Hi @Alys, i just went to view your link but it is not a link. Can you check it please?
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Hi all, I’m a new HO on THS . I didn’t get any applicants after listing my dates at the end of April for a few days. I’ve decided to take the listing down as I wanted some certainty and my son has said he’ll come and look after our pets for a long weekend and will stay the full week, so we get to see him too. I think now I was a bit naive , having read this thread , to expect to find a sitter easily. I’ve learned a lot through the process though and have communicated with a couple of sitters who weren’t available this time but were interested for the future . So I’m still hopeful for future trips .
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Off topic I know but did you contact the sitters or did they contact you?
This is something I do occasionally. I don’t know if it aggravates the pet owner or if they do save our details for another time. It would be good to know.
Hi @ElsieDownie , I’d sent 4 invites to fairly local sitters who I thought would be suitable , because it was a sit of only 4 days and I thought local sitters would be more interested . Plus it’s my first time so it was a dip of a toe in the water . Two replied saying they weren’t available this time , one specifying they would be interested another time ( I replied to both saying thank you for the reply). The two others didn’t reply, but my invite had been “ read”. Personally I would be very happy for a sitter to reach out to me first.
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Thank you for your reply. I will continue replying to great looking sits but wrong dates.
We joined in Feb22. Disappointed in lack of responses for dates. I’ve been as honest and friendly as I can be in our intro. Wondering if I’ve done the right thing joining? I’ve had just 1 response which wasn’t suitable for us as the sitters wanted to bring their own dog.
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Hi @robandwendydean. If you provide more information about your listing, forum members will be able to find your listing.
You may want to embed your listing in your forum username, so that forum members can view your listing. I’ll add the instructions here:
How to add a listing to your forum username
If you’d rather not do that for some reason, if you provide your location (city/country) as shown on your listing and date range, forum members will be able to view your listing.
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Sorry to hear you are not getting any responses @robandwendydean
Without seeing the listing it would be hard to say what might be the issue( there might be none at all) but there is one possibility…
I took a look at your profile to see if you mentioned anything about your location or pets to see if I could figure out your listing, but didn’t see anything. I saw your initial post from last month saying your dogs aren’t typically left alone for more than an hour. If this request is in your listing, that could be a tough sell for many sitters, especially if it was a longer sit, or in an area that would be appealing to people because it is touristic ,and has lots of stuff they would want to do, but can’t.
Of course as sitters we understand the pets are top priority but this is designed as a mutually beneficial exchange where sitters get to travel and explore new areas so having to be in the house save an hour a day might feel restrictive for some. If there are lots of things to do nearby that you can bring the animals that could be good to mention, like lots of restaurants that accept pets or hiking (if the dogs can do that of course).
My husband and I are homebodies, aren’t big ‘sightseeing types’ and don’t do all that much most days, but would at least want the option to be out for a few hours if there was something we wanted to do. Of course this is just the opinion of one person and there are probably some who wouldn’t mind, but this could potentially be a factor.
Also, and again, this is just the input of one person: When I see listings that talk about how the animals aren’t left alone a lot, it makes me wonder if the dogs will be anxious or neurotic in some way, and this gives me pause. So if they are relaxed and well behaved, don’t have separation anxiety and the like, be sure to mention that since the person will be spending a lot of time with them.
I think lately there has been a big influx of listings and not enough sitters to fill them so for a lot of people not getting responses, it has nothing to do with the assignment being unattractive in any way or having a bad listing.
Good luck!
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I agree, if this is the case, you might have a tough time finding a sitter. We won’t apply for sits where the pet can’t be left alone for less than 4 hours.
Like KC1102, we mostly stay home when we are sitting, but we normally go for a drive or visit a National Trust site (gone 2-4 hrs) once or twice during a week-long sit.
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Hi all, thanks for the encouragement and advice. I have cobbled together some help from family for part of my time away and got a great sitter for the other part. My kitty will be well cared for and I have peace of mind. In the process of having to work so hard to line up this sit, I have also found a great couple for my summer week away as well. I certainly do hope we strike a better balance between sits and sitters in the future though. Taking 10 days and at least 10 hours of computer time to find a sitter is more work than I want to do! Good luck everyone.
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I dont think 10 days/10 hours is unreasonable, to set up something so personal as letting someone into your house and taking care of your pets. Especially when you’ve been able to cover future trips as well!
I would just like surety. And since I’ve not been able to achieve that certainty, in two weeks of looking and now only seven weeks to departure, I’m in a similar position of cobbling together a combination of a (paid)sitter and family [although I havent told family yet… 
] to cover my trip.
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@Ketch I totally agree with your first statement. When I consider the many hours I put into viewing sits to see which are suitable for me, I’d hate to admit the hours 
For your own sit, have you considered asking @Angela_L to promote your listing on social media? I think your somewhat unique pets could be eye-catching there. It doesn’t hurt to try anyway, I think.
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I know! I hoped people would be interested chance to do something a bit different to add to their house-sitting CV. And I have contacted eight sitters directly (only three have replied and declined; I’m still waiting on the other 5).
For whatever reason the stars have not aligned this time (or not in time for my comfort) which is a shame as the concept is brilliant. I’ll try again another time.
I have most of my Plan B in place so, unless something turns up within the next week, I’ll confirm that. Ironically Im not keen on exposing my life on social media ( 
). It’s bad enough having a profile on THS!
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@Ketch As far as the social media aspect, I had a similar reaction when I first heard of this option. However, as I understand it there’s no direct link to the listing itself, but more of a focus on a key photo and some basic information. I don’t know the specifics though.
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It is a link, but as SandC said you have to copy and paste.
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HI @Ketch here is the way sharing on Social works and the benefits:
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- Higher visibility
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- No one other than THS members can contact the owner to apply
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- No personal details
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- Sit details, approx location and dates
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- Link to the site “find a sit page”
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- Listing link is only added with owners permission
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Hello all,
I have been a memeber since 2016 and always had a flurry of applications each time I listed my dates during the school holidays and had numerous really lovely suitable housesitters - but having posted new dates over 5 weeks ago - nothing.
I have asked for help from TrustedHousesitters.com and they simply say they will relist my request which has been fruitless, or suggest I could try searching for sitters and contacting them myself, but having contacted over 20 potential sitters it seems nobody ever updates their availability calendar so everyone I have contacted is not free.
Has anyone got any suggestions to my problem - we go away in 9 days days time and I need to find someone fir my adotable 3 dogs and 4 cats.
We live in the beautiful market town of Oakham near Rutland Water in a large modern house with a big garden so know it can’t be the location that is off putting!! Please can someone help?!
Hi @AntoniaScott and welcome to the forum. There are many helpful forum members who would love to see your listing, both in case they are available, but also to give feedback on your listing.
You can embed your listing in your forum username. I’ll add a link below with the instructions.
Embedding listing in forum username
If for some reason you’d prefer not to do that, you can add the details to your post here. Provide the location as shown on your listing (not always the same as what you’ve mentioned here) and the date range.
If you would like @Angela_L to promote your listing on social media, please direct message her. To do that, click on her username and then click on the green envelope logo. No direct details or link will be shown on social media, if that’s of any concern to you.
I suspect that many sitters, like myself, have become ineligible because we refuse to risk identity theft by giving our social security numbers to Evident for “verification.” (Perfectly willing to give my passport!) It is really sad, but there is nothing we can do. I had many communications with TH about this, suggesting that they simply give “vetted” sitters a badge or something, then let owners choose for themselves whether or not that matters to them, but they are currently not willing to change their policy. Good luck in finding a sitter.
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Hello All:
I am new to this forum which was recently suggested to me by a fellow member.
I have a sit upcoming in less than two weeks and my sitter cancelled due to health issues. Needless to say, I am stressed trying to find a new sitter. Is there anyone here that has a suggestion or that knows of someone who might be available?
TY for considering my request, S Rogers