Well I don’t think I’ve seen this before but maybe you have? A HO listing to sit a puppy that will be 4 mths old at the time of the sit and the HO doesn’t as yet own the puppy….it’s recently been born. Unusual? The sitters will only be able to leave the puppy 90 minutes ‘to explore the area’.
We were invited to sit otherwise I wouldn’t have seen this sit as it’s not in any of our searches. The HO hadn’t even read our profile….
I mean if you love very young puppies and don’t sleep very much…. and don’t go out much either 
I suppose there’s a sit for everyone.
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I have seen a listing for a dog that was going to be adopted but wasn’t part of the family yet . I felt it was risky as the host would not yet know the dog’s behaviour and being a rescue may have anxiety or other issues settling in to a new home and then on top another stranger ( the sitter ) . I thought it would be unsettling for the dog and also had the potential to be problematic for a sitter .
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On another thread, a sitter said they considered sitting puppies a normal sit and are happy to do such. Maybe they’ll find each other.
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I would say a 4 month old puppy would need training for the sitter to be able to leave - at all, really. Will it have that training by the host at that point?
It is also other factors like sleep, housetraining etc. Personally, I would consider the sit high risk. Probably because I regard that period of a puppys life very important in attaching and socializing, so I would find it really important to be present with my new puppy. But ofc life happens.
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We had one situation where a HO said they “may” get a new dog before the sit started. We were new to the game at the time and accepted the sit. The sit ended up including a new puppy. Lesson learned. We don’t think this is fair to the sitter nor the puppy.
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On 2 separate sittings all was confirmed to look after their existing pets .
Close to the start of the sitting, both owners told us they were getting a puppy and would we be ok to look after it
We said No, and both owners said they would send them back to the breeders for those dates.
Well so we thought.
On the second sit, we mentioned this to the cleaner. Oh no, she said, I am looking after the puppy! She did look a little frazzled.
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My very first petsit on THS included a puppy, middle aged dog, and an elderly dog. The two disliked the puppy and the middle dog ran past the electric fence to chase squirrels two times and was the reason I rushed out to this forum for the first time begging people to explain to me how a dog could withstand the electric collar. Oh it’s bringing back memories.
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I find it rather heart breaking that the puppy would be house sat instead of meeting their new humans and bonding with them. A puppy at that age has just been taken from its mother, siblings and humans it has been used to. Then they meet a new human, bond, and have to re-do all of that again… it’s a lot on a pup. I understand life happens but it’s still a lot for a little pup.
Our pup went through something like that as a rescue. She had a home, was given up>shelter>rescue>rescue and then finally we found her when she was 5 months. She had really bad separaration anxiety for almost 2 years from it.
Another note about puppies, most aren’t fully pee trained until 9-10 months-ish so taking a care of a four month old puppy is definitely a be home or take them with you scenario because 90 minutes between breaks are not an understatement…
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I’ve suggested the HO join this forum so they may see this thread.