We don't know how act in this case

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
1

Hello everyone, we are going through a situation that is the first in 2 years in a row doing pet sitting, we would like to share.

We don’t want to expose anyone, but I believe it’s important for the community that TrustedHousesitters is creating, after all, it’s great to expand and increase owners and sitters in this delightful community that the pet sitting exchange system provides for everyone.

We are in Thailand, taking care of 2 beautiful dogs, but our reception here was not very pleasant…
We realized that the pet parents were not prepared to receive sitters, it seemed that they used the system just to not pay for someone to take care of the babies and they didn’t even care much about welcoming us.

I know we are their second experience, but we don’t really know how to act. (and apparently the first sitters didn’t either, as they didn’t leave feedback on the platform…)

When we arrived, they picked us up at the subway, but the owner didn’t even greet us properly, while the owner we realized that she did her best.

I know this may be a lot of news for those just starting out, but we know the importance of having an exchange on both sides and this made us sad.

The house was quite messy and dirty, and the dogs behaved differently than they reported.

We feel as if the vacancy profile was created with a certain omission of the truth, starting with the photos, where when we arrived it was a little different from what was in the photo, much more messy and dirty (it looked like they used the photo from before renting the house , the photos look like they were from an estate agency) and the dogs were said to be scared, but only today (after 6 days) were we able to go out with them both for a walk and follow a bit of the instructed routine.

In these almost 4 years traveling, we know that the culture and style of hygiene are different in different places, but even the sheets on the bed, when we asked, they said they used them the night before but before that they had washed them and were clean, but they left the that they used for us (not even the sheet for us to sleep on was prepared)…

Anyway, we just let off steam and ask for help on how to act in these cases, as we don’t feel comfortable and we don’t think it’s fair to the dogs, giving up the responsibility of staying here for 45 days with them. But at the same time, we think it’s fair to be welcomed in accordance with what we believe are the values ​​of the TrustedHousesittters company, which is what we seek and share with our nomadic students.

We are trying to win over the dogs every day and on the first day we did a general cleaning of the house to make it through the days we are going to stay here.

We appreciate your attention, and hope you understand.

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2

If you’ve already cleaned the house and sheets, and the dogs are nice, just stay and enjoy the sit but give a really honest review. Was the first sit before reviews went “blind”?

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3

Agree with @Wildcolonialgirl - if you’re happy with the pets and the house is now clean and comfortable then enjoy the sit & give a very honest review. It’s not fair but it is the life of a sitter sometimes. #bestofluck

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4

•Enjoy the rest of the sit.
•Write an honest review afterward.
•Pay attention to red flags :triangular_flag_on_post: ( like missing reviews ) when selecting future long term sits .

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5

We had a similar situation in the UK where the pictures of the house were from when the house was for sale so now i look for that kind of thing when looking for sits if the pics look too staged. All i can say is that if you’ve cleaned up and washed the sheets what would be the reason you would want to leave? Can’t you make the best of a bad situation? Can you still get out and about?

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6

@gabryel.stropp

We cannot control how people act, but we can control how we react.

If you felt that the HO was unwelcoming, the dogs’ behavior differs from what was stated by the HO, and the home was messy and dirty, mention those things in your review.

Focus your energy, time, and attention on the two beautiful dogs you are caring for as you are right it would “not be fair to them if you gave up your responsibility” in caring for them. The dogs are not to blame for what the HO has or has not done.

For future, I suggest that prior to accepting sits, that you have a video call with the HOs and have them give you a tour showing you the areas you would use such as the bedroom, living room, kitchen, etc.

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7

@gabryel.stropp
In what way did the dogs differ to what the advert stated?

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8

I’ve had a similar experience that ended up being lovely. The home I arrived at did not reflect at all the pictures on the profile. The male HO was there to greet me but the female had already departed about a week or more prior, so she’d left him to organise the place for me. This young university couple had only ONE set of sheets which the male HO had washing when I arrived. I took stock of the situation, I knew this was my home for a month so I made the decision to purchase a new set of sheets and comforter (I decided the new set was my donation to the couple but for my comfort while I was there) and gave the apartment thorough clean. Many months later after the sit, the female HO contacted me to ask me how to clean the apartment like I did. I explained what I did and what I used and she was super grateful. Even though that home wasn’t what I expected, it ended up being one of my favourite sits and it felt lovely to help out this young couple and I know it was appreciated.

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9

How nice of you to go above and beyond. I would have done exactly the same.although i am middle-aged myself and regard myself has having a nice clean home and a happy dog who is well looked after not everyone may think the same.so i hope if i get housesitter there would be kind and give me nice reviews.

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10

Was there a language barrier between you (sitter) and the Owner(s)? Was that part of the problem?

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11

Thank you for your support! :heart:

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12

Thank you for tyour support! about the question, the last petsitters that was here in April, so it’s after reviews went ‘blind’, we think… Is that your question?

13

Thank you for your support! :heart: Yes, we had great experiences with no reviews and first owner in platform this last 2 years, so we believe that it could not happening here… by the way, the plan was we be the first sitters of them, but after we confirmed sit they decided to travel before june, so I think that even if we pay attention we didn’t know that they could have sitter before us and no reviews… :frowning:

14

Thank for your support, and we are sorry about your sitting in UK. We don’t wish for anyone this :frowning: Yes, we are doing ok, but we think that is important to talk about this here in the community… We are a little embarrassed to share and be vulnerable, but we would like to know that this could happening unfortunately. :heart::paw_prints: (we didn’t expected so many messages!)

15

Thank you for your support! :heart: Yes, we are try to be with a good mood, but as we said before, it’s important to talk about this in the community because we think that is not the propose of the platform. We thought for 7 days if we could share here, and be vulnerable about all this situation, but as the platform is growing so fast we need to be prepared to know what to do in this sittuation, and of course do our best for the babies and to have a good stay while traveling…

16

the dogs behave as if they were suffering some type of aggression, yesterday we were able to walk them for the first time without them running off the leash as if we were going to hurt them…

17

We are sorry your sittuation, and great that you made your stay a great moment. Thank you for your support and sharing your experience. We are doing our best about all the sittuation and we are happy that the dogs are getting a little bit closer of us (for us the pets change all the houses vibe). All the best! You inspired us. :heart::paw_prints:

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18

Thank you so much for your message and support :heart::paw_prints: all the best!

19

No, we always tried to be clear and talk about the sit before arrive and until arrive as all the experiences we had before.

20

Wow, maybe the dogs are abused by the Owners? There must be a story behind their behavior. I hope things are improving each day for you and the dogs.