Saying you are in NY isn’t technically honest. But it’s not really misleading! I think it’s actually more helpful. Unless someone reads it and is thinking…she lives in NY but is she really wanting to stay there?
I hope they will fix this one day.
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Thank you for your advice!!!
Is May good weather in Dallas??? I thought it was usually too hot. Though it seems colder this year? Or is it my imagination?
I’m very picky about weather.
I had text with the remote control. I’m not sure why it doesn’t show up.
I agree about the cat photo…need to manage to get a decent photo of the two cats together. I feel like a bad mom if I show one cat and not the other. The problem is the cats don’t have a warm and fuzzy relationship…so it’s rare for them to be close together looking peaceful and cute.
Thank you so much for your advice!
We do have automatic feeders for dry food. We use them occasionally when we leave the house. But mostly we feed the cats canned food.
We tried a harness, and it wasn’t tolerated. The cats have always been indoor so anytime outside is exciting to them…even if just on concrete. Annie is even excited if I take her on the front porch and hold her in my arms.
If a sitter doesn’t feel comfortable taking them out, I think they will be fine not going outside for a few days! OR…they can do what I used to do…take them out in a carrier. Annie has loved that in the past as well.
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Well, May is better than July! Non-Texans often think that Dallas is furnace-hot all year, but I think May is comfortable.
It’s OK to just show one cat in the main photo, if they don’t love each other! My old cat always hated her brother 
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Ah yes that was an issue for another of the applicants too! We are blighted with that. I think we have a potential lined up for a chat so fingers crossed, however if anyone else interested let us know as our experience so far has been that people’s plans change.
To reassure all the overseas folk, it’s more as it’s our first time we are testing the water and want to play it as safe as possible, till we get a feel for how it works. If it’s overseas folk with lots of reviews and evidence they’ve managed the trip before without it falling through we would totally consider it but we got mostly brand new members who have no reviews and are coming from overseas, which feels too much for our nerves right now. Thanks for all your reassurances though and hopefully as we get more seasoned we will branch out.
Charlotte
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Hi Charlotte @chasib ,
Your listing looks fantastic and Smudge is adorable. I will definitely favourite your listing for another time.
We love Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. In fact we’ve not long returned from a wonderful sit in East Lothian. However we are also tied to the English school holidays.
Good luck and I hope you find a lovely sitter to care for Smudge
Debbie
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Thank you.
Charlotte
I agree. I’ve used this site for years with great luck. This year has been not only very difficult to find sitters, the sitters that have applied have been more interested in other things besides my pets. I’ve also had three sitters back out after making verbal commitments to sit. One was a family tragedy, so understandable, but the others were “better” locations or letting me know they were looking for longer than my 3 weeks, and if another sit came, they would take that instead. What?
Not the sitters I am use to on here. For this year, I have one couple that I knew from before Covid that will come, but for my other sits, I’m having a friend come. I’m not sure I will renew after this year’s experience.
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I think we’re still just really seeing the effects of covid and eventually things will normalize. Basically everything travel related is all sorts of messed up this year.
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I wondered whether it might be that some sitters are migrating to other service providers where they can earn money for sitting rather than doing it “free gratis”, especially in the current economic climate? It’s not unattractive to be paid traveling expenses, a daily allowance plus a significant contribution towards food costs.
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I do think the current economic situation is shifting things a bit for sitters. As many folks have mentioned the cost of rental cars has skyrocketed so many sitters are only looking for sits where they wouldn’t need a car or a car is made available to them. This may not apply to everybody, but certainly for sitters coming from far away. I don’t mind biking or walking, but I do like to have a car to get pups out and to go to the store if the home is not close to one.
On a related note airfare has also gone up significantly. I find when I might have done two trips, it’s now the same price just for one so I’m getting pickier and pickier about the sits I am choosing.
I don’t think money should be exchanged for these sits, but things the homeowner can do to try to offset some of the cost to the sitters will probably make the sit more enticing. For example providing a vehicle/bicycle, offering transport from the airport or train station, and offering a place to stay the night before or the last night of the sit for folks who are not local.
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It’s not as easy as simply charging for sits internationally. As @CreatureCuddler already pointed out in another thread, it’s illegal in many countries, because you are not allowed to work without being officially registered.
This would only be possible with sitters sitting locally or at least in their home country.
I’m another in that group of HOs who have had no problem securing great sitters pre-pandemic. In fact, we began travelling again in January this year and were thrilled to get an excellent couple at quite short notice. However, when I next listed my sit for two weeks over Easter - no replies! I looked on this forum and smartened up the listing, putting lots more pix of my dog. Still nothing. It is really dispiriting! So, I managed to get her a place at a wonderful farm not too far from home and she was happy. However, my poor plants went through one of the driest Aprils on record and many weren’t up to the struggle! I have booked two more stays for our dog as I find it disappointing that so few people are about now. I recently renewed the subscription, THS has served me so well (especially when we had two dogs), but I shall think carefully before renewing again next year.
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I was suggesting that might be a reason but not a sole reason. Certainly here in the UK it’s simple and you have the option to sit “free gratis” or find sits through a service where payment is part of the deal. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if people are increasingly going down the paid route, here at least.
Im a sitter and i hope most home owners stay because there are many sits I’d still like to do.
However im purely a holiday sitter and not as available as i was a number of years ago.
Since covid I now work less and enjoy being at home abit more, i have other commitments here & the cost of travel, food and taking time off work prevent me from doing more.
I do think it will even out eventually but possibly be unbalanced still in summer.
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Homeowners, please hang in there. This is almost certainly a temporary situation as things are trying to normalize. I see many great sits I am unable to take at present because I’m busy with a few things here at home. I’m looking forward to booking more sits for July through January 2023. New sitters are signing on all the time.
To attract more applicants, make sure your animal can occasionally be left long enough for your sitters to get out and see a few things. Some sitters work full time online and can be at home most of the time. but many (even most) of us chose your sit for your animals and your location. Give us the chance to experience the area as well. Consider making your car available but if not, please let us know if we can get along well without one. Again, renting/hiring a car is no longer the option it was last year due to the increased cost.
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Yes, we actually registered on 10+ commercial platforms during the first lockdown, because there were simply no “free” sits". Now that there are lots of “free” sits we have already established ourselves as professional pet sitters and have so many offers and invitations that we hardly ever have time to do “free” sits.
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Good idea about letting potential sitter know whether pet may be left. This is something I usually clarify at interview, but possibly worth adding on the listing. My dog is fine to be left up to 4 hours and has never had attachment problems! I mention plenty of local places of interest for the sitter either to go to alone, or take the dog too!
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I agree. I hope homeowners stay on. I have found recently my communication with homeowners has not been great. I apply and initially hear back from the homeowner, but with a few, I don’t hear back for up to two weeks. Community members have helped me recently fix up my profile, so I am hoping that will encourage homeowners to consider us!
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Its true that some (definitely not all) HOs are inconsidrate in their response or lack of response to interested sitters.
I would just advise sitters to move on from these, put it down to learning, as there sre many other appreciative HO’s.
I feel this works both ways too, from reading HOs posts.
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