Upon speaking with Home Owners, as part of the Sitter selection process, it became apparent to me that the Home Owners were becoming less confident as to my ability to look after their dog.
I had thoroughly read the HO post & the one previous pet sitter review.
During my telephone with HO, I asked specific & relevant questions about the well-being & care of their family dog.
As the conversation progressed, I felt the HOs unease. It seemed that in my attempt to open up conversation with my questions they became less confident in my being able to provide the best care for their dog.
Has anyone else experienced this?
When are too many relevant & specific questions detrimental in selecting a Sitter?
I am a Sitter, not an Owner.
But, if I were an Owner, during a phone/video chat, I would want to feel that the Sitter has a certain level of confidence, common sense, and self-sufficiency.
If the Owner has provided a fairly detailed listing and has some good reviews, are tons of questions really necessary?
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Itâs maybe not about specific content but more about a relational style of communication where unease might arise. Itâs a hard thing to put your finger on and covered by the âgut feelingâ description. If a HO felt âinterrogatedâ or judged by the sitter in some way even if unintentionally this could lead to unease. How we make people feel is much more important than how we make them think.
Another aspect of this could be that they didnât want to give honest answersâŚ. so what you were picking up on wasnât unease but avoidance of the truth.
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As both an owner and a sitter, the more questions asked the better !
Sitterâs perspective : I get a thorough picture of the animalsâ/HOâs needs. I absolutely NEED to know as much as possible - especially if there are health or behavioural concerns.
Ownerâs perspective : I can better trust that I have someone who truly understands and cares for my animals and has the education and experience to care for them properly should something go wrong.
In my book, there are never too many relevant and/or specific questions in selecting a sitterâŚMy animalsâ lives are akin to my own and I would think (hope ?) that most animal companions feel the same way.
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I canât say that I have personally experienced something like this because I actually donât ask all that many questions on the calls. Often the handful of things most important for me to know are stated in the listing, and if they are not, I typically ask about these things in my application message .
I rely heavily on my intuition when selecting sits, and I find that most hosts are honest about the behavior and needs of their animals. So when they tell me that things are pretty straightforward with their care,they are well-behaved,etcâŚI believe them. Of course there have been times when I have encountered unexpected issues, but it was never anything so big that caused me major problems, or made me feel like I had to prepare an extensive list of questions for future sits.
Without being privy to the types of questions you were asking, itâs not possible to know if you did in fact say anything that could have made them doubt your capabilities.
But my main point in responding to your post is that I believe things work out perfectly, and if you donât get offered the sit, you werenât meant to do the sit. If they are nervous types, they would end up having reservations about you specifically for some reason, or whatever else, it probably would not have worked out well. And sits that donât work out so great will probably end in reviews that arenât so great!
And if they did end up offering you the sit, I wouldnât do it if I were you. I wouldnât feel confident taking a sit if I thought the host wasnât fully confident in choosing me. There are lots of opportunities on here and no need to settle for ones that have a higher likelihood of not going well. When anything feels off in that regard, I also take that as a sign itâs not a match and to move on.
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Weâre sitters, can I ask why are you asking so many questions?
The only real relevant questions to us, are things we would class as deal breakers, as most other things are covered in their profile. Maybe thatâs where they lost faith, maybe you came across as though you had never read their profile. Before we chat with an HO we always re-read their profile again, so that everything is fresh in our minds, plus we look at a lot of profiles so itâs simpler that way.
I only apply for sits where there is a feel-good connection straight away when reading their profile. So apart from deal breakers, our main purpose of chatting is to see if I still feel that same feel-good connection. Whereas, perhaps you arenât, why not ask less questions, unless they are deal breakers, and just have a nice friendly chat so the conversation flows naturally.
Who would you choose if you were the HO? A sitter that asked loads of questions, or a sitter that asked relevant questions and built a proper report with you, like you knew-knew them already.
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What questions do you ask about their well-being?
We ask about their usual routine and if they are registered with a vet ?
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Thatâs exactly how it should be.
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I think the key is what ârelevant & specificâ means for both parties. It may not be the same. Could the owner feel he was going through a screening ?
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And/or that the Sitter just might not be a good fit for the dog/sit. Red(ish) flags for me would be if the Sitter asked a lot about how long the dog could be left daily (suggesting that they planned to be away from the house a lot ⌠which I totally understand some sitters want to be) or about other aspects of their routine that suggests they might not be comfortable with (feeding times, where they slept etc).
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How long the dog can be left is extremely important information, I donât see why that would be a red flag. I work full-time online, so most days I donât even leave the house. However, I would still need to know how long the pet can be left. I might want to go to dinner or a movie or a museum on days Iâm not working.
These are all things that a sitter needs to know and really should be in the listing. Sitters need information to be able to determine if the sit is a good fit for them.
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Unless it is clear from the listing, I always ask that. Fortunately, most hosts that I talked would not even consider having the dog in their bedroom. That is why it was not in the listing, because such a thought had not occurred to them.
Not necessarily. I stay at home a lot, so from that point of view, I am a perfect sitter. However, I often ask that question to get a feel of how realistic (or not) the hostâs expectations are, which could potentially be red flags for me.
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Likewise. I telecommute full time and have done sits when Iâve voluntarily never been apart from the dog. But Iâd avoid all sits where the host is wary about answering such a question. To me, thatâs a red flag of a bad host.
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I read @BJane post as the sitter insisting, like trying to modify the pets habits and showing that (I read) the sitters
Sticking to the petsâ routine.
So, please, @BJane. Can you clarify?
Thereâs also another aspect in the OP that I have just perceived: The expression âasking questionsâ could (just could) suggest an interview type of interaction rather than a naturally flowing conversation. If that was the case, the owner might have felt a bit questioned or cornered, especially if they were new to the system and a lot of questions were raised about which they had not even thought. They might have felt overwhelmed.
And, as some people have mentioned, they may not be a good match after all.
I honestly think you just need to relax and chit chat away with the pet owner.
Asking too many questions, well it obviously has not gone down well and been off putting.
Do your reseach (if possible) by reading all the information on their profile about the pets, read the reviews left on them.
Maybe just ask âŚ
âDoes your pet have anything I need to know about please?â
Hopefully that can then start a more relaxed type of conversation, and anything you feel needs addressing, can be spoken about, but in a much more relaxed way.
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I have a list of information that Iâd like to know before accepting a sit. Before chatting with the HO I go through the listing and reviews to see what is already there, then when we chat I try to cover in our conversation whatever remains. I try to avoid interrogation in favour of conversation, but usually there are a couple of direct questions I need to ask as I donât have the information that I need to make the decision.
I donât think a HO has ever asked me a question - maybe thatâs covered in my profile & reviews?
One thing Iâm noticing, 6 sits in, is that HOs sometimes donât realise that the decision is mutual and that I could decide to decline.
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That is a very accurate observation.
@dma It sounds like you came across too full on to these owners, maybe like you were interviewing / interrogating them. A good approach to find out lots of info in a conversational style is to ask âTell me about [pet name]'s normal day.â You will be able to then ask some clarifying questions.
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