In asking questions…the more I know about a pet’s routine, behavior, and personality, the better prepared I can be to care for them. I take great pride in taking care of pets and they all deserve love, respect, and care.
My list of questions has grown from when I had my very first sit.
You may find this to be true also as the more sits you do.
Thank you for the reply! Based on your wording I do not believe my response gave you a different perspective at all so I kindly disagree with some of your response. I was going to just let this go but I will address why I am not shortly.
If you have a luxury property that all I have to do is bring my contacts, clothes and toothbrush, you are in a great location that either has public transit within a 3-5 minute walk and/OR you offer a vehicle to drive (for me a garage for my vehicle is mandatory), 1-3 pets that can be left for 6-8 hours at a time (for the sitter to explore such a fantastic location you are in or near), a lot of great reviews both received AND given then perhaps you have the luxury of NOT considering a sitters schedule. If that is the case, keep doing what you are doing, you aren’t wrong. But you are not right to NOT consider the travel schedule of a sitter that you are entrusting with your pets AND your home. But again, if that works for you, you are sitting where some HO wish they can sit, the ultimate luxury is making a choice.
The reason why this warranted a response back from me has to do with your “short answer.” I want to address your short answer as it is simply, wrong. I have done 11 sits, 9 of them were initiated by the home owner. Of those 9, all the properties are luxurious ($2MM - $7MM), have 2 animals that I can leave for 8 hours (although I work remote full time so that hasn’t happened), have had multiple sitters apply and both spouses were actively engaged by the time of the initial video call. Two sits were in or near the mountains during ski season…prime time where rates for hotels/AirBnBs are triple or quadruple what they are as I type this on July 18. More importantly, the HO were happy to accommodate my schedule as they took that into consideration before the video call…like having a neighbor ready to feed such animals if I got stuck in a 4 hour traffic jam. Those homes (plus the two I sought on my own), the owners have options, I know it and they know it. If they are able to be flexible, in theory you can be as well.
By the way, situations happen to local sitters that can make them more late than an airplane. I will start off by saying, I am a great driver and very aware of where my tires are placed in the lane. In the Midwest and Northeast in the USA (more areas too!), potholes are a problem. I once hit two (right side of the car) while swerving to avoid a much LARGER pothole on the left side of my lane in Illinois. Guess what? My car only has one spare tire and I needed two! Either way, you need to have a Plan B in the event something happens with your “local” sitter as well and I don’t think you got the point of that.
If I were on the way to your sit from 30 minutes away, what would you have done when I called you and said I might be four hours behind schedule because I have to call a flatbed tow truck (I have AWD so a regular tow truck is not sufficient) to get my vehicle two new tires? If you have a Plan B…you would not have been in a panic before you were leaving town when I called you. Your neighbor would have been happy to help (or your paid person…whomever) in that situation. And by the way, Illinois State Police ended up blocking off two lanes for emergency repairs as I was waiting for a flatbed tow truck, I wasn’t the only one stuck on the side of the road.
I also like what @kimshady mentioned. IF you start having trouble (it sounds like you are not) with sitters and you remain inflexible with a plan for your animal (s) being left alone for XX hours on possibly the arrival and departure days only, you should absolutely offer your home the day before AND the day after and if you don’t want a stranger to stay as a house guest, book them (meaning on your credit card) a hotel (not a cheap one nor a Four-Seasons, but a nice one) for the night before your sit and the day you arrive back. THAT will go a long way toward a sitter.
I won’t respond more about this or follow-up as I wasn’t going to until the comment implying I am only staying in homes where they have limited options. But you asked if you are being unreasonable, I now believe the answer to be yes and now you know why.
Best of luck though, it seems you are doing a lot right and thank you for offering your pets and home on this platform…it does make a difference.
I’ve done many non THS sits, but my 1st sit on THS expected me to go to bed at 9pm…. I’m still not over the surprise of this!
You’ve maybe misunderstood me @Marion, we have not got a problem at all with having a conversation with just one person out of a couple (though if the pet parent considers it an ‘interview’, it would raise immediate concerns). It’s when both people in the couple participate in the chat but one PP demonstrates blatent disinterest throughout.
Positive communications are vital to a good sit (in our experience) and behaviours which demonstrate lack of positive regard (i.e. are rude) are indeed red flags for us.
(I read your post about the bedtime curfew.)
We do a regular sit for a cocker spaniel and at 10pm on the dot he sits in front of the TV and eyeballs me until I take him for a last wee and give him his pre bed dentastix. He is a real character!
Thank you for sharing this perspective with me. I hadn’t considered it. I often use local sitters or sitters who are in the area before/after for that very reason. I don’t want the stress of worrying about THEIR travel. I will definitely add that to me list of considerations and questions!
That’s why I like this forum!
I just have a modest Manhattan apartment. I look for sitters with cat experience, kindness, and common sense. I am not knocking what you do. I’m only saying that in my case it wouldn’t be practical for me to hire someone (I dont have staff) for a day or two or three on a relative short sit (usually under 12 days) to accomodate a sitter’s schedule and I wouldn’t be able to change my own plans at that point either. . I post listings based on days when I’ll be gone and clearly state on my listing the range of arrival and departure time. If someone applied after reading that and then wanted to negotiate something else, I’d move on.
We are clearly in a different league. I don’t have a million dollar property – even with inflated Manhattan real estate! You wouldn’t be interested in my sit. When I sit it’s a similar thing. I’m looking at accomodations at locations I want to travel to. I might send in a competitive application before checking flights, but then I usually check flights immediately afterwards and decline myself if it is clearly not going to be doable.
I didn’t respond to criticize your choices which are none of my business. I live in a desirable location for sitters. I was just imagining what my reaction would be to someone applying and seeing in the listing that the date was set and then making me a counter-offer. It would be an immediate decline.
I never asked if I was being reasonable. Or accused you of being unreasonable so I’m not sure what you are reasponding to. And I did write about what would happen if there were an unforeseen circumstance.
Hi All,
This is NOT an option for ALL HO, I realize that. But, check this last minute sit out.
The HO goes out of their way to make accommodations for sitters from a logistical standpoint, offering the use of a car, flexibility and they are very detailed.
Not necessarily this property or dog, but this site is very appealing to sitters that need flexibility, are concerned about the costs of a car, and if you simply read between the lines, as well as the MANY positive reviews on the dog and the people, this is a HO that just seem like very good people.
I hope this is valuable for some HO.