How much time spent with pets when house sitting?

When you book someone for house sitting the idea is that you tell them what hours you expect them to be in the house with your dog, when the walks are, etc. If you need them to arrive at 4am and leave at 3am the next day, that is valid, though would be so annoying that perhaps few sitters would accept the booking under those terms.

If your dog does not have any kind of separation anxiety then perhaps you would feel comfortable telling your sitter that they could leave the dog alone for up to five hours, for example. But if your dog does get very anxious, maybe you have to tell the sitter that they can't leave the dog alone for more than 15 minutes.

The point is that this is a contract. You tell the sitter what you need. The sitter tells you how much that's going to cost you.

If you haven't discussed with the sitter exactly what the terms are then there's too much room for misunderstanding. Most people consider pet sitting to mean that the sitter stays at the owner's home, so for the sitter to then say that actually they only intend to drop by would generally be considered below standard: drop-ins are paid less than a sitter who is going to spend most of the day and stay overnight. But it is always best to have a conversation to set out the exact terms.

It is perfectly understandable for you to want your dog walked at specific times. If you explain this to your sitter and they say they are unwilling to do it, then one of you is going to have to compromise. I don't think you will have significant problems finding another sitter that would stay in your home and walk your dog at the times you specify.

If your sitter does agree to your terms and then doesn't uphold their commitment, e.g. if they don't actually stay in your home or if they don't actually walk your dog roughly at the times they agreed they would, then it would be appropriate to rate them poorly and find a new sitter.

Do not be afraid of telling your prospective sitters how you want things to be; this is a service industry and as a sitter it is often helpful for me to know the client's needs in more detail. I have a list of questions I ask anyway because so often there's things I need to know that the client doesn't even think to communicate.

You will know if you're being an unreasonably demanding pet owner because in that case sitters will regularly decline your bookings and push back at your demands.

The sitter can ask for extra payment for anything they like, as long as they're asking in advance so that the fee for the booking is agreed by both parties and paid through Rover. An extra charge per additional pet is common. Extra charges for dogs with behavioural ... (more)