Hi
are we as beginner Housesitters also Pet sitters
and can we go for a daytrip in the area from the house?
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Welcome to the forum @PieterMarion1962
Each listing will say how long the pets can be left alone for . This can range from “never” to 6+ hours .
There are some sits with dogs where the dog can come with you when you go out for the day . Again you will find this information in the listing .
Before applying you should read the listings carefully and apply only to sits that you feel give you the free time that you are happy with as a mutual exchange .
This has been discussed on some other threads like this one
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There are only very few pure house sits on THS. If you want to do day trips you can try to apply for many of the cat sits. (And there are also tortoise sits…) I have done cat sits that left plenty of time for day trips.
But mostly it is the dog sits that are easier to get.
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Depends on the dog and location. We had sits where we could leave the dog for 4 hours. Plenty of things to do within a 30 min drive. In Wales we would drive an hour each way to visit a castle or stately home for 2 hours. (Driving one hour is nothing to us) We also had a sit with an extremely well behaved Labrador who happily hopped in the car and went with us wherever we wanted to go. It’s all about picking your sits.
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Most listings do want pet care. You can try for only cat sits, but even some of them need some check in for medicine, etc.
I think if you want to purely travel without responsibility at all … maybe not the best fit to sign up on this site.
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@PieterMarion1962 The vast majority of sits do include pet care. We’ve only had one sit in 7 years that was home protection only.
The idea of the site is a fair exchange so you need to figure out if what a sit (that you are interested in) offers is fair for you. Dog sits tend to require more attention and less time away. Cat (or other animals) sits usually offer more flexibility. Most owners will tell you how long they feel its OK to leave the pets.
We were recently declined for a sit where we discovered, on further questioning, that the dog could not be left more than 3 hours. That’s too restrictive for us so we asked if they had a car we could use to take the dog with us as we would be happy to have him with us but no space on our car. Or if we could, exceptionally, leave him longer. They did not want to offer a car (fair enough) and were not willing to be flexible on the three hours so they declined us. No problem- you just have to fit the right fit.
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I let my sitters know that my pets are happy to be left for full day trips, they’re used to us working all day. They have the run of a large garden and plenty of shade and water.
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I WISH each listing stated how long the pets can be left alone! I find this to be very rarely stated anywhere.
Sitters need to ask that question 90% of the time.
It’s now a mandatory field that hosts MUST complete when listing new dates
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I have been on dog sits in hot areas, where they have a doggie door, can only be walked early in the morning or evening due to heat. So then you can do out for most of the day. But it is unusual.
Thanks for all the good advice
We are a couple both 63 and not familiar with house/pet sitting
Enthousiast we are and we look forward to do some petsitting in the near future
Probably in UK , Scotland or Ireland
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Welcome @PieterMarion1962
Always check if the listing mentions how long the pet(s) can be left for. I always clarify the time pet can be left during the pre sit video chat. When I started I got offered a sit in a nice Penthouse not too far from me looking after a cat for a long weekend. The HO stated the cat couldn’t be left during the 5 day sit. I declined the sit after this info as not a good fit for me as I mostly sit in places that allow me time to sight see around my pet duties and my remote work.
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I don’t go out much, but usually with cat sits you are left alone much of the time. They generally like some cuddling, but otherwise, cats are pretty independent. The last cat sit was wanting constant attention. Playing, scratching. If I tried to be on my computer, it would come and sit on the keypad. I have never seen a cat that needy.
As someone that grew up with cats (23), who’s father has 5 and my brother has 3 cats in addition to the 58 I’ve sat for I think cats can have a rang of personalities. Sure there’s a lot that like to be independent but there are many that want to be on or near you all the time.
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