@cawosey yes. One of my more polite sayings comes to mind. An absolute dumpster fire! I have less polite ones that are probably more apt.
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@cawosey I think a few scenarios have been raised in this looooong thread about cases where leaving a sit early is acceptable. All cases are where the HO has totally agreed that it’s ok to do so.
One of these scenarios is that it may be a cat who can be left alone as the HO is arriving home early next day and the HO is totally fine with that. Or a neighbour is going to pop in and feed the cat for that one instance. It does happen, a lot.
Nobody is saying that a sitter would just up and leave the day before, it is an agreement between the HO and the sitter, which should be at that discretion.
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That would be ending a sit early (with the owners consent so within T&C and Code of Conduct etc etc) so not an overlap. Again my point was that single sitters could not possibly overlap sits without being absent at one of them while others could technically cover both.
It was not saying the single sitters are terrible people, could not be trusted, are the only ones that abandon a sit to start another etc.
I would also not expect an owner to be faced with a question of ‘can we leave early or arrive late so we can overlap another sit’ when a sit has been agreed. That puts them in a position where they may feel pressured to agree to something they would not have done ordinarily. Similar to a sitter arriving at a sit only to be told there will be builders and relatives staying there or asked if ‘this is ok’ when they have paid for flights etc and they don’t really have an option of saying no.
@cawosey This policy does affect solo sitters. I’ve applied to sits that overlap by a day and clearly stated in my application that I’m available for all but the last day (or the first day) of the sit. And I’ve had HOs happily make other arrangements for that one day and confirm me as their sitter. I recently did a sit where they had a friend come and pick up their dog for the last day and I’ve had other sits where they’ve said the cats are fine by themselves for a day. Everything was agreed prior to confirming the sit. Under the new policy, I would not have been able to apply for those sits. And the one where the friend picked up the dog was about to go unfilled, they were already scrambling to implement an alternate plan or cancel their trip. They were very happy that I applied despite my not be available for the last day. Now I can’t even apply.
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@systaran which is exactly what I was saying to Cawosey in my post scenario but she doesn’t get it/agree. Oh well.
Happy anniversary by the way 
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I find this to be a huge bummer. Whereas in the past (i.e. two weeks ago) I would have reached out to HOs with no applications to offer partial coverage, I am now prohibited from doing so. I wonder how those HOs feel about this change?
This was not something I needed to do, but it generated a lot of informal goodwill for me as a sitter, and for THS as a platform. It now makes zero sense for me to do this – even if I’m not blocked – and as a result I am switching my profile to other (paid) sites. A very unusual choice to enact right before the holidays, when people are desperate for sitters and would take any help that they could get.
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The value of you listening to members, however empathetic, is only useful if you can turn it into proactive action on our behalf. We have other members to listen to our gripes and challenges. We need you & the other moderators to influence change. So far not one issue raised on this forum has resulted in action, it’s been total 
pushback.
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Hi all,
We a are a couple that house/pet sits full-time through THS. Upon hearing this new ‘policy’ update, we were extremely disappointed. Simply because there are poor acting sitters doesn’t mean we all need to feel the consequences. We do our best to set a high standard with our hosts, to create a positive sit experience.
I’ve already reached out to my previous hosts who were unaware of this change in policy. They are distraught about this and will be contacting THS.
The more support we can garner, the closer we are to having this policy reversed and/or revised.
M&M
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Hello everyone
I just wanted to pass along an update from the Product team:
We’ve been listening to your valuable feedback about overlapping sits from the forum, Membership Services, and Social Media. We know that this change has sparked a lot of feelings and concerns about flexibility and convenience.
As Angela has mentioned already, we’ve decided to stick with this policy because our top priority is the well-being of our furry friends. There have been instances where not following this policy posed risks to pet welfare, and that’s something we simply can’t compromise on.
We do genuinely appreciate your feedback, and we’re dedicated to making our platform even better.
Here are some exciting enhancements we’re working on:
- Enhancing Date Modification Flexibility: We’re streamlining the process for pet owners to adjust confirmed sitter dates, giving you more control.
- Preventing Invites when a Sit is Confirmed: To avoid any confusion, we’re putting measures in place to stop pet owners from inviting sitters who already have confirmed bookings.
- Automated Application Management: Once a sitter confirms, we’ll automatically close or withdraw applications for overlapping dates. This way, you won’t end up with a confirmed sitter who can’t make it due to another commitment.
We know change can be difficult, but we truly believe these improvements will create a safer and more reliable pet sitting experience for everyone involved. Your ongoing support means the world to us, and we’re committed to continually striving for the best possible platform for both pet owners and sitters. 
This is also a good opportunity to help guide you with any expectations of the forum and forum team. Please refer back to @Jenny recent post on this thread as it contains some great information. Also another helpful reminder is that the THS team and forum team fall under the kindness and respect guidelines Posts that fall outside of these will be removed. Thank you to everyone who has shared kind words with the forum team and continued the discussion inside the posting terms.
Carla 
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Hello, @Cuttlefish Jenny is not currently online so I am happy to help you. This is a useful question as it is really helpful for the community to know what the purpose of the forum is and how the team can help.
I do understand as a front-facing part of THS why members might think that the forum team have more influence than we do. The forum team’s purpose is to manage the forum and one part of that is providing a place for Product update announcements and discussions.
Should a member choose to give feedback, the team will gladly collect that feedback and answer as many questions as we can, but to be completely transparent the team have no direct influence on how that feedback will be used or with any internal policies. Hopefully with that in member’s minds, expectations of the forum and forum team can be more easily managed.
We still encourage feedback as your voices are extremely important. If you look at the post above many of these enhancements have come directly from forum members’ feedback, so whilst the forum team might not have made these changes, your direct feedback did! Any questions our DM’s are always open.
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Thanks @Carla - trust me you guys are valued.
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@Cuttlefish Thank you 
We think you and everyone in the community are pretty great too!
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Like most people on the forum, I’m annoyed about the new block on overlapping sits being instituted before other issues were tended to (such as letting both HOs and Sitters make date change requests and cancellation requests, and allowing sitters to ask HOs a question without applying), but I do understand that it makes sense not to allow sitters to double book themselves (and this is coming from a sitter who is part of a couple and who has done lots of overlapping the past two years).
HOWEVER. If I am busy with another sit (which is annoying messaging…I know my schedule thanks) WHY oh WHY can I still get invited?! The technology to block dates is there. It is being used to block me from applying! Why can’t it be used to block HOs from inviting sitters?
Out of interest, I pressed ‘Apply’ on the invitation. It gave me the “Whoa there! You’re busy!” But allowed me to continue with my ‘application’ anyway. (BTW, after I applied I immediately withdrew.) If other sitters do this, you are left with the exact same problem you are trying to prevent!
I just don’t understand it.
Thank you for raising this point @CoolCatAunt, I added your comment here as there was an update earlier today about owners inviting sitters with confirmed dates. I have also passed on your feedback about the current process. Thank you.
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@TheSaint @Cat_Lover Jenny is not currently online but these types of questions are best answered by the Membership Services team as we don’t have access to that information you can reach them here Thank you 
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@Carla Shouldn’t that be up to the Pet Parents what they would like to do with the care of their furbabies?
Not anybody else - not a sitter or an organisation?
Maybe they are fine with a day or two if a sitter can’t stay overnight e.g. with their cat - as long as the sitter is there to spend time with their furbaby - feed them, play with them, brush them, love them, make sure they are safe and their kitty litter is clean?
Who are we to tell someone else how to care for their babies?
Just saying…
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I completely understand why you have changed this, but I am a full time sitter and sit as a couple. It makes a huge difference to us if we have the ability to overlap sits by a night or two. One of us will do each sit during the overlap and we always discuss this with the home owner. Not only does this enable us to save on accommodation but it also means we don’t miss out on some longer sits, that are far less tiring as a full time sitter, just because there is a day or two overlap.
Is there any way this could be accommodated for ‘couple sitters?’
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As a ‘couple sitter’ I would be happy with this solution
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@Cuddleseaker Im a full time sitter too for the last two years and everything you have mentioned relates to me also except im a single sitter.
Again it should be up to what a pet parent wants, not sitters or THS! Let the pet parents decide whats best for themselves!!
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Same for me @Cat_Lover I recently confirmed a 6-week sit as a solo sitter that I was not available for two days. The HOs were happy to work with me and make arrangements for a friend to care for their cats for those two days. This doesn’t just affect couples. Solo sitters will have more gaps that require hotels and will miss out on longer sits too (and sits may go unfilled). The HOs are quite capable of making these decisions for themselves, they don’t need THS to limit their potential sitters even more than they already have.
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