Hello, my name is Diane. Our house is on Whidbey Island in Washington state. We love our grand puppy, Happy, who is a labradoodle. Because I am very allergic to cats and dogs with fur, our son and family got Happy. She has hair we need to cut at least once a month, but she is so patient with us combing her out, this is never a bad day! Our grand puppy and family are now in California and we need a house sitter in Washington. We live in a lovely area near a lake and many hiking trails with beautiful moss, large trees, mushroom hunting opportunities, plus the beaches of Puget Sound nearby. We have a freezer in our home and I worry about a power outage and the possibility of losing all the food we have stored for winter. Our house is well set up for an outage with a generator and propane heat and cooktop. Basically, we need a trusted person who can turn on the generator if needed. Someday, we might have a sweet labradoodle puppy of our own but for now, itās just a house in a lovely location.
When you post your listing, mention āno petsā in your headline. Also mention if you have high-speed internet.
You should have a relatively easy time finding sitters in your circumstances unless the dates are awkward.
You will find a lot of sitters have got very used to different technical things, like generators. Before we started sitting we didnāt know anything about swimming pool maintenance, or lake maintenance, or lift maintenance, or how to care for a pig, or chickens. Just write crystal clear instructions for your sitter, preferably with images so that it is dummy proof, and pop about the generator in your profile too, but say itās easy to sort (because it is), but those that panic at a technical job wonāt bother applying, so it will help you to know whoās right for you.
Our recent sit did demonstration videos on working the lah dee dahh coffee maker and even more lah dee a dahh white goods. What a good idea ! As i came to use each one i just watched the vido on whatspp. Clever Ho
Most generators nowadays are easy to use. I wouldnāt describe them as ātechnical.ā Children could learn to use them.
Whidbey is one of my favorite placesāI go as often as I can.
I donāt think youāll have many issues finding house sitters.
This sounds right up our street! We live in Scotland and are also new members. Our current membership is basic, to give us access to sitters for our 2 lovely dogs, so that they can be in their own environment when weāre on holiday. However, we would possibly consider upgrading our membership to a combined one if the dates of your trip suited us. We are currently planning a trip to Canada in May 2025 and could easily add something like this to our itinerary 
Thanks to all of you for writing! Such great suggestions!
Hi Julie. I see you are a new member from Scotland. Welcome, I am in Edinburgh and have been on here for a year, I love it, and I am sure you will do too.
Just make sure you go over the generator use every time and check it is working. We had a spring sit where the owners said the power never goes off at that time of year. Of course it did for 48 hours!
When they showed us the generator my husband noticed the battery needed charged so that was sorted but then when the power went out the generator didnāt come on automatically as it should. Luckily he is handy and messed around with it and got it working but I wouldnāt have had a clue.
@Snook49, welcome to the THS Forum.
Provided reasonable property, season/dates and housesit duration then I would be surprised if you were challenged to find a great housesitter.
As experienced housesitters then weāve had a couple of housesits with no pets - indeed shortly will commence a (non-THS) 3-month housesit in Western Canada with no pets. That said, we do love pets!
Suggest clear listing title that states no pets, duration and location.
Re generator, suggest state in listing how frequently tend to use generator. Is this a regular thing or an emergency?
Good luck in your search.
@Snook49 Welcome. I expect you will have no trouble finding a sitter. Will you allow the sitter to use your car? If yes, put it in your listing.
Iāve sat a dog and cat on Whidbey (south end with a Clinton) and will be sitting a cat pair this March-April (in the middle, I guess, Oak Harbor). And a few other island sits - Jeju in South Korea, San Juan Island and some coastal sits in NC, Nova Scotia, and Vancouver Island. These are some of the most enjoyable sits Iāve had and Iāll be watching for your posting.
As to the generator - Iāve sat where theyāve been automatic and where Iāve had a lesson in connecting and starting it up. And Iām sure you will find sitters who can take on the challenge. @Cathy12121ās suggestion to make a video is a great idea! And note any quirks about the generator and other utilities - for example I had a recent sit in a home with a personal elevator that I needed to use for the dog. The power went out, generator kicked in, but it tripped the circuit breaker for the elevator. I knew enough to check for this, but letting the sitter know about those kinds of things is helpful. 
Direct message me if you might want to meetup for coffee when Iām on Whidbey end of March/early April.
Hi Red! Well, only been a member for a week and thought we would start with a weekend invitation to sitā¦ we are coming to Edinburgh on Saturday for a concertā¦ so far weāve had two offers and both have changed their minds because they got another offer that suited them better 
ā¦so I have spent a lot of money, time and energy on the site, but itās looking like we will have to bring dogs with us and leave them in the car when we are at concert, then either drive home or stay in a travelodge and pay Ā£20 per dog 
ā¦can see that it has potential but our first impressions are not great Iām afraid 
Thanks for the great ideas. Iāll figure out how to find you again in messages. Maybe a heart?
@julie.footprints if you want to start your own thread and attach your listing to your profile you may get some helpful suggestions on how to improve you listing to attract sitters .
Sending out invitations rarely works but having a great listing is the best way to find a sitter that is a good match .
Finding a sitter who is available to travel at the last minute for a weekend break in Scotland might be tricky as people already have made their travel plans for this time of year , but by listing with as much notice as possible you give yourself a good chance of finding a sitter in future .
All the best in finding a sitter .
Agree with @Silversitters in that adding your profile (& potentially your last minute sit on here) will help as a newbie. Are you choosing sitters with reviews? Did they confirm and then cancel or just show interest and then choose another sit? (The two are very different in the sitting world 
) The forum is a great place to get advice and help for sitting to work for you (& thatās 4 years in and 45 sits & 22 countries later). You just need to find a good match. Create a new thread and we can help. #postyourlistingsoon
Welcome to THS, Diane! I most recently lived in Bellingham and Whidbey Island was a favorite day trip, or overnight if we were camping at the drive in!
I recently completed a four week no pets sit that had a water softening system. It was easy to learn and Iām sure watching over a generator could also easily be taught. I like written instructions in the house manual and as someone suggested, a quick video could also be great. I did something similar for a paid pet sitter I wasnāt able to walk through beforehand and it worked great!
Would like to note if you are not aware:
Sitters will show interest and apply for multiple sits at a time, and sitters are encouraged to do so by THS. It is therefore important to proceed in a timely manner before they move on.
A sit is not agreed until you have officially offered the sit and the sitter in return has confirmed it. Before that, both parties are fully in their right to chose others, change plans and decline.
When a sit is officially confirmed, only the host can cancel the sit on platform (but of course, if a sitter say they canāt do it, the only real option you have is to file a member dispute. You canāt force someone to sit.)
If you have indeed an official, confirmed sit it is rare that it is cancelled, but it can happen.
It is a mutual exchange and one need to be chosen - both ways. Should you like help with optimizing your listing, you can start a new thread on that and include the link to your listing in your forum profile: How to add a listing or profile link to your FORUM profile
Iām still learning about how this all worksā¦ what happened was this; sitter confirmed via private communication then changed their minds. However she had not confirmed formally on the app
I suspect you mean youāve received two applications, since sitters donāt make āoffersā to sit until things are officially confirmed via THS. No point in feeling miffed about it because itās nothing personal, messaging is just the first step in the process of assessing a good match. Much relies on how quickly you followed up on the applications (did you message response quickly and arrange a video chat with the sitters in a timely manner?). As sitters, we rarely submit a single application for a specific period, and nothing is confirmed until after weāve chatted with pet parents over a video call and everyone is happy to proceed. Sitters are weighing you up, as much as you are them, and only when a sit is confirmed and subsequently appears in the dashboards of both parties is it finalised.