I have used THS for years now and except for Covid cancellations and a death in the sitter’s family have never had a confirmed sitter say they were looking at a “longer” sit that would be better for him and would I wait until the end of the next month because that sit wasn’t firm yet. I’m not happy as this makes it more difficult to find another sitter. Yes, it is four months away, but it’s not easy to find a sitter in New England during winter season. So, do I wait until he is sure about the other sit or do I cancel the confirmation? HELP
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For me, that attitude is unacceptable. When a sit is confirmed that’s it and it should be serious illness, accidents or a National disaster before i5 is cancelled. I would not only unconfirmed it but also report the sitter to THS management. This sort of behaviour reflects on all us sitters.
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It has often happened to us that we saw a sit that better suited us after we confirmed a sit for that period. But we would never let a HO down unless it was really impossible for us to fulfill our commitment. We would rather start looking for a replacement for your undecided sitter.
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I wouldn’t wait for him. He is looking for something better, and you could also be looking for a better sitter
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As @Timmy says. We also sometimes come across sits where we think “damn, that would’ve been perfect”, but if we already confirmed a sit with somebody else, there’s no way we would cancel!
Looks like these sitters forgot the “trusted” part of “Trusted Housesitters”.
I agree with previous answers: it’s a big “no”, so cancel and look for more reliable people. There are plenty out there!
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@ShirleyE I’ll just mention to keep all your interaction with this person via the website. Oftentimes members use personal email or other apps, after a sit is confirmed. If you have done that, I suggest you revert to the website so that everything is well documented.
If you decide to cancel this sitter, make sure to first detail the reason, to support your position. If they were a definite confirmed sit, then I suggest you contact member services to report this sitter, as has been suggested. You can do that by direct messaging @Therese and she will then connect with you privately, away from the forum, when she’s next online.
On a brighter note, I hope you get a stellar replacement. 
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update: I did contact Therese and I did message the sitter and cancel the sit. Thank you all for your advice. Now I’m looking for a sitter again. February 2023, in New England, in the woods.
Thank you everyone. I will contact Therese and I will tell the sitter No, I will not wait until the end of November, and that I am not happy with the situation. Given that, I’m not sure I want him sitting with that kind of attitude.
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Same here as @Timmy. If trustworthiness and reliability aren’t the most important traits in a pet/house sitter then I don’t know what is. Once we’ve agreed to a sit, we wouldn’t even think of cancelling for anything short of a sudden & critical illness in the family. Fortunately this hasn’t happened yet. We prefer to plan in advance as we enjoy the security of having sits arranged. This means that we regularly see sits pop up later, frequently last minute, that look even more appealing (for whatever attribute) than the one we’ve arranged. We don’t get to have it both ways. We can have the security of an arranged sit or hold out and hope that one of those gems comes along while chancing not having a sit at all. Cancelling because a Johnny come lately looks better is utterly unacceptable, not cool and reflects poorly on the community.