk ? Cats -do they use litter trays etc . Have accidents ? How long can the pets be left alone for ? )
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During the video call we ask to be provided with a Welcome Guide as soon as sit is confirmed (or before if possible ) . We check this for any additional information about pet behaviour that might not have been disclosed previously.
This screening has served us well so far with 15 sits completed with no previously undisclosed issues around pet behaviour encountered so far .
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Ah gotcha, you are signing up as a sitter.
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I am pretty sure that whatever mishaps you had in the past, THS sitters have also encountered. With the experience you have, you now know what to ask prospective hosts. Ask, ask, ask, as they may not disclose anything that might be problematic on their own
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Hey there and welcome to THS!
Not everything about a sit will always go exactly how you expected, as with anything in life. However, we have found most owners on THS to be pretty transparent and have only ever had really positive experiences with the abundance of sits we’ve done through THS. We have also learnt through experience what we want, don’t want, will and won’t accept, and are very clear about this in our profile. Getting a good feel for a sit through a video call is key, as well as carefully selecting sits that suit you, plus good communication, from the start! You will be fine, and you will learn through experience what works for you in a sit and what to look for. One thing you could try out if you’re a little unsure is to do a few local sits first, so you get a feel for it before you’re a full time jet-setter 
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Thanks for replying with such great information, it’s certainly going to help with my confidence.
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Thanks so much. I live on a Greek Island and pet sitting services are already established but I’ve seen that Athens and some mainland areas are looking for sitters, so they would be local to me.
It’s going to be a learning curve and I appreciate that… Your advice is sound, I just need to bite the bullet and brave it.
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Make sure at each location you’ve researched a Plan B of paid accommodation just in case the HO cancels on you or if the home/pets are definitely not as described when you arrive and you have to ask THS to cancel the sit for you.
It’s not obvious but ONLY the HO or THS can cancel a sit not the sitter. This then releases the sit listing dates to other sitters.
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Wow, life on a Greek island sounds ideal! What sites have you found local sits on? We’ve been wanting to get some sits in Greece, but haven’t found any so far.
@Nagy26 I have seen quite a few on this very platform but they were all three or more months, pretty much off-grid, and required a pretty dedicated sitter — many pets
Ah okay, I see! Thanks
Hi. There’s a lady who has historically advertised on FB and has now established a clientele for regular work, so I wouldn’t want to compete with a friend and there’s kennels. A lot of people help each other out.
We may travel more if THS works for us, as hubby works from home.
I’m on Kefalonia
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