Hi I’m new and worried about my babies adjusting to a sitter , also I live in Las Vegas and just moved into a one bedroom apartment and still trying to get moved in. I’m single woman but I have to go to Detroit the 20th and am unsure how or what would be the best way to go about this.
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Hi @Pduran6257 - Don’t worry, pets are far more resilient than you think - in our experience, home hosts are often far more anxious than pets. Most pets will quickly fall in love with whoever is feeding, walking and giving them cuddles!
Have you already joined trusted house sitters? If not, your first job is to join and create a listing. Be honest if your home is still a bit upside down - sitters are not expecting hotel conditions, just clean and warm
Good Luck
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Welcome @Pduran6257 I understand your anxiety. No need to worry any longer , you have come to the right place to find good advice and an experienced pet sitter .
One suggestion that might give you peace of mind is to look for a sitter local to you . Someone who can come and meet you and your pets prior to their stay . If that’s not possible you can have a video call with potential sitters before confirming the sit .
Once you join THS you will be able to either “advertise” your sit by listing it - sitters will then apply to you
OR you can search through the sitters and invite them OR BOTH !
Hi there
It’s very understandable to be nervous how your pets will respond to new people. My husband and I have done over 60 sits on THS and while we may have had some animals that were a bit shy at first and took a bit to warm up, we have never had a true problem with a pet not accepting us. In most cases, we were all BFF pretty much straight away.
If your sit is less than a week, in addition to posting your listing on the site, you have the option to post in the ‘last minute sit’ category here on the forum, to get some extra exposure.
In addition to posting on the site, you can search for local sitters, but man HO’s do not have success with this for a number of reasons. But it can’t hurt to try. The feature of sitters listing their location isn’t very useful much of the time.
Just be sure to check the sitter’s availability calendar to see if they are booked–this isn’t always accurate though.
If you see cross through’s on the dates, that means a sit booked through THS, and they are definitely not free.
If you see green dates, that means the sitter has marked themselves as available for these dates. But it is possible they may not actually be available and didn’t manually update their calendar to account for non-THS bookings, or lack of availability for other reasons.
If you see just white with no cross through’s this is supposed to indicate they are unavailable. This is the default of the calendar, and because many sitters don’t update by providing their available dates (which would turn them green), whether or not these people are actually unavailable would be hard to tell.
Another thing to check–especially because many sitters may not update their calendar-- is if they note their current schedule in their profile. Many do this and often list it right near the beginning.
As for your listing, a couple of things to consider.
If you think your pet would adjust better to another single female, and prefer only those candidates, put that in the beginning of the listing. You may still get couples or single men applying anyway. But I think most sitters honor that request and don’t bother applying trying to convince the HO otherwise.
If you have any flexibility with your dates, you can note this in the beginning. If you don’t it can be a good idea to ask that only people who can do these exact dates submit an application. This could cut down on sitters who will send ‘can’t do these dates but keep me in mind’ messages or those who apply asking if it is possible to alter the start and/or end date .
If the apartment isn’t fully ‘settled’ because you just moved in, be sure to let them know that in the description. If you think more stuff will be cleared out by time they leave, than may appear in pictures of the home in its current state, mention that as well.
Be descriptive about the needs and routine of your pets. You didn’t mention if it was cats or dogs, but this is important for dogs especially. What time do they usually expect to eat and be walked? Do they expect to sleep on the bed or do they sleep elsewhere? Do they have any behavioral issues? Do they have any health issues?
Sitters applying for last minute sits are particularly hoping for timely communication–there is a good chance they may be dealing with a last minute sit cancellation or other unexpected change in their plans, and probably want to secure something quickly. So once your listing goes live, be on the lookout for messages. You will get push notifications on your phone if you have the app downloaded, as well as an email saying you have a new message in THS.
This thread might help. I don’t know if you have cats, dogs, or other, but have a read. Will my cats be OK while I'm gone?