Trusted house sitter was clearly here for a holiday!

Owner Questions, Advice & Chat
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We’ve used trusted house sitters for coming up a year now; and most surf have been great. Normally young city folk live in small flats and who can’t have dogs/don’t have time to have dogs.

We live in a nice village in Yorkshire, detached home with large gardens, big king size bed for sitters, large kitchen diner and living room - you get the gist. We Airbnb our spare room sometimes, so stuff is of a decent standard etc.

We have chow chows so often meet the sitter before they start the sit as they’re guard dogs and there is a way of “introducing” the dogs. We felt something was off with this sitter - didn’t seem to ask questions about our dog and kept asking about our hot tub. My husband had said no simply because it takes 2h to heat up and we had already locked the log store plus all the cleaning we’d have to do after someone has been. 10 mins later he then asks me “if I want to use the hot tub how do I use it”, and I said look, it has not been cleaned and takes ages to heat up plus even we don’t use it on a whim. I didn’t realise the earlier conversation until I asked my husband (I was on a call when he arrived).

In our guide we specifically said dogs to be walked first thing and in the evening BEFORE meals and provided them with lots of naps and images of where to walk the dogs.

We have a ring camera that is fully disclosed on the app, and there is only one entrance and exit.

We check the app now and again on holiday because after all, they are strangers living in your home.

We thought it was odd at 6pm we hadn’t received notification of them going out for a walk, 8pm, nothing again, 9pm again nothing. We had sent a couple of messages to check with the sitter but he had not read them.

Come 9:30pm we had enough and started to drive home because he was clearly taking the mick and given earlier conversations my gut felt he wasn’t going to take proper care of my dogs and I didn’t trust him.

We rocked up at 1;30am and demanded them to leave. He claimed that the dogs looked tired and didn’t think they needed walking and was going to text me THE NEXT DAY to ask about it. I said in the briefing if there was anything at all just call us or text us through the app and we will let them know… it just seemed like a pretty lazy and really bad excuse.

When I got back, my dog wanted to go for a walk and dragged me up to his nearest toilet hill (I had to run to keep up) and lo and behold, one big wee and a poop.

Chow chows are creatures of habit - they have a schedule and they get upset with large variations.

I also saw a disturbing video of him pointing aggressively at my other dog when he returned from his town trip which made her back off.

I mean, if you don’t like dogs, why on earth would you sign up? I’m tempted to leave THS now; but the rest of the sitters have been amazing and they’ve all enjoyed being in our home and loved the chows!

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Don’t mention the hot tub in your listing.

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This is one of the most shocking things I’ve ever read on this forum :scream:

You used your camera to spy on the sitters and on their first day you burst into the house at 1:30am and demanded they leave in the middle of the night?

I can’t believe anyone would think this was acceptable.

It absolutely was not a life or death situation. You say your dogs have access to the garden for pees and poos normally in addition to walks. There are so many reasons they missed that walk.

My goodness I have never heard anything this wild. You picked them out of all your applicants because you were suppose to trust them in the first place.

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@Heptonstallchows Why go with a sitter if you felt that something was ‘off’? Surely there’s little point in taking the time to meet someone in person if you don’t then trust your gut instinct?

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Had he been on a long flight? Maybe that is a reason for him not walking your dogs if he was catching up on sleep.

We’ve had access to hot tubs, and multiple swimming pools, and a swimming lake, usually at the coldest time of the year. So we have only used one of the swimming pools on one occasion thus far :joy:.

@pietkuip is right though, don’t mention the hot tub in your listing, or put it in your photos, if it isn’t available for sitters to use in the warmer months.

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I did not! But it is in plain sight in the house.

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No he is from the UK with his gf and not that far away. In my view if you’ve signed up to house sit and care for two dogs and the only ask is to walk them twice a day and not leave them for more than 6h in exchange of staying in a large period property then I don’t think it’s a wild ask to let my dogs go for a poo!

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So you think it is acceptable for people to house sit and care for dogs and not care for the dogs?

I mentioned in my post one of my dogs does not poo in the garden. How would you like to hold your poo for 12 hours?!

Edited to comply with forum guidelines

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And our hot tub is a wood fired one and we have not cleaned it since a month ago. For long sits we let people use it but for hygiene reasons we have to empty the whole hot tub which takes 4h to fill and frankly I don’t fancy sitting in other people’s water…

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I was only made aware of the first hot tub conversation in the evening when I said “odd, haven’t seen the dogs go for a walk yet”

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@Heptonstallchows Other than a sitter enquiring about possible use of a hot tub, did anything else seem ‘off’, and if so why go with that sitter? I can completely understand why you’d be unhappy about dogs not being walked as per instructions, but I’m not really sure what you’re hoping to gain from your post. Perhaps just review the sitter as you see fit via the review process.

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Unfortunately both sitters and owners alike learn the hard way eventually that when something feels off or the gut instinct is a bit nah, it’s probably best to keep looking. Occasionally I still ignore that instinct because something just works so well and every time I end up kicking myself. Don’t discount sitters because of one bad egg. Make sure you consider reviews and the like next time and most importantly go.with.your.gut

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13

Wow!
Most of the dogs we have sat for are not just pets, they are members of the family. The host specifically outlined the dogs routine and emphasised how important it was to follow it. Sometimes dogs do not like to toilet in their own gardens and have a “favourite “ spot to do their business and in my experience, get very agitated if they can’t or they’re routine is changed. Granted, others couldn’t care less as long as they get fed and lots of attention.
The hosts had every right to check their ring door bell. And as they realised this member of their family had not been out on their usual walk and toilet break they contacted the sitter and asked why. No response. They repeated this several times then made the decision to return as they were not comfortable with their dog’s treatment. I think they had every right to enter their home and the state they found their dog in proves the neglect.
Yes, we all go to beautiful areas to have a look around and do some tourist things however, first and foremost is the care of the pets. Our sightseeing is secondary. The sitter could have avoided this situation by following the routine the host stipulated and also communicating with the host when they asked a question.
I hope the host gives the sitter a truthful review so others don’t have to go through this. I would love to say this sitter is an exception but because of the advertising THS have decided to use I think we will be hearing more and more of these stories. Please, keep using THS but perhaps be more diligent with your choice. Ask lots of questions and walk away when you see or hear red flags. I’m sure there is a sitter out there who meets your needs and vice versa.

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Your listing says: “They can be let out in the garden for mid day wees”. And the garden is described as large.

So as a sitter, if I had had company there, I might also have let the dogs out in the garden, and take them for a long walk the next day.

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But it also says two walks a day. My dogs were not walked in the evening. I did say in my welcome guide 2x30min walk per dog. They’re chow chows and I explain that when they come. They’re not massive hiking dogs so really is 1h of their time in the day plus a mid day wee really that much to ask? Our dogs are not needy, they just need a poo at dinner time!

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I know your area going by your profile name, dog walking is so simple in your neck of the woods, you’re surrounded by open countryside and footpaths. It’s terrible, I feel for you, but you already know we’re not all like that, because you’ve had good sitters in the past. I would make @support aware of what happened to try to have them removed. Thank goodness for the review system, but only stick to the facts, don’t let your angst get in the way of the facts in their review.

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That is a bit late. Put essential information like that in your listing.

Your dogs are described as a bit too much to handle for one person. So he was there with his girlfriend. And probably assumed that they could have an evening and night.

Then you turned up at 1:30 am and kicked them out.

I agree with @Enjaybee

Also: are you really walking them every evening? Also with pouring rain? Or do you then let them out in your garden?

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I’ll answer for the OP. Yes, the dogs probably get walked twice a day, morning and evening no matter what the weather.

Scenario, on a different planet. You depend on another creature to take you outdoors to do the toilet. The other creature decides it’s too cold or wet or they can’t be bothered to take you out to do the toilet. Think of your discomfort!

As I mentioned before. Some dogs are creatures of habit and only toilet in certain places, much like humans who only toilet in the lavatory therefore they have to be taken there. And guess what, their humans have to go out in all weathers so the dogs can do the toilet comfortably.

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Yes. And I make it clear when I see them that chow chows are weird and have quirks. They generally are good to be left alone for the rest of the day so the other sitters we’ve had have been grateful and go for long hikes, explore town. One of the sitters we’ve had told me a horror story of having to keep a retriever cross entertained all day!

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Yes. It is also in the welcome guide and I explained that in the initial call.

Obviously you can’t see the welcome guide but it is VERY detailed.

And of course I walk them every evening and morning despite the weather. Sure if it’s really bad the walks are shorter, but they still need to toilet. Makes me question what kind of owners are out there that don’t walk their dogs every evening and morning!

If you’re not from Yorkshire you wouldn’t know that we do not get many sunny days. Summer is the only exception of sunny days.

We had sitters in winter and there was no problem - they regularly sent us videos and photos.

What is your point though, how would you feel holding in your poos for 12 hours?