Hi
Im new to this, looking a dog sitter.
Ive had approximately 40% not even reply.
Ive sent follow up as thinking perhaps missed. But you can see if viewed
I mean if my location/home/dog what ever isn’t right for them, all they need to do is decline.
Is this common? Surely im not the only one?
Can they be reported back as I find it disappointing to not know how best to proceed?
I have kept them in my inbox but sent out orher invites, then eventually archived.
Hello @SusanLogan & welcome. Have you sent personalised invites to these sitters or a blanket general one? The first will have better reception as general ones mean you’re fishing rather than selecting ones that are a good fit. Some sitters get a lot of these and may be in a sit/travelling/not actively looking for sits/working etc etc You’re up against a few things by inviting sitters as it’s normally more successful to post a listing for applicants. The THS calendar isn’t a good gauge of availability either as it only sees THS commitments & not other platforms or life in general. Is this your first time? Have you created a listing? Where are you in the world? What pets do you have? All these will influence your success rate. Definitely create a listing though to stand the best chance of finding a sitter. You can’t report them as they haven’t done anything wrong, some people are just better communicators than others. #bestofluck
Sitters aren’t obliged to respond to unsolicited invitations. They aren’t doing anything wrong so, no, you can’t report them.
I do try to respond myself, as I like to be polite, but it’s not always convenient to do so. I might be on holiday myself, working long hours, I recently spent time at a hospital with a relative, all sorts of things. People have busy lives and sitters don’t have to jump just because you’ve randomly messaged them.
Invitations rarely result in finding a sitter. Most will probably not be interested in or available for your sit. In two years I’ve had on average 2 invitations a month, and only once has it resulted in my sitting for them.
Best course is to make sure your listing is really appealing ( you can get advice on that here), post your dates, and see who applies, as they are definitely interested and available.
We’ve discussed this a lot on the forum and the answer will always be the same. As @Cuttlefish says if you’ve sent out invitations to sitters they may not reply as they didn’t apply for your sit in the first place. Some sitters get inundated with invitations, and there’s no use looking at the calendars to see if they’re available as there are problems with those too (also discussed a lot on the forum).
It so happens that some owners don’t even bother replying to sitters’ applications to listings. I’ve had this happen a lot and it’s very discourteous, especially as now owners will only get a maximum of 5 sitters applying so it takes no time for them to reply briefly acknowledging their application. For instance I applied for a sit (and was the first to do so) 5 days ago. I can see the owners have read it but, to date, haven’t bothered replying. They’ve been ‘reviewing applications’ for 4 days but, whether they are or not, it’s not possible to know if they actually are.
So, as we’ve discussed before, the best thing to do is post your listing making it as attractive as possible (lots of help on the website) and wait for sitters to apply.
Btw, owners are supposed to reply to applications within 72 hours but doubt they know that and, if they did, THS can’t do anything about it.
Good luck!
Wanting to report people who don’t reply to your unsolicited invitation sounds entitled and trigger happy. I mention that, because you’re new and might want to recalibrate your expectations and improve your odds of getting a sitter.
In that vein, if you’re not getting many applicants, maybe review your listing and gauge whether it might be coming across badly tone wise and/or substance wise to sitters — many sitters skip listings that sound like a job description, for instance. (It can be useful to read other hosts’ listings, because some are more appealing than others, based on how thoughtful they are to sitters.)
It helps to have a friendly and inviting sounding listing, because all sits are voluntary and various sitters gauge listings by — among other things — whether they sound like a host who’s friendly and reasonable or maybe over demanding and self-absorbed.
For instance, some listings focus heavily or exclusively on what a host and their pets need or want, with little regard to what sitters / visitors might care about. Such listings usually don’t do well unless they’re in high-demand locations.
It’s important to recognize that sitters spend their own time and usually money to travel to sits and voluntarily sit pets and homes. They all pay a fee to join THS and choose hosts and sits, just like hosts choose sitters. They’re not some paid labor force that will jump at your demand.
The best possibilities would be to publish the dates on your listing and wait for sitters to apply.
Whether someone applies or not will depend heavily on whether your listing (location, home, pets, responsibilities) is such that it seems appealing to go there and stay there. So it is really important to put oneself in the shoes of a sitter and show why I would like to dig (deep) in my wallet and leave my home and pet to go to look after your pets. Which i do regularly and is why I pay a membership fee to THS, but I look for a nice get-away where I can live like a local and explore a new area/ community/ country. It doesn’t have to be lucurious and ofc walking/feeding/litter box is natural parts of a petsit, but also a modest home can be clean and welcoming.
Looking at other listings from hosts is a good idea, and there’s also great advice here on forum. Need Help With Your Owner Listing?
No reply = not interested or not available to sit .
Some sitters only sit once or twice a year and so may not currently be looking for a sit - but THS keeps their profile visible .
Most sitters will have a specific destination(s) that they want to sit in (usually not local to their home).
Better to create an attractive listing and wait for interested sitters to apply.
Hi @SusanLogan
I get a whole load of unsolicited sit request messages over Christmas. I do try and respond to them all that I don’t do Xmas sits but I’m involved in a number of charity events over Xmas period so it may be days before I get time to respond.
Where are you on this wonderful planet @SusanLogan?
Creating a well thought out interesting profile is the way to go. It needs to grab the attention of good sitters, because this is a platform of mutual exchange. Is your space welcoming, is it close to some interesting spots for day trips, are your pets cute’n’cuddly? There are plenty of threads describing how to create a good profile to host sitters. Just use the spyglass in the righthand corner to access them. Good luck. 
I think you have wrong idea how this site mainly works. It is easiest to post your dates and let those that are available during those dates and who want to sit in your area to apply themselves.
On the occasions where we receive invites to sit, the owners always make us feel like they have read our profile, whereas perhaps your message is too generic sounding, it’s like you yourself receiving an application from a sitter who has sent a generic message that could have been sent to anyone, rather than a personlised message from a sitter that refers to specific details in your profile, so you know they ‘give a damn’.
Hope that helps.
Yes! 
If you link your listing (search for the procedure), we can give you some pointers.
Was your listing hastily put together? Proofreading is a must.
As has already been explained, sending out invitations to sitters rarely brings about an achievable good match, because the system essentially works in reverse: pet parents formulate a listing which will attract sitters, then wait for applications to roll in (remember that applications will automatically be paused after 5 are received, so you should read and assess promptly, arrange chats with anyone who appears to fit your requirements and decline - with a courtesy note of thanks - the rest, so that you can un-pause the listing and attract more applicants). Even then, you should bear in mind that sitters will be assessing you as much as you are them, and an application is not an offer to sit. Sits are only valid when hosts make an offer which is then confirmed by the sitter (and will subsequently appear in the dashboards of both parties).
Thoughts and comments like this will ring alarm bells for most good sitters. I suggest you should learn more about the reciprocal nature of THS and re-frame your approach.
“Potential sitters”, is your own interpretation
a more accurate description in this case would be just “Members of this site”
People who apply directly to an advertised sit, and those people only, can be referred to as Potential Sitters
Edited to comply with posting guidelines
This may actually be an echo of the THS advertising that is directed to pet owners. Those texts suggest that membership gives them access to an umlimited pool of free sitters that are available when needed.