We have had a lot of experience with THS sits, up to a dozen or so. I’ve noticed that most of the applicants we get are new to the platform with no reviews from sits, just a reference or two. It’s relatively rare to get an application from a sitter with several reviews. Have others noticed this trend? It makes me think that the sitter churn rate is pretty high; i.e., sitters join, do a sit or two and then drop out. It’s not to says that the newbies aren’t good sitters, it just feels riskier if they have no track record on the platform.
I don’t know what the statistics are on this or your particular circumstances. Many people have been sitting for years. I live in NYC and when post a listing date I get a lot of interested sitters. Some only have a reference or two. Others have a lot of experience on the site.
If you are only getting people who seem new to the site, there could be a few different things happening. It is possible that your sit isn’t that appealing to experienced sitters so maybe new sitters are applying because they think they have a better chance of getting the sit, getting a good review and getting more desirable sits in the fuutre. If you live in a popular area, it could be luck. There is a 5 application limit which means you can’t recieve more than five applicatios at a time. You need to decline applications and “unpause” your listing to accept more. So possibly 5 people with little experience applied and now other people are blocked from applying.
If you want an experience sitter, you can get help on the forum to change your listing so that it might attract experienced sitters.
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@tcle322
As a sitter nearing 100 sits, I agree.
But it works both ways, lots of new HOs without reviews. And most of them, I’m sure will offer excellent experiences for sitters who apply and accept sits from them.
But we do see some horror stories from both HOs and sitters about their experiences. Take a look at [Lessons learned. Tips for sitters to avoid conflicts] from a new sitter.
I do accept sits from first timers and have recently had 3 amazingly enjoyable experiences with first timers.
I think TH is working to sell memberships, as they have every right to do but that is leading to more HOs and sitters who don’t ‘get’ the mutuality of the experience. And that mans that occasionally folks get ‘burned.’
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I live in a town just north of Seattle and get lots of sitter applications for my pup and home. Usually 5 the first day listed. I am also an experienced THS sitter with all 5 star reviews. When I apply for a sit in your area I consider things like off-street parking, neighborhood safety/crime, if the pet has special needs, etc. Not sure if those are issues or concerns for others but because I have lived in your city most of my life, I do not apply if the neighborhood has a high crime rate or parking challenges.
If a sit is attractive, chances are that experienced sitters have favorited your listing and therefore get early notifications. If you (almost) only get applications from newbies, it could be your listing - experienced sitters that can be choosy apply for other sits - or the competition - location and/ or time of year. But also then the quality of your listing will matter, of course.
It seems there are quite a lot of sits in your area. I’m not sure about the ratio sitters/ hosts, but chances are that there are more sits than sitters. During holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and such there are less sitters and more sits.
Should you wish to have some input on your listing, you can add the link to your forum profile.
@tcle322 There will be sitters who try THS and either don’t enjoy it or their life circumstances change and they are no longer available for house sitting . On the other hand there are dozens of sitters with 30+ 40+ 50+ & quite a few with 100 sits completed .
There could be many reasons why experienced sitters aren’t applying .
For example on vacation we love dog sits and so we often choose sits where we can hike with dogs in beautiful local scenery . So location and the dates / season is important to us when choosing which sits we will apply for . Reviews left by previous sitters are also an important consideration as to whether the sit will be a good match for us .
We won’t apply for sits where the responsibilities expected are too onerous or time consuming for us . After prioritising taking care of the pets we want free time to visit an area go to a restaurant / museum etc .
Some listings that we have passed on stated 3 x long dog walks a day , a 10k jog with the dog twice a week , large dogs that have to be transported in a vehicle to a place for them to be exercised , cats that need to be feed 4 times a day , young or anxious dogs that can’t be left alone for more than 1-2 hours and reactive dogs that would making walking them a stressful experience.
We also don’t apply to sits with more than 2 dogs . That’s our personal choice and we are able to confirm sits throughout the year in the locations that we want to visit without having to compromise on these deal breakers . We have had 20+ great sits with lovely pets that we fell in love with because we picked those that suited our circumstances.
New sitters who are trying to build up reviews maybe more willing to take sits in less desirable locations . Just because a sitter is a new member on THS doesn’t mean that they don’t have previous experience of house or pet sitting from private arrangements or other sites . Everyone has to start somewhere. If your sit appeals mostly to new members and you’ve had good experiences with new sitters so far no reason to think that can’t continue.
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Worth considering: You’re in Seattle, where there are usually a good number of sits. Many of them are in nice, clean homes, often upscale. So the competition for sitters might’ve risen since your earlier listings. The easiest way for you to gauge that is to look at sit listings in your area. See how your sit competes, because sitters are always comparing sits. Experienced sitters can be the most selective.
I joined about 18 months ago and have done 19 five-star sits. I have others booked (including my third one in Seattle) after I take a break for the rest of the year.
I’ve been able to be selective about sits from early on, because there have been more sits than sitters overall. The more strong reviews I’ve gotten, the easier it’s become, so no need to compromise. Plus, I can always stay comfortably at home or do non-sit travel, like many sitters, if I don’t find strong matches at any given time.
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Just added a link to our listing in my profile. Would also appreciate any pro tips on how to improve the listing. Thanks!
Nice listing. Good neighborhood. Nice that you can have a walker sometimes.
I think your biggest challenge is a total of 3 miles of walking daily, especially with a reactive dog. That might be filtering out experienced sitters, who can get easier sits.
Maybe you could mention if you have paths or routines that help your reactive dog avoid getting triggered.
Personally, I don’t want to walk any dog that much every day, and I avoid all listings with references to energetic dogs (or breeds I know would need lots of activity).
Of course, you need only one sitter and some people are active. But some folks might avoid reactive dogs as well.
I have a reactive dog of my own (my husband stays home with him when I sit) and have sat reactive dogs without issues, because I know how to help them avoid being triggered, as well as how to calm them if triggered. But I don’t pursue sits with reactive dogs beyond a certain size, because I want to be confident that I can control a triggered dog, if needed. That’s for the dog’s sake, as well as for me, bystanders (especially children) and other pets. And controlling one reactive dog is enough, without another dog to mind.
Maybe you can mention how much your reactive dog weighs.
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@tcle322 I notice you have 4 applicants so your listing could very easily go to 5 and be automatically paused by THS. Are all of these applicants newbies and don’t meet your requirements or are there any suitable enough to set up a video call? Decline any not suitable with a personal thank you.
You have months yet before your time away so you may even be better advertising after the Christmas rush to attract more experienced sitters if that is who you would rather have.
I would love to do it, it is a delightful way to explore a new neighbourhood, described as walkable and quiet. At least when it does not rain all day.
But the “reactive” probably means that one should not take that dog to the coffee shops etc.
A big plus is that the sleeping arrangements of the dogs are clear from the listing!
All-in-all, it would clearly be one of the more attractive US sits for me, because of the neighbourhood. I could see myself doing this for a few weeks 
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Yup, reactive is hard when taking dogs around various neighborhoods in Seattle, because many people have dogs and bring them to hang out wherever allowed.
And you could definitely find sits without reactive dogs, if you ever want to sit in the U.S.
BTW, if you want to avoid rain in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, summertime tends to be drier. Otherwise, the PNW is known for being drizzly.
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I’m not totally against taking care of a reactive dog, but only if I know exactly what I take on. For me to apply for a sit like this, it would require that it is clear from the listing exactly how the reactiveness will take form and what is required to avoid and/ or solve situations.
I’m a bit gobsmacked on how a reactive dog is solved by letting it off leash. I’ve had a reactive dog myself, and my responsibility towards other pets (or wild animals) and people weighed heavily - I wouldn’t take any chances for my dog doing something to others but also “just” be frightening. There might be a good explanation for that, but if I just read it scrolling through listings I might also assume that there’s some lack in responsibility (as I when I don’t know what it is will take measures for worst case scenario of what might be put on me if I get such a sit).
For the walks the requirements are higher than I would like to commit to, even though I walk a lot. So besides explaining in detail about what the reactiveness really is, it would greatly influence whether I apply if there was a dog walking service for a long walk - preferably each day, but even three times a week would make a big difference.
You might get a sitter without, but I think these things will have a great influence on how many applications you get and the quality of the. As said, the experienced sitters can be choosy, and also people who take it very seriously to comply with what is requested. So just some insights in how things can be perceived.
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You do not walk dogs a total of 3 miles a day? Ok…
I do think that’s the absolute minimum a dog should get. I mean, it’s just 3 miles!?
We walk the dogs usually about 10 to 15km km A DAY.
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Find the matches you want. That’s what matters. Dogs aren’t cookie-cutter or robots.
My last sit dog for instance didn’t want to walk as much as his humans said. I noticed that he ended up dragging at the end over a few days, so I adjusted so his walks were spread out more, which I told my hosts. We also went to the beach and different neighborhoods. That went well and they noted in their review that their dog had more adventures with me than them and they enjoyed our charming photos.
The sit before that, my sit dog hated walking and resisted every day. She’d splat herself flat and/or nose herself into a corner. Once she’d done her business next to their house, she’d bark, bark, bark to be let back indoors immediately. So funny and quirky. Her humans said she’s always been that way and had shown me their walking route. Some days, I had to carry her one way and that forced her to walk back. Her humans said that worked fine and, in a pinch, I could let her scamper across the yard and call it a day.
I previously sat two senior dogs who’d both had back surgeries. Their humans said they were fine running around in the yard.
On another sit, the dog had anxiety and trembled in fright when I tried to walk her — she had some phobia about venturing away from home. She was on anxiety medication and her human said I could try walking her, but she’d probably resist. That happened and I didn’t force her. She preferred to stay in her own yard, happily looking for birds and squirrels.
With yet another sit, I was surprised by how little they walked their dog (considering her age, condition and breed), so I took her on longer walks, which she loved. I gradually ramped up to see how she did. My hosts said they should walk her more (but presumably they didn’t, because it was hot and humid), so they were happy she was going farther with me.
Mentioning examples, because no one should be walking dogs in cookie-cutter fashion — they’re individuals. And I pick so I don’t match with the wrong dogs. Again, I avoid energetic or active ones, certain breeds.
My own dog gets most of his walking from my husband, and when our dog decides he doesn’t want to walk more, he stops and refuses to go farther. Then he needs to be carried back. 
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If I walk my own dog for a really long walk, then maybe 5 K. Rarely happens. My pet is more of a sniffer than a walker.
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Yup, some dogs are like that. One I sat, I later joked with my husband, was like a canine CSI agent — he sniffed everything like he was investigating a crime scene.
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Yes, maybe, but she said she is looking for someone who takes the dog for 2 or 3 walks, 3 miles in total. So about 1 or 2 miles a walk. That is not very much.
Yes, for our dogs we ask the sitters to try to walk them 3 miles per day total. I usually take them for a ~2 mile walk in the morning and a ~1 mile walk in the late afternoon. I tell sitters that they could do 3 shorter walks instead if that works better for them - but the goal is about 75-90 minutes of walks per day. We have plenty of applicants to choose from; it’s just that most of them are new to THS with no reviews. Of course, sitters could fine easier sits with lower maintenance pets, so our sits are going to appeal more to those who really like dogs - and ours are very sweet.
Might be better for you to specify 75-90 minutes of walking total. Why: Dogs walk at different paces. My dog would take hours to walk three miles, as would various other slowpokes or dogs who aren’t good walkers.
And factoring in a reactive dog, we typically have to walk off-hours so we don’t run into other dogs or have to take them somewhere else maybe, like to an office park or school grounds off hours.
We all love our pets, so a host saying that they’re sweet doesn’t make much difference. When sitting, I have yet to meet a dog or cat I didn’t love.
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