Part 4 of our Traveling Pet Sitter Series.
Woo Hoo!
Congratulations!
You learned that you have the right personality traits to be a traveling pet sitter. Because you read our previous post, “Why So Serious?” you are ready to make yourself stand out from all the other pet sitters. Now it's time to start looking at all the pet sits and pick your first one!!
The Perfect One.
You are now a traveling pet sitter, you are adaptable, just like we talked about in “Got What It Takes”’. What you want to find when looking for pet sits is, what environment and location fits you. Depending on where you are looking, there could be a hundred or more pet sits listed. On TrustedHousesitters, you can use the search function to narrow down your desired location. You can also filter by type of pet, duration of stay, etc. How do you know if one is better than another for you? Let's talk about that…
On TrustedHousesitters, hosts will list their pet sit. It will contain the following:
Title. This usually contains something about the animals and/or the location.
Pets. This will tell you what pets and how many of each.
Location. In TrustedHousesitters you can search by location.
Dates of the pet sit. When they will be leaving and when they will return.
Photos of their home and pet(s).
Introduction. Telling you about themselves.
Information on the home and location.
Amenities at the house.
Responsibilities you will have during the pet sit.
Pet sitter reviews of their past sits.
I believe all the above information is required of the host (If there are any hosts reading this, I’d love for you to confirm that those subjects are required). Just because it is required doesn’t mean you’ll get complete information. Lets go over each subject:
Title, Pets and Location.
These are pretty straightforward. These subjects are what caught your eye and brought you into this listing.
Dates of the pet sit.
When they will be leaving and when they will return.
Pretty straightforward too, however, you should verify the dates. Some hosts may want you to come the day/night before they depart so they can show you around or because they are leaving very early the next morning. The same goes for the return date. They may want you to stay over as they will be arriving late at night. This is something you’ll want to talk over with the host if they have chosen you.
Photos of their home and pets.
This is where you want to start paying attention. By this time, you have decided that the location is what you want, you’re ok with the type and amount of pets and the dates are good. I have seen pet sits posted with only 1 photo of either the pet or the house. This is a red flag! 1 photo posted tells me that A) The host is not comfortable with the condition of the house. B) The host is not thorough and this could lead to problems in the future with communication about their expectations of you as a sitter. C) The host is uncomfortable showing photos of the home on a website. What you want to see in a pet sit listing is several photos of the home, both exterior and interior, especially the bedroom and bathroom you’ll be using and the kitchen and common areas. Photos of the pets are great, especially if there are more than 1 and you can see them together and happy with each other.
Introduction. Telling you about themselves.
It’s always nice to know a little something about the hosts before you apply. Usually they’ll introduce themselves by name, what their occupation is/was, any interests they have and maybe something about the pet(s). This subject is a nice to have but not the most important piece of the listing.
Information on the home and location.
Information is key. One line stating the location of the house (“Home is outside Dallas TX”) is a red flag! As a pet sitter, I would like to know how far is the home located from a town/city, how long to drive/walk to nearby stores, restaurants, etc. What is the neighborhood like and what park/hikes are nearby (Rover may like long walks or hikes) Concerning the home, where will the pet sitter stay (guest room, master bedroom), a general idea of the size and description of the home along with any amenities that the host feels would be a plus for the sitter (pool, hot tub, pool table, top of the line bed/bedding, TV setup, etc). I like it when the host details what they think the positives are for the home and location.
Amenities at the house.
This subject is where the host can list/choose all the amenities the pet sit will offer broken down by categories (bedroom, kitchen, security, parking, etc) Items can include such things as high speed internet, off-street parking, coffeemaker, washer/dryer, etc. I have seen 40 or more items listed and as few as 3. If this subject is light on items, confirm with the host any items you may have questions on.
Responsibilities you will have during the pet sit.
This is important. Responsibilities. For us, this section can either confirm that I want to apply to the pet sit or skip it. First off, information is key. If there’s no more than “Just take care of Max” well, what does that mean? It could mean anything from feeding Max twice a day and 1 walk to feeding Max twice a day, taking him for 3 one hour long walks, give him his meds, playtime once a day for 1 hour and never leave him alone for more than 2 hours. Big difference! It all comes down to what you are willing to do and only you can decide that but I want to know upfront what my responsibilities are before I apply. Also, are there any responsibilities in the home? Watering plants, taking in the mail, etc.
Pet sitter reviews of their past sits.
You can gleem a lot of information out of past sitter’s reviews of the host/pet sit. To be honest, some sitters will give a good review of the host because they don’t want to get a bad review themselves. Up until 2024, if a pet sitter or host posted a review it immediately was posted to the website. Now a review won’t get posted until both parties have written a review or 2 weeks have passed since the end of the pet sit. The thinking is that host and pet sitters will be more honest as the other party won’t know what was written until after they write their review. We’ll see. What you want to do when reviewing the pet sitter reviews is how were the pets, how were the hosts, was the home acceptable, did they like the location and would they come back and pet sit for the host again. Try and read between the lines if you feel the sitter is trying to be diplomatic, maybe they didn’t mention the home conditions at all. Here’s a tip: you can also read the host’s reviews of the sitter. Are they very critical beyond reason or did they take the time to write a thorough review?
So that's what searching and reviewing pet sit listings is like. I hope I have given you information that will make it easier for you to pick the pet sits that fit you.
Next up in our traveling pet sitter series: Receiving the invitation from the host, the next steps and the meet up!
So For Now…
We have so much more to talk about! Please follow us to learn more about our adventures, how we do what we do and many money saving tips. Is there a subject you would like to cover? Leave us a comment!
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