My husband and I are sitters and have done mainly local sits an hour away from where we live. As other sitters have said we initially did to gain references. Another big reason was that we don’t have pets and enjoyed the company of the pets. We also lived in a more rural setting whereas we loved going into the city so that’s where we did most of the sits. After doing a lot of local sits we sold our house last year and finally moved to the city so it gave us a great feel for life in the city before making the big decision to move. We did have some homeowners ask us why we were doing the local sits so I can understand your question.
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Thanks Annette, that’s helpful
Been a sitter since 2018 and this is the first time a HO has actually used the Sit Reminder feature on the Welcome Guide.
Usually I have sticky notes or set reminders on my mobile. This keeps it simple.
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OMGoodness! She is beautiful and I love her name!! You handled this situation like a pro!!
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Thank you 
@mmdt yes as a sitter i have met alot of HOs now and of course its normal to worry about leaving your animals in the care of a stranger; after all they are family! Getting a sitter you feel confident with takes the edge off the anxiety so here are just a few thoughts and other’s will add to it. If you want the potential sitter to meet your dog prior to you locking the sit in, you need to take into account that this might reduce your pool of sitters as many living further away might not be willing to travel; offering to cover their travel costs is always appreciated. So what if you lock a sitter in and they come the day before and you find your dog does not warm to them? This is a possibility but most dogs are just anxious or think they are protecting you and their space. If you arranged to meet the sitter in a local park (provided they can find somehwere to leave their bags if coming by public transport!) where they can meet the dog in a nuetral space and then walk with you and at some stage take charge of the lead and walking back to the house, this lets your dog know the sitter is part of the pack and it is a good transition with nervous and guarding dogs. Before locking in a sitter see what reviews they have and if no reviews, they should at least have a reference on their profile. If your dog is big and strong and pulls on the lead, I think its important to put this information in your listing as for your dogs safety and for the sitters information, its important that the sitter can manage this. Good communication and a detailed Welcome Guide is very important at every step and if you do have a dog that can’t be left alone for long periods you need to screen out possible sitters who are just looking for a base to sight-see for somebody genuinely interested in spending time with your dog. I hope that helps and as I say other sitters will add to this. All the best.
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