Here’s a question for those who don’t full time house sit. We joined a few months ago - secured a number of sits. We’ve now done 2 of the 4, with one next week and one in September. After the initial sits applied for, I’m now finding very little coming up that we are interested in. Possibly it is because I’m better able to screen opportunities - and have refined my criteria i.e. not more than 2 dogs, not puppies etc etc and better able to identify red flags. I get alerts on my preferences (places) and keep checking in but nothing of interest for at least a couple of months. Is a flurry at the beginning normal. Did I just get lucky to see sits we really wanted early on? Or our my preferences just too narrow now and I’m being too picky. Maybe there aren’t as many sits as previous to choose from?
@ChristineB it gets slightly more difficult to find sits when you are looking for / or avoiding specific dates .
There are lots of sits available for the same dates ( e.g. school summer holidays) and less on the other dates .
So once you have booked up with some confirmed sits ii’s slightly harder to find a sit that doesn’t overlap with those dates.
However, I notice that the majority of sits get listed only a month or two in advance . The month long sit we start today was only listed 2 months ago .
We’re pretty flexible on dates as we work for ourselves and can work remotely if needs be. I don’t think its dates limiting us - but maybe my other criteria. I see some lovely sits but for extraordinary numbers of animals (multiple dogs, cats, horses, small pets) - where you’d be doing nothing else than animal care from dawn until dusk and even then just the two of us would struggle to do it.
I sit part time and have lots of flexibility on dates, since I telecommute from all of my sits. When applying, I look only sporadically and by the first quarter of 2024, I’d ended up booked for most of the year.
I’ve been sitting on THS since March 2023 and have done 17 sits, across the U.S. and in parts of the U.K. I typically sit only for one or two pets (cats or dogs) at a time and avoid large dogs. I don’t sit in rural areas.
There are plenty more sits I would like to do, but time doesn’t allow, since I also want to spend time at home and do other travel. I get repeat and unsolicited offers, for instance. Like I was bummed to get repeat offers for Scotland that I couldn’t do, because of conflicting sits. Super sweet dog, terrific host and perfect location for me.
I also joined Nomador as a lark and got sit offers unsolicited, mostly in France. (I just recycled my THS sitter profile and pointed to my THS reviews.) I did little searching and applying on there, because it turned out I find its functionality amateurish and its hosts flakier. I don’t plan to renew there. What’s likely to be my last sit of the year is set via Nomador, in Asia.
Hi @ChristineB,
Funny you asked about this. I’ve been giving it some thought myself.
In my case, I think it is a combination of the two reasons you are pointing out.
1- I did experience a flurry at the beginning (for about a year) and went to the places I most wanted to visit first. At the beginning, I was so enthusiastic and felt so lucky that I could have been taken as slave labor. OK, I’m exaggerating a bit but I did take a sitting with five small dogs (on my own) that I knew were a bit prone to having toilet accidents. I was really lucky. They were an adorable bunch and I spent most of the time with them even though the owner had told me I could be out for most of the day. I loved that sit!
2- I have narrowed down my preferences. My level of enthusiasm is not high enough to use public transport to travel to remote locations where I would be isolated or to compensate for red flags. My personal experience, plus hours of reading others’ on this forum have made me more aware of possible risks I don’t want to take.
Really good point about most sits only be advertised 2 months or so out. Noticed that too.
Totally get the change in enthusiasm levels - think early doors I would also have gone for the mega pet sit but having been on the forum and also being realistic about the level of work involved for some sits definitely calmed down a bit.
Thanks for your insight. Always extremely helpful to hear others experiences.
I don’t sit full time. I haven’t noticed a lot of differences in availability, but in terms of specific opportunities it’s kind of random. I often look through “find a sit” aspirationally and find a lot we can’t do – too long, too far, too many animals, etc. However, we also find sits to places we wouldn’t have thought of that sound interesting.
While we’d like to find 3 -5 day sits a couple of hours north in someone’s weekend place, those aren’t likely. If we’re flexible, however, we’ll find 9 days in August in the cabin someone lives in year round. We also look for city sits, and those opportunities come and go quickly.
We mostly look at catsits so that does limit what’s available, but it’s much more practical for city trips. If dog sits, we’ll look at sits in the country where the dog can come with and/or has access to a yard if we’re gone a little longer.
We only Sit part time, and I think there are tons of good, available Sits!! If you have not done this already, consider favoriting a bunch of Sits that look good to you, and make sure you can receive alerts on your phone. Then you will be notified quickly when new dates are posted.
If you are only searching the areas you want daily, you might be missing out.
I’m a bit like you are possibly and just sit as and when I feel like it. I prefer short sits of a week or less in the UK, especially over summer as my garden needs me. I can still see lots available to be honest. Maybe its the areas you are looking for which are not coming up, so possibly widen out your search area. I’ve been invited to about eight sits over the last three weeks, all for August though which I can not do.
Hi @ChristineB
Early on when I began sitting part-time in 2021, it seemed liked there were so many sits to choose from. That is in part because I did not select specific preferences (such as type of animals) or look for red flags. Honestly, early on-- looking for red flags never crossed my mind.
Early on, I may have accepted a sit --even though my gut instinct told me something did not feel right. I may have accepted a sit with so little photos in the listing; or so little information given in the “Responsibilties” section—; or a 6-month old puppy; or not having a video call with the homeowners, etc.
Experience is one of the best teachers. It gives insight into how decisions are made going forward. The more sits we do, we learn what we are willing to accept or not accept.
Now that I have fine tuned my criteria, I also wonder if sits are declining or is it that I won’t settle for a sit—just to be on a sit. Whatever the case may be—being on a quality sit is better than being on a sit where one is miserable and / or faced with unexpected challenges / responsibilities.
Don’t settle. It is ok to be specific in what types of sits you are looking for. And when something does not feel right, it is ok to say “No”.
It is undoubtedly the latter 
@ChristineB We’ve already posted our Christmas sit, that’s 5 months out. I’ve read on the Forum to post holiday sits early, so, keeping fingers crossed. 
For non-holiday sits, we usually post 2-4 months out, depending on circumstances.
@ChristineB And as sitters (we are both HOs and sitters), we sit only a few times a year, but grab suitable sits as much as 4 months in advance or less, again, depending on circumstances.
In my opinion, this is the natural result of the process you’ve gone through since the beginning: you have become more discerning.
I’d bet that at the beginning you were happy to just get any sit (I know my husband and I were ). Now, rightly so, you follow specific criteria, and your ideas are much clearer on what you like or not.
Perhaps one day you will encounter the perfect property, in a location you’ve always wanted to spend time in, that has an unusual pet (or more pets than you actually prefer), and would apply anyway.
I think you’re spot on.
I agree that finding sits has become very complex and I don’t see the variety and volume of sits that are mentioned in this forum. I have searches set up for dates and countries (max of 3) and sometimes never see sits in areas that others mention.
However!
Yesterday I was searching for sits and the same happened, to my disappointment. Then I scrolled to the bottom of the screen and there was a section where countries and cities were available to search and VIOLA! there were all those ones I had never seen before.
Give it a look.
I find myself experiencing greater challenges in securing new sits than ever before. Not only is a significant selection of sits inaccessible to me (the 5-rule), but I have also become more discerning, now adept at spotting red flags with ease.
On a slightly different note, I am planning to visit the UK in the fall, where there are plenty of sits to choose from. Yet, to my surprise, in the past month, I have managed to accept just one sit. All the other sits were (for starters) either too short (2-3 days) or too remote. It makes me wonder: could this be why UK hosts are struggling to find sitters?
I think you’re right about the shorter sits. We are UK based, and we still wouldn’t travel distances for a 2 -3 day sit as the work that is involved in settling in and then the quick turnaround preparing the house for return (cleaning, washing bedding etc) wouldn’t be worth it.