@BeckyOnTheHill - I am not aware of this and haven’t heard anyone else mention this .
The message that comes up when you already have a confirmed sit is
“You’re busy with another sit “
What is the message that you are seeing come up to block you when you are trying to apply for a sit that overlaps with another application ( but doesn’t overlap a confirmed sit )?
So if you’ve sent an application for say November 10-17 & are waiting to hear back, if you then apply for another sit for the same dates in another location then it won’t let you as you’re “in process”?? Wow if that’s true. That’s crazy. @Carla is that right?
That was a mistake of mine, SORRY. Tried to delete my post. But, got a note I am not authorized to to do so. Would therefore please someone of the Forum team delete it. Thank you.
Hi all, as @Carla is offline at the moment, I just to clarify if there has been a little confusion over this. You can apply for as many sits as you like for any time period and dates, so long as you do not have confirmed dates for that period.
Good morning home owners! I recently had a HO reach out to me about sitting for them. They had seen our profile and saw we had an opening close to their dates.
We had seen their listing BUT (and this is a bigggg but) we could not apply because the sit dates they had listed overlapped a sit we already had scheduled.
THS won’t let sitters apply for your sits if the dates you have posted overlap sits we already have scheduled (even by one day), nor are we allowed to message you until we apply.
Until THS changes this “feature” you’ll need to be the ones to reach out to pet sitters that you are interested in connecting with, as pet sitters our hands are tied.
I haven’t read all 125 posts, so someone may have come up with this workaround already. I just tried it for a new sit I have posted for Mid-May to Mid-September. That’s a long time and I have flexibility. The chance that someone might be interested but have a short overlap at one end seems high. So I started my introduction with this:
MY 2025 DATES MAY CHANGE BY A FEW DAYS ON EITHER END. I CAN BE FLEXIBLE TO FIT YOUR SCHEDULE. If you are committed to a partially overlapping sit, and therefore can’t apply/send me a message, please find me on LinkedIn or Facebook and send a message there. Then I can reach out to you proactively on THS and we can start conversing on the platform here to see what is possible.
Hope this works to expand the number of quality applications that I receive.
If your dates are flexible @Shella_in_the_Forum , youre better quoting dates from end of May to beginning of September, then stating datescan be extended or amended at each end of the sit.
The longer the stated period, the more likely interested sitters may have an overlap at one end or the other.
I think there should be some way we can message a HO we are interested in a sit for them if we are in that same area even when it overlaps dates. I think that could be a possible reason why ppl are saying there’s no sits out there. There are tons of sits. Im on a sit right now that ends on the 15th July, i found another sit in the next town over 10 mins away that starts on the 14th of July. The ppl im sitting for said they dont mind if i left sunday since im watching cats as long as they have clean litter food and water. But i cant even messages them or apply because my date technically ends on the 15th. So that home owner who may happen to have low applications is probably going to have to cancel their vacation all over 1 day over lap that i cant apply. What a waste of services. When im 10 mins away. I could drive over and meet them in person and all because of this system . THS come on seriousness cant you guys come up with a way we can work this out. Especially when a homeowner states in their profile they are flexible with their dates. I see 2 things eventually happening here. Losing HO and Sitters. Or someone knew out there is going to make a website very simular this with more flexibility. Thats all we are asking for. Some bit of flexibility. Especially to sitters maybe who have many sits behind them. Start with allowing the HO and sitters who have good reputations and many good reviews. That way its a way of grant more privileges to ppl who have earned their way to this feature. Unlike sitters or HOs who have many no shows or cancelation. We need more rewards systems in place for the steady clients that have been with THS for 10 years. Its being trustworthy, accountable, and rewarding.
Greetings All!!!
Simple solution…create a second account! If you have a spouse, this is easy! If you are single (as I am, but I haven’t tried this), you may get flagged as already having an account. But if you make a separate account for the sake of reaching out to other members that overlap (such as in @Jackievw 's case directly above)…just do it! The bottom tier account is a reasonable price and just explain to the home owners what you are doing when you inquire, why and make sure they can read all your reviews in your primary account.
So…TWO accounts solves this. To those that will mention money…if you will go broke over paying for two accounts to circumvent a sit you want…you probably shouldn’t be traveling in the first place.
This seems to be a simple issue to solve if you just create two accounts and use one as the primary. Readjust the dates so all the reviews are on your primary account.
If THS won’t revise their policy, find a way to work around the policies, not fight them.
Am I wrong???
Hi @Jackievw
Create a second account and each out to the sit you want…see my entry below.
Good luck!!!
Are you wrong? Yes, I think so. We should do both - work around the policies AND fight them.
The FIRST posting (five months ago at this point) on this thread is from THS saying they are NOT changing the policies. If a sitter really wants to get into overlapping (for GOOD reasons, many stories above), they can either accept defeat or create a second account.
Perhaps, another member like us that is NOT booked can reach out to the HO and advise them of a username…if that is possible?
Is a third or fourth option available??? If not, and knowing THS is adamant…I am open to other ideas aside from creating a second account.
Hey everyone… complicated problem I’m looking for help with. My wife and I are 5 star sitters for the past year with over 10 sits to our credit. We are committed to a sit near home that ends August 20, after which we’re trying to fill holes in our schedule.
A sit popped up today that starts August 17 and looks perfect for us. The description says dates are flexible. I can’t talk to the homeowners at all since it’s considered an overlapping sit. All I want to do is ask if they’re flexible enough to move the start by 3 days. If they do that then we can book it. Failing that, as it’s only a single cat, I’m sure one of us could move into that house while the other stays in the first one.
If we could just get someone to drop an application on the post directing the owners to email us we could get the situation clarified and help them as well as ourselves. Help?
Ill send a message to them for you
No longer needed
Hi Jackie… thanks very much! The post is from Newmarket, Ontario and entitled " My cat needs a friend while we are away! Flexible on the date range."
(Personal details removed as per posting terms. Please reach out via DM to share further details)
We had to do this recently, regarding a sit which overlapped by 1 day and was just a few miles from where we’d be completing a sit. We got another sitter we know to forward a message on our behalf so we could meet the 5 applicant deadline, then the pet parent at our confirmed sit amended her sit date by one day (after being made aware of our predicament) so we could contact the other PPs direct.
Unfortunately, the second PP is new to the site and so got a bit suspicious about this proposal, which they clearly felt implied underhand communications (despite that we explained that we sit as a couple, their sit overlapped our confirmed one by a single day, and we could both attend to meet on the first day of their sit but then my O/H would have to then return to the other sit for the remaining night). Our application was declined, without a chat.
We’ve never before done an overlapping sit but, in this instance, it could have worked perfectly for us. This new THS policy has really done a disservice to both owners and sitters. IMHO.
I understand why this policy was implemented but, like a lot of rules and regulations, it’s designed to prevent a small percentage from ruining things for the vast majority. Maybe we need a libertarian version 
ONE way around this…simply create another account (sub account) and just the basic membership (not the middle tier or premium) to make that initial contact. I know a couple that have two accounts for this purpose, the sub account mentions why the account exists and redirects to the primary account with all the good reviews.
I thought of that but, I gotta say, I’m not interested in paying MORE money just to make this thing work the way I think it should…