My primary motivation for sitting is pretty much the opportunity to spend time and build connections with a wide variety of animals/pets in amazing and unique environments. And to provide pets with comfort, affection and stability in their own environment whilst their pet parents are away.
Another motivation for me is to be able to reassure and reduce or even eliminate worry and on the part of like-minded animal loving pet parents when separated from their beloved pets in order to allow them to travel and enjoy their time away from their pets without too much stress knowing they are in a safe pair of hands
To a slightly lesser extent I’m motivated to ensure home owners know they have a responsible, resourceful and considerate individual looking after their home and treating it with respect.
Other motivations include the opportunity to spend time the natural environment surround by nature - hence I’m a specialist in remote and isolated sits.
Pretty much everything else on a sit is secondary or incidental.
Sure it makes a sit more rewarding if I’m also able to visit a local village or town, interact with the local community and have a meal etc occasionally or visit other natural attractions (with or without the pets) but these are not my priority.
Almost all of my sits have involved multiple animals that require feeding and care multiple times a day - which is absolutely fine, I love every minute I spend in the company of animals - but such a schedule does not allow time for exploring, sightseeing and nights out etc.
There’s absolutely no point in me applying to pet sit and then to just leave the animals at home all day/night whilst I go off to the beach or for a kayak or a hike. It’s not fair on the animals and I’d be letting the owners down.
If I need a vacation, a care-free break where I can do exactly what I want and when I want then I will just book a vacation. I have no qualms paying for accommodation (my Airbnb account is testament to that) but I’m also equally happy getting away from everything and wild camping in the wilderness. I certainly wouldn’t try to combine a vacation with pet sitting - especially if I just wanted to save on accommodation costs in the location I wanted to visit.
I do not view pet sitting as a vacation. There’s a lot of responsibility involved, but the sits I have done are so much more rewarding and enriching than a simple vacation - thanks to a combination of the animals I cared for, the considerate pet parents who trusted me with their home and the natural environment setting.
@LiamSits Those are all very commendable reasons and I am sure many sitters sit for those exact same reasons but for sure not all. After all the marketing from THS currently promotes The Freedom to travel. With the tag line - Discover free & unique homestays around the world in exchange for caring for adorable pets.
I think we could comfortably do an A-Z of reasons people sit. My starter for 10…
A - Accommodation, for various reasons some sitters are looking for somewhere to stay.
B - Boredom, we retired early but are not ready to pop our slippers on quite yet.
C - Change of scene, as much as we love our own slice of paradise we also love to see others.
All of the above enhanced by the company of pets of course.
Owners go for kayaks or hikes. I don’t think it’s unfair to the animals if the sitter does too. The choice doesn’t have to be between treating this as a 24/7 paid gig and treating it as a vacation. You can just treat it the same way the HO treat it: taking good care of the animals and house while also having a life.
If you’re treating this as if it were a 24/7 paid gig, that explains a bit. I mean, you’re free to treat it that way, but you should realize the owners you’re slagging on for not lending you their car aren’t trying to take advantage of you. They probably didn’t expect you to be at their house 24/7 for weeks on end. If they’d known you were only going to use it for a once-a-week dash to the grocery and back, or an emergency trip to the vet, they might have been willing to lend it.
Realize that not everyone can afford to book a vacation. For some folks, part of the attraction of the exchange is that they get to spend time in an area they otherwise couldn’t afford to.
What jumps out at me is that she will not go to the rental car agency with you. My first thought is that she does not have a valid driver’s license. There is a reason she doesn’t want that scrutiny.
When we were on THS as HOs, all we required from our sitters was a copy of their valid driver’s licenses and assurance from our agent that they were covered under our car insurance.
You seem to have reasonable expectations and any trustworthy person would not balk at them. Have you seen her driver’s license?
We have an upcoming sit where the HOs offered us the use of their car. They had done it for previous sitters and all they did was contact their insurer to make sure we were covered. We have sent them copies of our driver’s licenses in advance.
I have made no reference of an assumed right for a sitter to borrow a HO’s vehicle.
My outlook is simple - if a HO who requires the service of a sitter lives in a remote location with no access to reliable public transportation and they themselves would not live in that location for the period of that sit without use of a vehicle they should not be expect a sitter to supply use of a vehicle in order to facilitate the care of their home and pets… but rather they should be offer use of a vehicle to the sitter.
These are the parameters I apply when considering sits in locations with no public transport access. If a HO makes it explicitly clear in their listing that they expect a sitter to provide use of the sitters own vehicle for the privilege of taking care of their home and pets for free I swerve such a listing immediately
I go on hikes and kayak trips and bike rides etc on my sits. I just don’t go out all day and all night doing such things - as I would on if I were on vacation.
My point is as a sitter I have no control of my schedule, that is set by the animals and their routine. I have absolutely no problem with that. None at all. The animals are my priority. But it does essentially mean it is 24/7.
All of my sits to date have been amazing and the HOs on all my sits have been equally amazing and considerate - I was able to detect this instantly in their listing and that is why I agreed to the adventure of caring for their animals…. And of course all these considerate HOs offered free and unrestricted use of their vehicle knowing full well how important it was for my wellbeing as a sitter looking after their home and pets given their location. The thought of not offering use of their car or expecting a sitter to rent a car for the sit wouldn’t have even crossed their minds.
I’m not slagging on HOs for not offering me use of their car. But it is my opinion that HOs who live in locations not served by public transport and expecting sitters to provide a car to carry out the HO’ listed responsibilities are being unreasonable and inconsiderate. There’s a difference.
Plenty of such HO’s listings not only require a sitter provide a vehicle but also have very lengthy list of sitter responsibilities - something akin to what would be asked a 24/7 pro sitter.
And as I have said on multiple posts I do not entertain listing for sits or invitations to sits from HO who expect or require sitters provide a car to care for their animals.
Yeah I’d love see how this disclosure would go down with HOs considering potential sit applicants.
I can’t imagine any HO accepting an application from a sitter that declared they fancied a vacation in the HOs area but couldn’t afford accommodation.
And it’s interesting that you raise this aspect in a discussion primarily about HOs who have an expectation that sitters provide their own vehicle (particularly a rental car) to take care of the HOs pets and animals. I highly doubt the sitters you allude to who fancy a vacation but can’t afford accommodation are suddenly going to be able to afford to rent a car!
There’s clearly more to this situation than is being disclosed.
The whole aspect of the sitter already being there and staying in their guest studio for two weeks prior to the sit suggests there being some other form of relationship between the parties - not just a HO/Sitter relationship.
Was the sit organised through THS or did the HO proposition the Sitter about the potential to sit whilst they were just staying as a guest? Why was the sitter already staying as a guest for two weeks prior to the sit commencing?
Full disclosure on the nature of the relationship between both these parties is necessary to truly understand the dynamics at play and why the sitter objected of the HOs offer to hire a car for them.
I am shocked. The sitter got a 2 week vacation in her guest studio before the sit even started and then (implied) that money spent on a rental car was needed for a dog walker when she was out. How do people get these sits? My second sit, they gave me a cover for my back seats so I could chauffeur the pups to the dog run twice a day. It cost me $40 in gas over the week. And they had to go out every 3-4 hours. And I am fabulous with dogs. They totally love me. I am a retired widow, wouldn’t party, bring friends in. I am shocked that this HO was so generous.
You’re assuming this sitter was staying in the guest house for two weeks for free but the HO has not clarified this. For all we know she was a paying guest and then HO offered her to stay for ‘free’ in exchange for looking after the pets.
And if the sitter was staying for free prior to the sit commencing how did this stay come about?
The whole situation sounds very messy and complicated.
As for your sits you’ve been amazingly generous chauffeuring a HO pets using your own vehicle (and paying for fuel) to do so. I personally wouldn’t apply or accept an invitation to sit where the HO expected a sitter to provide a vehicle to fulfill the responsibilities outlined by the HO. Primarily I wouldn’t want to sit for someone I perceived as unreasonable or inconsiderate but I would also object to the financial burden on me and then the grey areas of insurance cover for your vehicle whilst using it to transport a strangers pet(s). Claims adjusters have a field day in just these types of situations… I don’t believe it’s reasonable for HOs to burden sitters with these costs and risks. But if you’re happy to do so that’s fine.
I think HO should be cautious and take into consideration whether or not the sitter is experienced in driving in the HO’s location. For example, on my sit in Australia I was left with a very nice Mercedes which I appreciated but as an American I have no experience driving on the left side of the street. I declined use of the vehicle as a result.
Totally agree, @kimshady. I also was offered a car twice in Australia and I also declined the offer. I have some experience driving on the left and had actually hired a car for two weeks in Ireland a couple of months previous to my sit and did hire a car in New Zealand after that. I mean I felt comfortable enough driving on the left with a hired car but not the owners’. If something had happened with my rental car, the insurance would have been under my name and I would have dealt with it directly. If something had happened with the owner’s car (and it doesn’t need to be my responsibility, it can be somebody else’s, it can even be a hit and run) I would have had to disturb them during their holidays and, if a long repair was needed, they might have come back and the car not be available for them.
Doesn’t bother me a bit. I’ve had sitters who were here to spend time with family often. One couple was here primarily to help their son and his family settle in to a new place nearby, but they didn’t want to be with their three rowdy grandkids full time for a week. They said they’d likely be back at my place most evenings shortly after an early dinner. Fine by me. My last sitter was meeting a group of college friends for a weekend, she came in Wednesday, went out Monday, and spent Friday evening, most of Saturday, and Sunday brunch with the friends. Fine by me, if I had friends in town for a weekend, that’s about how much time I’d spend out of the house, too.
I never said treat it as a vacation. I said sitters should be able to treat it as owners do: no need to be here 24/7. Rental car + lodging + restaurant meals is more expensive than rental car. Of course that means a trip more affordable to more people.
This sounds like you feel like a sitter is automatically entitled to use someone’s car just because they live remotely. But there’s no such requirement or automatic expectation. You’ve gone on about this repeatedly even though it’s typical for sitters to just skip sits if they can’t manage the transit needed.
Everyone is different and has different needs or expectations. Discussing those needs is part of matching or not. No need to rail against or judge hosts even if they ask for sitters to arrange or provide their own transportation. Some sitters are equipped to do that or to make due otherwise. Or skip such sits.
No. That’s the way you are incorrectly interpreting it. Please don’t put words in my mouth and spin what I am clearly stating.
I’ll repeat what I have said again - it’s a much more nuanced position than you are continually trying to falsely simplify.
If a HO who requires the service of a sitter lives in a remote location with no access to reliable public transportation and they themselves would not live in that location for the period of that sit without use of a vehicle they should not be expect a sitter to supply use of a vehicle in order to facilitate the care of their home and pets… but rather they should be offering use of a vehicle to the sitter.
You referenced people who couldn’t afford a vacation and in your next sentence you mentioned folks who get to spend time in an area they couldn’t otherwise afford to. I naturally assumed you were implying they were on vacation.
Why cant she drive out of town? What if she wants to visit places further afield? We go all over the place when we’re sitting I would hate to be confined to just the town where i was sitting.
Yeah, you misunderstood. Sitting isn’t a vacation; vacations don’t typically come with responsibilities. But it’s absolutely a way for people who couldn’t otherwise afford to spend time in an area to do so.
Re: back to the topic of cars…I just got a great application from a woman who will be in town to visit her mother, who lives about twenty minutes away but doesn’t have room to host. She’ll be flying in and needs to use our car, as while there is public transport it’s primarily a commuter route and doesn’t run frequently throughout the day. She tries to get back into town every few months to visit Mum, so maybe a repeat sitter if we like each other and our future travel plans align. Win for her, win for us, win for the cats, and why I’m willing to offer the car.
You’ve clearly expressed your opinion on this situation @LiamSits and what you would/would not accept. However, we’re all different and we weigh up what is offered in a listing before we apply for a sit. Sitters are not forced to apply for sits that don’t meet their requirements just as owners are not forced into accepting sitters who don’t meet theirs. And yes, owners might miss out on getting a good sitter if they are not offering a car but it is their choice. I choose to rent a car when I’m in the UK sitting; no owner has expected me to do this.