Hello,
I am new and I am looking for guidance on how my profile should be worded. My husband will be joining me and working remotely during the pet sits. I will be the primary care giver. Do I cover this when I am submitting my application for a pet sit?
Thank you for your help on this.
Katie
@ktcranberry first of all, welcome to the forum. Here you are going to find great folks who will help answer any questions or concerns you may have about TrustedHousesitters.
The answer to your question is yes. If your husband will be traveling with you, you should always advise this is your profile that you are a couple traveling together. Only one of you needs to have the background check, but I would include any pictures of both of you on your profile. Many HOās prefer couples over single sitters (just a preferenceā¦there are those who prefer singles as well) and this will help them with their determination on who to choose for a sit.
I wish you the best of luck and happy sitting! You are going to find this is one of the greatest things you have done in your life thus far!
@ktcranberry Welcome! As Debbie has stated, you definitely should mention your husband in your profile and include photos of him. If you sometimes plan to sit without him, you can just mention that in your application for the specific sit. You can look at other sittersā profiles to get some examples of how other couples have put their profiles together. Once you add him to your profile, you can add your THS profile to your forum profile . This will then allow other forum members to offer you helpful advice and feedback.
I would just say that if you are accepting a sit as a couple, then you both need to be willing to take responsibility for thƩ sits you agrƩe to.
Hi @ktcranberry - It is important that you make it clear that you are sitting as a couple but I donāt think you need to go into detail about you being the primary care giver.
Just saying that you sit as a couple and your husband works full-time remotely is totally honest, and all they need to know about your roles.
This is exactly the same situation as us. Iām retired and my husband works full-time remotely. This means that during the week I do just about everything needed house and pet related and at the weekends it turns into a joint effort.
In my experience, I think the home hosts like this mix as, in their minds, knowing he is working full time at home means that we spend more time at home with the pets than a totally work-free couple that ācouldā be out sightseeing all day every day
For the record, I donāt think that train of thought is correct at all, but if it looks good for us and gets us accepted for the sits we want, who am I to argue? 
Welcome, @ktcranberry I am a solo traveler when sitting in the US, so I have solo traveler as my profile setting. However, I have added as an FYI in my profile where it is clear and easy to see that when traveling abroad, I will be traveling with an adult friend or family member. This way, when they read my profile (I also add the same information to my āresumeā when applying for a sit). they are aware.
I am not quite sure what you mean by that. We are full-time sitters, As my husband works remotely full time I take on all the responsibility and duties involved with our sits mid-week. His responsibility is earning the cash that enables us to do what we do.
Thank you! This is great info. I will link my THS profile once I have made some updates.
Thank you so much! I am so happy to have this information and also to see that others in the TH community are so helpful.
Thank you for sharing this! Very helpful.
Thanks so much for your comments! I will work on updating my profile and add photos that include my husband.
@ktcranberry, you are very welcome! Happy sitting!
I include photos of my husband and talk about him in the profile, I just let HOs know that my daughter is my THS co-ordinator. Honestly homeowners have never asked or cared who is walking or feeding the dogs and cats. They have just cared that it got done. In exchange, I have only communicated with only a wife or a husband and not both in a sit so itās really no different
Well, no problem @Colin. In no way was I trying to tell someone how to live their lives. I just meant that it could be problematic if one person is not willing to take responsibility or participate in any way. It just comes from my personal experience that when one partner doesnāt see the importance of cleaning well or other doing other duties with full commitment, it can be problematic for the relationship and long-term success. Luckily I am not longer in that situation as my current partner realizes the importance of all duties, but in the past, it has created problems for me.
Also, as a dog owner, it might worry me if the profile made it sound like one person was responsible for the pets and the other was not. I would think if both people were committing, it would be best to state that rather than saying one person is coming for other reasons. My feedback is simple advice, but take it or leave it. It doesnāt matter to me.
@SunshineAndAloha I am in total agreement with you and I would think pet parents also feel that way. First and foremost, this is a petsitting site so all involved should be part of the process.
I just added a friend to my profile but is there a way to change it from saying āTravelling as a Coupleā because we are not a couple and as friends, we would need sits with places for separate sleeping areas. It seemed to automatically put that in there. Any advice?
Hi @kdukat as you are correct in that the system automatically puts this, I would suggest writing that you are friends who will be housesitting in the āAbout Usā section on your profile. Hope this helps.
There are different ways to approach this and you canāt please everyone. You can write it presenting yourself and mentioning that your spouse will be accompanying you. Introduce them and say a little something like about what they do and/or pet experience. Probably have at least one photos showing them. I donāt have a photo showing my spouse, so Iām not taking my own advice. However, when heās coming I always include his linkedin AND an additional website that mentions him on the application, so people will know heās not a shady neāer do well. Heās actually more interesting than I am ā Jeopardy champ, book contest award winner, world traveler, ā so I think he actually helps land the sits. Itās funny because the reviews always acknowledge both of us. Iām definitely doing most of the work. My job is part time and very flexible. He always has to work except on our short weekends, but honestly heās been pretty indispensible at the sits - especially if pets need to be separated, or there is gardening or some other physically demanding task.
We are a couple that doesnāt sleep together so we mention this in our application. We donāt find it too difficult to get accepted for sits so it shouldnāt be too much of a hindrance for you.