I think you’ve rather unfairly highlighted the responsibilities of the petsitter and completely left out the responsibilities of the owners. As a petsitter who has done over 30 sits, I have always been honest and upfront and have had many repeat sits because I am good at what I do. However, I have had owners leave homes in an unliveable condition, post fake photos, change their needs upon arrival, allow visitors without asking me first, lied about the location and more.
The onus of responsibility is shared and it’s not fair to imply that sitters have a greater responsibility.
In fact it is actually dangerous to be in an unknown place with their expectations not met because the owners haven’t been upfront. To be in a strange home with no access to help and no option of leaving- there are animals to consider.
I really think you need to highlight the responsibilities to owners much more as I have been taken advantage of and terraced terribly many times. Fortunately the majority of owners are not like this but enough are to risk the safety of sitters.
If you could please make these issues more clear to owners it would’ve better for everyone.
I am from Iowa and I steer clear of those sits as I know this well-live stock central with ploar winters and sweltering heat, gnats and mosquitos. LOL! I steer clear from live stock sits as I know it can be back breaking work in all kinds of weather and minimal time to explore even with me working remote. Live stock is a huge responsibility and sit. My neighbors and I do it daily, however it is a great experience for those who want the experience.
Hear Hear. Well said. I have a couple of friends who have expressed interest in signing up after hearing of some of my adventures on the road with TH. If I don’t think they are doing it for the right reasons, I let them know up front what the job entails to do it right.
Well put, I totally agree with what you have said.
This is not a site if you are after a five star holiday, lying around in the sun and sightseeing all day.
I’m still confused as to why you posted this OP. Have there been some posts by sitters who seem to expect “a five-star holiday”? Perhaps they’ve been deleted? I’m interested to know. Thanks!
@Katie Hi, some background on post deletions.
Posts/comments are only deleted when and if:
- A member deletes their own post
- Requests admin delete a post the member has made
- A comment is inappropriate, inflammatory or goes against our forum guidelines, in which case the member is informed by DM
At the risk of repeating myself -
It’s in response to nothing or no one.
Great reminder that communication between us is the only way to build trust and make sure everyone - pets to start with -, are happy and taken care of as hoped for on one end, and as said on the other. We only had great experiences, all different but each built on trust and great communication, I think. Just like in all other areas of our lives.
I guess this was an exaggeration to bring the point home. However I had an application in which the sitter never even mentioned our cats but pointed out that she loves traveling and meeting new people. For me this was a big red flag 
. We don’t have any beaches where we live and the sun doesn’t shine every day but I felt that petsitting wasn’t her main intention by applying and I guess this is what @ElsieDownie wanted to say.
Hi @Lyne-Minuit welcome back to the conversation, it’s nice to see you again …
Well said!
Thanks for posting this - as a dog owner looking for the right sitter we have been so very very lucky in the past - only had 1 sitter that we were unhappy with. We continue to use the site and look forward to meeting some fabulous ‘newbies’ next year.
I agree totally Elsie.
It is hard work. Now it’s winter and yes we are stuck inside with lots of rain. But it’s a change, it’s free, it’s away from home, it’s fun. It is what you make it!!
Don’t sign up for just a good view of the house. Check out what there is to do to. We had 20 sheep and 50 hens and two very energetic farm dogs. A huge garden and vege patch to maintain. But it was lots of fun and yes hard work. We still got out to sightsee and really look forward to going back again.
Enjoy the moment but make sure it’s what you really can handle. It’s not just a free holiday but a chance to allow someone to get away from it all and trust you with their most precious treasures.
Happy housesitting
Anne😊
Hi @AnneEverett welcome to our community forum, thank you for your post and sharing what the TrustedHousesitters lifestyle means to you and for a honest view of some of the practical considerations …
Enjoy being on the forum, connecting with other members and we look forward to sharing in more of your pet and house sitting experiences … like the fun you had down on “Old MacDonalds Farm”
Thank you,
Angela and the Team
I think that’s wise I myself live in Los Angeles and our weather is well the same most of the time. With that said this December only a few weeks ago we were hit with a solid 8 days of turrential downpour storm - our area was not equipped to handle the amount of water that came down - it was very stressful for our sitters - they kept texting me on vacation that they hoped the rain would stop - I am not in control of the weather and I felt bad that it was raining but wasn’t quite sure what was expected from me - they were worried our pool would overflow so with in2 hours I had our handyman arrive to help with any Issues they may have
had
Our kitchen had sprang 2 small leaks but I just told them to use some towels but the rest of the house wasperfectly fine. We had power there was heat and fireplaces etc. they caused me so much stress
The kitchen had leaks? Seems like to people in the US this is no big deal but if I had been the sitter I would have worried very much. In Germany this would be considered something to fix right away.
I can understand the sitters to be worried and I also would have texted the owners. How is someone else to know what to do in unusual weather occurrences?
I would ask myself if it would have been better if they hadn’t contacted you at all and you had been worried if everything is ok back home.
For cases like this I suggest to have a contact nearby, who is in the same situation, knows the surroundings and the house and also can contact the HOs. Like this the responsibility doesn’t rest on the sitter’s head alone.
With torrential rain for that period of time, leaks form. Yes, I agree, contact details for a handyman or repair man would be good but it’s nothing an enterprising sitter couldn’t handle. Towels and a bucket works wonder. I too would have contacted the home owner if this had happened but not constantly. It would be up to them if they wanted it fixed immediately or were happy with my short term solutions. Rain stops, therefore leaks stop and any damage, seen or unseen can be fixed when the owner returns.
In situations like this the sitter has to think for themselves and find a temporary solution. It’s not all handed to them on a plate.
Our last sit was off grid on a remote island. We noticed the water tank levels were going down faster than we thought they should. We are very familiar with off grid systems and maintenance.We closed all the valves then opened them one by one to find the problem. A dump valve had been accidentally left open. This could have been a major problem if we hadn’t thought on our feet and did something about it. Talking to the owner who was 2000 miles away was not a solution because it would have taken at least 24 hours for help to arrive and by that time there would have been a major lose of water. We mentioned it as a small thing when we were talking about something else and she didn’t know about that dump valve. The owner only bought the property a year ago.
Sitters have to practical and have an idea about how to deal with emergencies and /or inconveniences. Everything cannot be left to the owner who may be on the other side of the world.
Please see response below
Thank you for understanding
Thank you for your response
Of course we took their concerns seriously that is why within a couple hours my handyman arrived to sssist. I am sorry you misunderstood my comments.
I am sorry when I misunderstood 
I thought you were bothered by the sitters contacting you.
I guess it also depends on where a sitter is from and how they know how to handle things.
I am thinking about young sitters, maybe their first time in a different country with little to no experience…whewww…