Yeah, I want to sit for you now too so you can experience what it should be like 
This is wild, Iām sorry this was your first experience with THS. This sitter crossed so many lines, and it sounds like they expected to be staying in an AirBnB, not a home.
I will say there is a learning curve on both sides with THS, I think the way forward if you use THS again is to be more selective but also make sure youāre communicating your expectations upfront. A video call before confirming a sitter will go a long way, you can learn a lot by how someone conducts themselves on a call, what questions they ask (or donāt ask), and how they respond to questions you ask them. You can get a sense if theyāve paid attention to your listing and any instructions.
1 Like
I am so sorry this happened to you. Please report that sitter to THS and leave an honest review. I am both a sitter and a homeowner who uses sitters and I have never had a problem like this. I hope you will stick with it and try again. Good reviews and a conversation via Zoom will almost always avoid experiences like this. This sitter was abominable and should not be on the platform.
This sounds awful. No one could blame you if you decided never again.
But I donāt think this is a normal experience and Iām guessig the sitter might also not have been very experienced.
We are all amateurs here (no matter our experience) so you really have to make sure the sitter understands everything. This starts before you choose a sitter and agree to a sit. Itās possible some people might have āfeelingsā about dogs being crated at night. Itās possible the sitter never saw or read your guidelines about this. Vetting is super important. It may mean asking people some situational questions and not making assumptions.
The big mistake homeowners make (based on my reading the forum) is expecting sitters to be super competent Mary Poppins of pets, who can read minds and know just what to do. They may have a lot of petsitting experience, but the owners need to be very clear about routines and they have to nicely try to make sure the sitter gets it. Sitters also have to realize that they are staying in real peopleās houses not 5 star hotels, and itās not great that the stove wasnāt cleaned, but she didnāt have to make that big deal about it, and she should have read the guide and asked you questions about the dogās behavior. Leaving them access to the garbage was a rookie move and one that couldāve ended in tragedy.
The solution is:
- Be picky. Just because someone applies, doesnāt mean they get the sit.
- Be prepared. Go with a plan b if no one great applies.
- Ask questions. Think someone looks great on paper? Make sure to have a video chat and see if they are like that in person. Ask them to ask you questions and be honest with them.
- Provide clear pet care guidance and discuss that guidance before the sit starts, either with back and forth written communications, phone calls, videos, or in person.
Some stuff sounds like the sitter may have had a point. The app system is kind of slow. Communicating through WhatsApp may make more sense, but if you arenāt used to Whatsapp, the two of you should have worked something out.
6 Likes
This story has made me worry about using the service.
Is it normal?
There are always a few bad apples, whether a host or a sitter, but IMO, not that common. The important thing is to screen well. If you are a potential sitter or a potential host, you can find good advice on the forum to guide you.
2 Likes
Humans are 11 times more likely to tell a horror story or moan about something than they are to compliment one another @kerriar - itās very rare for things like this to happen & people donāt shout about all the 99% of fab sits! Weāre three years and 40+ sits in across 22 countries and itās been pretty glorious TBH. #giveitawhirl
6 Likes
Iām sorry to hear about your experience. As a pet sitter, I once had a pet sitting job where the home wasnāt well-maintained and the dog was very noisy, but I never behaved like the sitter you mentioned. Sitters should carefully read the welcome guide and comply with the rules and regulations when signing up for a pet sitting assignment. Itās regrettable that you had to spend money on emergency cleaning. It seems that the sitter displayed immature behavior, as my goal as a sitter has always been to make life easier for myself, the pets, and the pet owner, but it appears that the sitter made things difficult for everyone involved. I would advise you to consider having individuals with good reviews in the future.
I think anyone who is reluctant to use this āserviceā should be. The only āserviceā THS offers is a MATCHING service. They are vetting sitters in the sense that they are checking criminal background in the US and checking identity elsewhere. They are not checking references or checking any claims made by sitters as to their expertise.
As for the hosts, again THS is taking their word for it. Are conditions safe? Does the pet bite? There is no THS checker coming to temperment test the dog before the homeowner is accepted.
Do I LOVE the matching service? Yes I do! Itās made travelling fun again. As a host, Iāve met some fantastic people and itās been a pleasure to have them as sitting guests. Iāve saved a substantial amount on pet care which has enabled me to travel more! As a sitter, Iāve also increased my travel abilities because I havenāt had to pay for accomodations.
But it absolutely requires vetting and clarity from both sides. Trust too! But trust should be based on something.
4 Likes
If this wasnāt in Sweden or similar though, you do what makes sense for the pets and HO. If it goes against your beliefs, donāt accept the sit. I donāt understand why someone would accept a sit and then pull some moral high ground reason for deliberately ignoring instructions.
1 Like
Completely agree with all of this. In truth, it sounds like there were red flags regarding this sitter that were missed. Thereās definitely a learning curve to vetting HS and making sure theyāre the right fit for you.
One thing we do to mitigate is send an abridged welcome guide before we even do a video call. It helps to eliminate people very early on in the process. If by the time we actually get to a call, you have no questions, or itās clear you didnāt actually read the document, itās already a no. Additionally, it also gives people a chance to decide if they just donāt want to do the sit without time wasted.
That HS definitely dragged you but it sounds like based on what you described, the house could have potentially used a touch more cleaning for a mutual exchange.
This isnāt typical behaviour but I also know that a lot of HS donāt actually report what they really think when it comes to what they actually think about cleanliness in a home.
That aside, you mention several things that make me wonder why you continued with the sit or even started itā¦the social media photo ops, regardless of platform, the guide was never read, I would be very curious to know how the initial chat with this HS went if you had one, etc.
There are tons of resources here about how to get better at vetting HS as well as feedback other HOs have received about what works and what doesnāt. Thereās a bit of a learning curve but once you figure it out, itās a very useful platform. Making successful matches by being clear about what you need and also what you can give though is probably the most important part of using this platform in order to ensure that the objective of keeping your home and pets safe is met.
2 Likes
If I am reading this right, youāre mad that she didnāt clean up poop on a bed? Urine on the floor? Dang, I would never expect anyone to do that. Instead of being angry , Iād be apologizing all over the place! It sounds disgusting.
As a sitter, my job is to care for the pets and that includes cleaning their messes. Sometimes things happen but it should be the exception, not the rule. It sounds like this was caused because the sitter didnāt follow instructions so they should 100% have cleaned it up. If it was because the pets werenāt properly trained and this was a frequent occurrence that the HO didnāt bother to mention, that would be a completely different issue (one I have personally dealt with).
So if your pets poo or pee inside you want your sitter to just leave it until you come home?
1 Like
Absolutely. 100%. If a sitter is sitting for a housecat, they canāt decide on their own that the cat must be set free. This is the hostās nightmare. If you think crating a dog is cruel, donāt do it. Just like if an owner insists that the dog needs a good long walk minimum one hour walking or jogging, and you know thatās not something you can do ā donāt take the sit if you canāt work it out with the host. Itās dishonest, sleezy and dangerous to go into someone elseās home thinking you know best.
When my spouse moved in we had to retrain his āpapertrainedā dog as I found this unacceptable and had flexible enough work from home hours that I could take on the afternoon pee-walk. In order to retrain her, we had to crate her. She could also be anxious and destructive, so for a while until she mellowed out, we would also crate her if we were going out. She was fine with it. It was calming for her. After a while we just kept the crate open and it was her place to hang out.
3 Likes
I completely agree. Itās not up to us as sitters to decide whatās best for the pets and change their routine or not do something we have committed to.
The only thing I can think of that I would not do is walk a dog unleashed if itās not legal to do so and I only found out the owner expected me to do that after getting there. Itās just a hypothetical situation, it has never happened, I usually ask or I donāt apply to sits that require off leash walks with big or reactive dogs. But in such a scenario I would consider it legitimate not to follow the ownerās instructions.
1 Like
The key, I think, is to not do things that would endanger you, the pet, or others. I do my best to always follow the instructions from the HO, but sometimes theyāve just been ridiculous. Like the HO that wanted me to not feed her dogs on Sunday because fasting one day a week would allow them to reflect on the positive things they receive the rest of the week. Thatās just not acceptable and there is 0 chance of me starving a pet one day a week.
5 Likes
@CreatureCuddler Did you know about this before confirming the sit? Did you take the sit? As a sitter - and letās throw this out to any sitters reading this thread - would you challenge the pet parent about this, or simply not comply with a feeding policy like this?
To turn this on its head: if you were sitting for an obese pet, would you continue to over-feed, if itās stipulated by the HO? What if you didnāt realise, until after youād arrived at the sit?
Iām playing devilās advocate here, but am genuinely interested to know how others would handle such scenarios.
Good questions.
Actually, Iāve been wondering about @CreatureCuddlerās post and I donāt think I would change the petsā feeding routine. If I learned about this once in the house, I would probably just follow their routine and complete the sit if there werenāt any major issues. If I knew in advance, I would probably not take the sit because I would not consider us a good match, I might be encouraged to fast on Sundays, too. 
Regarding obese pets, I have sat an obese cat, was informed in advance and he didnāt seem to be overfed and I just kept the routine. I just told the owner I suspected he got food somewhere else. It was funny there were two cats and the other one had a thyroid problem, he was completely skinny and was eating all the time, the other was obese and didnāt eat much.
I also sat an obese Bichon and I only found out when I was there. I just reduced a bit the amount of treats by making lots of small portions and making her move to different places to get them. I didnāt force the food on her as the owner did (I arrived two days earlier and could see that). Anyway, I was aware that I could not make a difference in a week and I didnāt make any major changes.
2 Likes
This was in my early days of sitting, before I learned to ask a lot of questions, so I learned about it after arrival. This particular HO was completely wackadoo and this was just one of MANY ridiculous parts of the sit including:
- She wanted me to collect rain water in buckets and bathe in the yard rather than using the shower in the bathroom.
- She didnāt believe in chemicals so the dogs were covered in ticks and fleas and the house was infested with various critters.
- She didnāt believe in wifi because she could āfeel the waves in her brainā.
- She put me in a ābedā that was basically a 2.5 foot wide bench covered with a little padding because she believes in āliving a simple lifeā. Later I discovered that in her bedroom upstairs she had a queen size normal bed with fluffy mattress and bedding. I only discovered this because one of the dogs slipped inside and I had to go in there and get him out. Iād not even been upstairs at this point.
and more.
Had I known ANY of this in advance I would never have taken the sit.
I have found that itās not worth challenging people like this because theyāre just way over the edge and it wonāt do anything. So I would just not comply. One reason I really had no qualms about feeding them was that even on eating days, they didnāt get much food. One small spoonful of wet food in the morning and 1/4 cup of dry in the afternoon. That was it. A normal size tin of food (14 oz or whatever) was meant to last a week for 2 dogs. So these dogs were ALREADY being underfed, even without being starved one day a week.
As for an obese pet, I would probably continue the routine the HO had but try to get them moving more.
FWIW, I do fast as a human. There are many benefits to fasting and I enjoy my fasts. BUT, Iām choosing to do them not being starved against my will. Even pets deserve to have some level of consent in their lives.
5 Likes