The Biggest Mistake I Made With My First Sit

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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Inspired by a post from @DanaNedelcu I’ve decided to start a thread of “The Biggest Mistake I Made With My First Sit”. I think it will both make new sitters feel better about having made similar mistakes and help future sitters - not make those mistakes!

My biggest mistake was taking the first sit that I was offered - which was a long one. As a newbie I was so nervous that no homeowner would want me since I didn’t have reviews yet, that another sitter would take the good sits before I could - on and on and on with the crazy voices in my head. So when a homeowner invited me to sit, I couldn’t have been more thrilled! It was a four week sit, too, but not in a great location. And the communication from the homeowner was - bad. But I had nothing to compare it to and accepted the sit immediately because I was so excited to be offered my first confirmed sit. The start date was several months away.

I soon came to regret it. SO many opportunities opened up for those same dates, in locations that were of far more interest to me, with animals and responsibilities that were a much better fit for my lifestyle. But I couldn’t accept those, since I had already committed to the four-week sit.

In the meantime I got plenty of shorter sits with homeowners who were wonderful communicators, and quickly realized what a dud I had gotten with the first acceptance. I wanted to cancel the sit but didn’t want to start out my THS time with - a cancellation. To this day, years later, I have never canceled a confirmed sit.

But I do check my enthusiasm at the door, and I never accept a sit if there is any time pressure whatsoever - especially time pressure created by me, in my head. Instead I map out my year, the experiences I want to have, and create a “saved search” to look for sits that match those experiences. It feels like magic when I decide, “Well I’d like to spend 6 weeks in Montana” - and darned if a six week sit in Montana doesn’t appear. And if six weeks in Austin appear instead, and seem enticing, I remind myself that what I want is six weeks in Montana. And I wait. Sometimes four weeks in Montana appear. And that is a darned sight better than six weeks in Austin if Austin is not where I want to be.

Any time in Montana would be more enjoyable than the four weeks I spent in the middle of nowhere looking after five cats with a poorly written welcome guide and lots of unspoken expectations from the homeowners. It all worked out fine, the cats were fine, the owners left me a great review. But I wouldn’t do it again!

So my advice to new sitters is twofold: Think twice about the first sit you are offered (regardless of whether you applied or were invited), and never, EVER take a sit longer than two weeks until you’ve had at least a few shorter sits under your belt to get the lay of the land.

How about the rest of you sitters out there: What is the biggest mistake you made on your first sit, and what do you do differently now as a result?

(stock image added by Forum team)

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Our first sit was 4 weeks over Christmas in Perth, Australia. We were in Bali at the time and applied for several sits within short flying distance from Bali. (Perth is about 4 hours)
We were very excited to get this sit as hubby had never been to Aus. We rented a car for the duration and were only 15 mins to the beach so made a beach walk every day. The sit went great, communication with the hosts (also first timers) was great and the 2 cats were sweet.
The only thing I would do different now would be to ask the hosts (during the sit) if it was normal that the cats pooped and vomited around the house so often. (I counted 10 times during the the month!) I had no experience of cats before then, so honestly did not know, but it seemed excessive! But we said nothing because we didn’t want anything to affect our 5* review!!
Anyway we left a few hours before their arrival home so we messaged a welcome back -hope all is well, happy cats etc. They replied that they’d been welcomed back by vomit on the bed and poop on the floor!! Eeek!!! “We’re used to them leaving ‘gifts’! But we don’t mind- we still love them so much anyway”!!
Even then we still didn’t mention our experience and we got a fabulous first review.
But we would really have appreciated a heads up on that BEFORE the sit!! :woozy_face:

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The first sit I did (which was the second sit I accepted) went swimmingly.

The first sit I accepted (which turned out to be the fifth I did) was one I learned from: The hosts offered me the sit unsolicited and I asked them to split it, with me bookending another sitter, because I don’t do long sits, since I relish time at home as well.

Turns out the other sitter cut corners, judging by the state of food and water when I returned. And the home was clean, because there were regular cleaners, but someone had broken a vase.

Fortunately, the dogs got back on their feed after a couple of days and the hosts didn’t care about the vase. But the risk of things possibly having turned out worse taught me to not accept split sits. Like what if the other sitter’s negligence had harmed the dogs, or if she’d done significant damage to the home or car the hosts had loaned us? I wouldn’t want to be caught up in another sitter’s issues.

And that sit has turned out to be the only unsolicited one I’ve accepted in the two+ years since joining THS — that’s because that was the only time that I had no sits booked when the host sent me an unsolicited invite.

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Hi @KittySitter

This is a brilliant topic.

I hope you don’t mind but I’ve added a stock image so that I could add the topic to our “Featured Topics” section on the Forum homepage. Hopefully that will encourage lots of interesting replies.

I love how you’re thinking of how to help new sitters by getting our experienced members to share their experiences. :heart:

Jenny

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Our first sit was for 1 cat in the next suburb from where we lived. The owners were first timers like us. When they asked why we wanted the sit, we said “to get a good review” :roll_eyes: as we were just starting out. We “sold” it to them by saying we can visit every day, you don’t have to worry about having sitters stay over :roll_eyes: :roll_eyes:

It all went well, for all of us, and we had great adventures 30+ sits later…

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Our first sit was a 5 month old puppy …. I’ve read the reviews after ours and the HO’s first sit…. they learnt and so did we. #sleepdeprived

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When we started with THS we did weekend sits near our hometown, to get experience and build reviews. First international was a short flight away after 10 local sits. After 50 sits, despite feeling we were very experienced, Our longest booking, of 9 weeks, in the Caribbean was challenging! We did not see up close, the condition of the property (poor) or its furnishings (no working fans or drapes) The HO had no access to video chat tech back then. We certainly would not recommend newbies take long sits. We would not do long sits again, unless it was a somewhere we had been before. :slight_smile:

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The biggest mistake I made was not in my first sit. In fact, it was more the result of getting a bit too relaxed after lots of great sits. The sit had been agreed months before, I received the welcome guide immediately after confirmation, communication was quite fluent. A pdf document with more specific details was mentioned but I honestly forgot about it and, as there would be an overlapping handover, I relaxed. When I went to reread the WG and listing, a couple of days before taking my flight, I saw a new review that gave me quite a shock. I recognized the story from a post in the forum. The owner’s response was even more discouraging. In spite of my disappointment, I felt it was too late for me to cancel. It was a difficult sit for me. I left a factual, detailed review so that other sitters can decide whether it is a good fit for them.

What I have learnt:

  • I have confirmed that five stars across can mean nothing at all (All reviews when I confirmed were 5 *)
  • I check from time to time my coming sits to see if there are new reviews.
  • I was prepared to receive a bad review and, if that had been the case, I would have got in touch with HOs of my confirmed sits to let them know and give them the opportunity of canceling if they didn’t feel comfortable with this new review.
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My first sit was great—a very sweet cat, her owners are wonderful people, and their house and city were charming. We’ve returned a couple of times.

My second sit was very disappointing. Although the dogs were wonderful, we’ ve realized the house had several hidden cameras., when we asked to her, she said they were not connected.

Also, once a week, three employees came to take care of their garden. One of them “mistakenly” turned off the pool cleaning motors, and it stopped working. The water started to get very dirty, and we notified the owner by sending photos. But she told us it was because of our sunscreen… We didn’t realize anyone had turned off those taps and were surprised that the water seemed so dirty.

When she returned home, she asked us: “What did we do to make the pool so dirty?” I couldn’t believe it. We had sent her photos and notified her on our second day of the sitting. She indirectly accused us of turning off the engine cleaning valves, and I told her it wasn’t us and maybe she could ask to the three employees at her house. She assured us it wasn’t them…

I don’t know why I gave her 5 stars. I didn’t have the experience to add or change a review, and when I tried to do so, THS wouldn’t let me. Now I think the pet owner had problems with her pool and wanted to take advantage of the insurance offered by THS to pay for the repair. She used us as sitters to blame us for it and justify collecting the insurance money.

Now I understand why she always chooses siters with little experience.

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My first sit was my first application, and it was a great experience. Before I had even started that sit, while still very green, I applied for a 2nd sit several months away, which was my 6th and most recent sit. Sits # 1-5 were great with no issues! Although it all turned out fine with wonderful dogs in a beautiful spot, there were a few issues that I am now wiser about. One was the request to arrive at 4pm, and the hosts didn’t leave until 1pm the next day. The friendly but high strung host used these excessive handover hours to near constantly give me instructions , including when I first woke up at 6am and stepped outside. The host and her husband had their daughter and son in law, plus their two young kids visiting prior to the family trip, so I felt like an intruder in family time and was very uncomfortable. The daughter was very cold and unfriendly, and seemed to view me as “the help”. I was shown an extensive cleaning list, which suggested I hire a housecleaner or do the tasks myself, and I was told the cleaner had been there a few days prior. There was also the suggestion that I finish mulching the rose bushes. In the end, the dogs were well loved and cared for, I left things clean and tidy as always, but ignored much of the cleaning list and the roses. I received much appreciation and a 5 star review, but now I will be very sure to evaluate handover time and host expectations!

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My first sit was good in terms of a very sweet pet and a nice and clean (enough) home. I got a short and a little offputting review (although 5* apart from docked one on Clean & Tidy). I asked the host kindly what I could improve, as I had put in a lot of effort - incl. taking photos at start of sit and arranging the pillows as I found them :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: - but never got an answer.

What I regret is my review. I should have disclosed that the handover was not with the host but someone else that had stayed a couple of days, and I regret giving a more raving review than was the case. The houseguest might have gotten the home in a cleaner state than I did and it kind of bugs me to have gone over board in the review while the host was quite «cold» saying the sit was «adequate and docking *.

Since then I’ve always given honest and factual reviews, and disclosing things I think other sitters should know before sit. It hasn’t so far been anything «bad», even - just things you should know to vet whether the sit is for you and be prepared if it is, whether it be a pull-out bed or pet habits. I’ve ofc always said things in a nice and friendly way, together with all the nice stuff.

In my opinion factual and honest reviews is the foundation of this community and the essence of «Trusted». It bugs me when fellow members try to cover up in order to look better themselves or get a good review. :innocent:

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I love these stories to help newbies look for red flags. I wish I had read your story when I first joined If a handover is truly necessary - and honestly, most of the time it is NOT (there are some exceptions with medically fragile cats) - an hour is PLENTY. And as someone else mentioned in another thread, the appropriate thing for a host to do if they want the sitter to arrive the night before is to offer to put the sitter up in a nearby hotel - or put themselves up in a hotel. Not to have a “sleepover”, especially with extended family! Thank you @Hikergal

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Agreed. I, too, felt pressured on my early sits to leave glowing reviews. I had to learn the art of being factual and fair.

Fact: “The location is near a train station and a bus depot with a lot of city noises.” Fair: “The hosts kindly provided earplugs and I slept quite well”.

Fact: “The cats frequently defecated on the living room carpet”. Fair: “This was an issue the pet parents warned me about in advance and they had ample pads to lay down so cleanup was easy”, or, “When I discussed this with the homeowners they responded this was typical, though it had not been disclosed in the listing, discussions, or welcome guide”**

Reviews aren’t about popularity; they’re about information. Thanks for sharing, @Garfield - I learn a lot from you..

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I have to say though, that I had a great overnight handover on sit #2 with a lovely couple. We took their dog for a walk together, had dinner, wine, and a great chat. Since they were leaving at 4am, it made sense and was not uncomfortable at all. I will just ascertain more details in the future!

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The greatest mistake - one of them - would be to not understand the origin and needs of a dog! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Found this great quiz at the American Kennel Club. Some rare breeds here - so even experienced dog lovers might get to test their knowledge!

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My 1st sit was also the HO’s 1st time & I expect we both learnt a lot. I had a toddler at the time & assumed there’d be a bedroom pet free for her to sleep…BIGGEST MISTAKE! Not only was there more pets than stated the rules the house. I don’t mind sharing the bed with pets if that’s their norm but now I always make sure there’s appropriate space to accommodate my daughter.

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I had a great experience on my first sit. I fell in love with sitting. My hosts were great. It turned out to be a very hot weekend. It was 3 days over 100 degrees. It’s very unusual in Connecticut. The two dogs and I spent the weekend in the couch watching Netflix. They didn’t want to go out in the heat either. My only mistake was thinking that I could walk two large dogs together.

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I think the biggest mistakes in my first few sits although my first sit was an experienced local HO that treated me amazingly well was not knowing the red flags to look out for by asking questions on the video call. I started off believing I was lucky to get a sit. As I learnt ask better questions and it’s better to politely decline a sit then accept a sit you’re not sure of as it can often be your gut instincts were right.

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We messed up overlapping our first two sits. The owners didn’t come back on time and the other wanted us there a night earlier so I had to do a lot of pivoting and explaining. I did learn to maybe give a few days in between to reset and to make sure everything is still on schedule.

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A great topic @KittySitter

The biggest regret with our first sit is that we didn’t join THS sooner … our first sit was an amazing experience ( we’ve been back three times ) and we’ve now done 30+ lovely sits since .

Along the way we’ve learned to have a back up plan in case sits gets curtailed (which has happened on three sits ) and not to accept a sit that’s not a good fit for us even if other sitters review it as five stars it might not be five star sit for us .

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