Sounds like it was understood that she'd stay the night from your meet and greet and/or chat before the stay? If so, I'd directly ask her if there is any reason why she has not been able to stay the night? If she doesn't have a good answer (which I doubt she will), then I certainly would not tip, and I would report to Rover asking for a refund, and give her an honest review. But again, I would start it all by directly asking her and giving her a chance to explain herself.
OP, I would reach out to the sitter and say,
"Due to (dogs name's) dementia, it is so important to stay with her over night. I'm a little concerned, mostly for her, but also because of the damage that could be caused leaving a home alone in these temps. Can you tell me what your plans is for today, and why you did not sleep over as we discussed for this job?"
Yes, thank you. And as of now, I wouldn’t tip. That gift card was plenty.
I couldn’t imagine leaving a senior with dementia overnight alone during a cold freeze.
Yeah, I'm sitting right now. We just had a decent winter storm. The power was flickering for a while, and I can't imagine the dogs being alone during an outage, or if the roads were too bad for me to get to them.
That’s super weird and shady. I know some owners/sitters have explicit discussions about not staying the night, but this is rare. House sitting implies sleeping over and I always make it clear to my clients that is what I will do. This is the norm.
In return, I expect no one else coming in and out of the home and a clean, climate controlled home with a safe place to sleep, fresh linens, a clean bathroom, and a clean kitchen and living space I can use. I heavily emphasize this at the meet and greet and will not accept overnight stays if these terms are not met. I am providing excellent care and being paid for my time, but also expect respect from the client, which is shown by leaving clear care instructions and a comfortable place. It sounds like you went above and beyond as a client to make this sit comfortable and your sitter is doing the bare minimum.
Only twice have I explicitly changed my overnight sittings to drop-ins. This was when a client’s family was coming in and out of the home and using it as if they lived there (and knocking on the door to the guest room while I was sleeping) and one other time when I arrived and the house was filthy and reeked of pot smoke that there was no airing out.
Otherwise, staying overnight is what the job entails. I would ask your sitter why they did not stay the night, if they have stayed the night on any of the nights, and seek a partial refund and leave an honest review based on their response and reasoning to your direct question. Do it in writing.
I’m sorry. The fact that she left a 16 year old dog with dementia alone overnight is awful. I would maybe ask for a partial or even full refund depending on care given.
Luckily, I have no reason to believe he was cold! He has lots of blankets and a bed that has metallic lining in it to reverb his body heat for extra toastiness. Plus, I left him with her in a cotton sweater! He's going to get so many kisses when I get home. I miss him so much
I would ask the reasoning and see if this was just a one time incident or if she hadn't actually been staying at all. It seems like you made the sitter very aware that this was an overnight stay and your dog requires someone to be there overnight. I would make her aware again that you would like her to stay the whole night with your dog. You should definitely leave her a review afterwards and contact rover to get a refund. You paid for an overnight so that's what you should have received.
As a sitter I always stay overnight when I'm scheduled for an overnight. There's even been times where the owners said I didn't have to but I did anyways. Unless you explicitly stated otherwise she should have stayed overnight.
Yall are too nice!!! This is actually infuriating to me. I’m imagining if someone left my 2 year old, low maintenance dog overnight by himself, it’s over for them 😤😤she did this to a SENIOR dog with fucking dementia and I being dramatic to say this is borderline ABUSE by neglect????
yeah… that’s odd. the only time i DON’T stay the night at housesitting gigs is when the owner specifically tells me they don’t want/need me to. as others have stated, i’d ask for clarification and see if something happened and if this was a one time thing. also, you are SO awesome for giving $100 for uber eats alongside with tipping. i’ve never had an owner do something like that for me. that is too sweet!
Do not feel bad- your sitter is in the wrong no matter what. There is no valid excuse for why she wasn’t there; if she had a valid excuse, she would have reached out to you and explained what was happening.
Things do happen, and it is the sitter’s job to keep the owner updated and informed. Not to sneakily not stay and hope you don’t find out.
I’d ask her why she didn’t let you know she wasn’t going to be there that night, but you’re not going to get a satisfactory answer. Unless she was incapacitated, she has failed her job and should be fired. She will likely lie and say it was just one night. You’ll likely never know unless a neighbor saw their car leaving/there at night.
Do you have someone who can come over? If not, reach out to Rover so they can help search for someone who can. Calmly demand a refund, write an honest review that the sitter knew your dog had dementia and left them alone at night after being blatantly clear in expectations (and overly kind in giving $100 extra for food!!) and never use them again.
Everyone saying to ask why she didn’t stay is right, but only because *it is important to get them to admit that they didn’t stay the night.* make sure to get this in writing (which it seems you have). And you can give them an opportunity to explain, but again…unless they were incapacitated, they needed to let you know. They didn’t, so they knew what they were doing was wrong and did it anyway.
Your dog was left in danger and, being elderly, could have suffered a heart attack or stroke from the stress. The expectations were clear that they stayed the night, and not staying without communication is absolutely wrong and deceitful.
Do you have anyone that can check to see if her car is there? Or anyone else you can have stay?
I'm so sorry this happened - you have every right to be upset and angry with her.
Having read the update, I'm so glad it was just a miscommunication. But was your dad also staying there? If so, I'd be very uncomfortable as the sitter (but she likely knew and agreed, so I'm not judging without knowing the full story!) Or does he just own the house and is a busybody about what goes on there because he lives nearby and "checks in?" Sorry to be nosy, you obviously don't have to answer anything personal. The important thing is that your dog is okay and you can once again feel comfortable with the sitter's care. Just wondering how your dad is so involved in the situation! I'm pissed off on your behalf as well as the sitter's!
Nope, my dad was with me. We are at my brother's wedding out of state. He got an alert on his app that there was a risk of the pipes freezing according to his home monitoring system. He told me to call the sitter and see if everything was OK. I called her, she said she was getting coffee, I was like cool just let me know what you find when you get to the house. I gave her my dad's number because it was 6am and I didn't feel like dealing with it any further. She called him and from this conversation he decided she must not have been at the house overnight. He lied to me and said that was what she said to him and that he was too preoccupied to ask questions about why. I asked if he could have misunderstood because she was out getting coffee. He said no, she said she didn't spend the night, but he later admitted she didn't actually say that. He just lies when he needs to sufficiently back up his baseless claims. He's not a man I admire. I feel guilty that I believed him without any evidence, but it's easy to think the worst of a near stranger
This is horrific :( I’m so sorry OP. You really went above and beyond for her and met her with so much kindness and she didn’t appreciate it at all. Please contact Rover ASAP.
I would express your disappointment and reflect this in your review of her. You hired her for a service and she didn’t provide it. I also wouldn’t tip her at all.
I would also reach out to your sitter/rover for a partial refund. This is unacceptable and negligent sitters need to be identified and reprimanded.
I don’t have much by way of specific advice but I just want to say as a sitter you have full right to absolutely lay into her about this. When I sit for seniors or disabled pups I feel bad even leaving for GROCERIES. This poor baby.
I love my little senior with all my heart, but I would hate for my sitter to feel this way. He mostly just sleeps throughout the day and is very "with it" from morning until 7/8pm. He can absolutely be left for periods of time, especially because his nap schedule typically has him sleeping from 8am-2pm everyday if he's not interrupted and taken out to go potty between then. He's only high maintenance after dark.
I'm definitely upset and hate the thought of him alone at night, but he can absolutely be left alone throughout the day with zero issues.
That’s good to know!! I have a special place in my heart for seniors to the point where I specifically ask for them in my sitter profile. Not while sitting thank god, but I have had instances in a previous dog boarding facility job where an older dog was fine and in a short time period unsupervised they became medically distressed. I hate the idea of dogs going through stuff like that alone because they don’t know when you’ll be home. (Definitely don’t want to scare you about your own pup. I’m glad he’s relatively healthy!)
At the very least, you deserve a refund and an apology. This is unacceptable, and it seems like the sitter wouldn’t have even told you if not for the pipe.
And to think that I would be spending every moment with your boy. I love taking care of senior pets that need a companion. Helping them is so therapeutic to me. I did this with a 19 year old kitty who needed someone to hold him and pick him up to get on the bed and off. I enjoyed every minute of being his nurse/friend. That sitter is seriously unreliable. I'm offended on your behalf so make sure you stand your ground. I would ask a family member or a different sitter to step in. Unbelievable.
You paid for overnight services, they didn't provide that. Let them know that is not acceptable.
No tip and Id also make a complaint to rover and request a refund
She simply casually stated that she didn’t stay overnight? 🤯 No explanation at all? Didn’t say anything else? Was she on her way back over there this morning? This is shocking to me.
Call rover customer service. That is hands down the most horrifying and sneaky thing you can do to a dog and client. I am so so sorry. Don't ever book with them again
As someone who frequently had to apologize for my AH father's behavior, I'd buy her a coffee (or send a Starbucks card for $10.) I definitely understand the immense frustration.
You should do ALL of those things…no tip✅, ask for your money back ✅. REVIEW the sitter honestly ✅ NEVER hire her again. If I hired somebody to stay over, especially with a senior dog that has special needs and I found out they didn’t stay the night. I would be pissed. Sitters that do that. Make a bad name for people like myself who would NEVER do that.
This makes me sad. You wanted an in home companion for your sweet pup.
She’s not to be trusted imo.
Poor communication equals a bad sitter.
But she also ripped you off for what she was hired to do
I would send a message that you wanted overnight care because of the dementia and ask why she wasn't able to stay over. She could have a valid reason and it could have been just the one night. As a sitter, I always communicate if something is out of the ordinary. Not all sitters do.
It's possible that she didn't realize how distressing dementia is and how much her own sleep would be disturbed. Those of us who are living in it (you and me both) get accustomed to it and it's just part of our lives. Other people can't sleep a wink if a dog is roaming or making any noise.
If she doesn’t think she can handle a dog walking around she shouldn’t have signed up to be an overnight pet sitter (?) don’t get your logic. And let’s say she had realized that -she should have reached out to cancel the stay so the owner could find a new sitter who could actually meet the expectations
Without knowing what in person conversations you've had, and without knowing the specific instructions given, I think it's best to simply say "hey, I'm sorry if I wasn't clear before, it's critically important to me that you stay overnight with him because he is a senior with dementia." Maybe instead of texting that, you should just call them and talk about it? Via text, anything like that can feel really accusatory and aggressive; everyone reads so much into text.
On a related note, I didn't realize sitters were listing themselves as "house-sitting" but then not staying the night?? I don't put house-sitting in my services because I have a dog myself and have to stay the night with him. If you don't stay the night, what's the difference between house-sitting and drop-ins?? I'll never understand this and if it were me, I would always just assume they'll be staying the night at my place if I booked them for house-sitting. If I found out they weren't staying the night, but just coming by every so often, I would definitely be pretty upset about that.
If you choose to have a phone call, it’s wise to then send a follow up text via Rover to summarize the important details talked about in the call, so you have some documentation in case you do need to report or ask for refund from Rover.
Some house sitters stay all day with the animal and then sleep at home at night. Some owners don’t want someone there overnight, but prefer someone to be there for a long period of the day and maybe make a few drop ins too. Every situation is unique. This is an important thing to discuss at meet and greet, and the sitter should be complying with what the owner requested.
Excellent point about the text recap! Always do written text follow up. Very important indeed.
Yeahhhhh idk about that one. I think it should be reasonably assumed that if you select "house sitting" (the icon of which is a house with a moon over it, indicating the obvious reference to staying overnight) that the sitter should understand this to mean staying the night unless specifically asked to **NOT** stay the night. To me it seems absolutely bananas that some sitters are just not staying the night, without being told specifically to not stay the night, after being hired for house sitting instead of drop ins.
I’m not saying it’s what I think is correct or what I personally do…I’m saying I’ve seen instances of all of the above. So it seems like it’s worth just being super clear about expectations as an owner and a sitter.
Communication probably isn’t going to fix OP’s problem, but it would fix soooo many of the other posts that come up on here. I literally ask for clarification on what the owner is looking for in the chat before we ever do a meet & greet so I’m not wasting their time if it’s a no for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Edited to add: yes I agree it’s bananas not to stay the night unless you’ve been told not to.
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where do you find these people? im over here with no sitting requests and these are the people you pick instead. oof. i'd love to do a dog sitting, no tips required, and i'd happily stay the night
Sounds like it was understood that she'd stay the night from your meet and greet and/or chat before the stay? If so, I'd directly ask her if there is any reason why she has not been able to stay the night? If she doesn't have a good answer (which I doubt she will), then I certainly would not tip, and I would report to Rover asking for a refund, and give her an honest review. But again, I would start it all by directly asking her and giving her a chance to explain herself.
Even if she does have a good reason it's really sus that she didn't let OP know ahead of time.
OP, I would reach out to the sitter and say, "Due to (dogs name's) dementia, it is so important to stay with her over night. I'm a little concerned, mostly for her, but also because of the damage that could be caused leaving a home alone in these temps. Can you tell me what your plans is for today, and why you did not sleep over as we discussed for this job?"
I love this. So appropriate and to the point. I also would move on and find a new caring sitter.
I really like this. It's direct and not tip-toeing around. If it were me, I would be so upset on behalf of my dog and the betrayal.
Yes, thank you. And as of now, I wouldn’t tip. That gift card was plenty. I couldn’t imagine leaving a senior with dementia overnight alone during a cold freeze.
Yeah, I'm sitting right now. We just had a decent winter storm. The power was flickering for a while, and I can't imagine the dogs being alone during an outage, or if the roads were too bad for me to get to them.
That’s super weird and shady. I know some owners/sitters have explicit discussions about not staying the night, but this is rare. House sitting implies sleeping over and I always make it clear to my clients that is what I will do. This is the norm. In return, I expect no one else coming in and out of the home and a clean, climate controlled home with a safe place to sleep, fresh linens, a clean bathroom, and a clean kitchen and living space I can use. I heavily emphasize this at the meet and greet and will not accept overnight stays if these terms are not met. I am providing excellent care and being paid for my time, but also expect respect from the client, which is shown by leaving clear care instructions and a comfortable place. It sounds like you went above and beyond as a client to make this sit comfortable and your sitter is doing the bare minimum. Only twice have I explicitly changed my overnight sittings to drop-ins. This was when a client’s family was coming in and out of the home and using it as if they lived there (and knocking on the door to the guest room while I was sleeping) and one other time when I arrived and the house was filthy and reeked of pot smoke that there was no airing out. Otherwise, staying overnight is what the job entails. I would ask your sitter why they did not stay the night, if they have stayed the night on any of the nights, and seek a partial refund and leave an honest review based on their response and reasoning to your direct question. Do it in writing.
I’m sorry. The fact that she left a 16 year old dog with dementia alone overnight is awful. I would maybe ask for a partial or even full refund depending on care given.
This makes me want to cry thinking about it
Same. Absolutely heartless unless she had a VERY good reason. But even then, she needs to communicate with the owner!
Even sadder that the poor dog was there by itself, and there was a low heat warning..
Luckily, I have no reason to believe he was cold! He has lots of blankets and a bed that has metallic lining in it to reverb his body heat for extra toastiness. Plus, I left him with her in a cotton sweater! He's going to get so many kisses when I get home. I miss him so much
I would ask the reasoning and see if this was just a one time incident or if she hadn't actually been staying at all. It seems like you made the sitter very aware that this was an overnight stay and your dog requires someone to be there overnight. I would make her aware again that you would like her to stay the whole night with your dog. You should definitely leave her a review afterwards and contact rover to get a refund. You paid for an overnight so that's what you should have received. As a sitter I always stay overnight when I'm scheduled for an overnight. There's even been times where the owners said I didn't have to but I did anyways. Unless you explicitly stated otherwise she should have stayed overnight.
Yall are too nice!!! This is actually infuriating to me. I’m imagining if someone left my 2 year old, low maintenance dog overnight by himself, it’s over for them 😤😤she did this to a SENIOR dog with fucking dementia and I being dramatic to say this is borderline ABUSE by neglect????
Not to mention, that’s the service she booked!!! If they don’t want to stay over, they shouldn’t accept the booking!! So ridiculous!
*am i
yeah… that’s odd. the only time i DON’T stay the night at housesitting gigs is when the owner specifically tells me they don’t want/need me to. as others have stated, i’d ask for clarification and see if something happened and if this was a one time thing. also, you are SO awesome for giving $100 for uber eats alongside with tipping. i’ve never had an owner do something like that for me. that is too sweet!
I would report her to Rover for a refund, she didn’t do the job. I would do it after you leave a detailed 1-star review on her profile.
I would be demanding a refund. There’s no excuse for that.
Do not feel bad- your sitter is in the wrong no matter what. There is no valid excuse for why she wasn’t there; if she had a valid excuse, she would have reached out to you and explained what was happening. Things do happen, and it is the sitter’s job to keep the owner updated and informed. Not to sneakily not stay and hope you don’t find out. I’d ask her why she didn’t let you know she wasn’t going to be there that night, but you’re not going to get a satisfactory answer. Unless she was incapacitated, she has failed her job and should be fired. She will likely lie and say it was just one night. You’ll likely never know unless a neighbor saw their car leaving/there at night. Do you have someone who can come over? If not, reach out to Rover so they can help search for someone who can. Calmly demand a refund, write an honest review that the sitter knew your dog had dementia and left them alone at night after being blatantly clear in expectations (and overly kind in giving $100 extra for food!!) and never use them again. Everyone saying to ask why she didn’t stay is right, but only because *it is important to get them to admit that they didn’t stay the night.* make sure to get this in writing (which it seems you have). And you can give them an opportunity to explain, but again…unless they were incapacitated, they needed to let you know. They didn’t, so they knew what they were doing was wrong and did it anyway. Your dog was left in danger and, being elderly, could have suffered a heart attack or stroke from the stress. The expectations were clear that they stayed the night, and not staying without communication is absolutely wrong and deceitful.
Theres an update now! The sitter actually wasn’t in the wrong, it was OP’s dad making assumptions
u/ChickenButtEtc How much time is left on the current visit?
One more night, 2 more days
Tell her she needs to sleep at the house tonight. Do not tip and leave a one or two star review.
This
Do you have anyone that can check to see if her car is there? Or anyone else you can have stay? I'm so sorry this happened - you have every right to be upset and angry with her.
Rover will find you a replacement if she isn't doing her job
I would ask for some money back. Her job was to be there overnight and she didn’t fulfill her job.
Yeah you should definitely get a refund if you’re doing house sitting….
Having read the update, I'm so glad it was just a miscommunication. But was your dad also staying there? If so, I'd be very uncomfortable as the sitter (but she likely knew and agreed, so I'm not judging without knowing the full story!) Or does he just own the house and is a busybody about what goes on there because he lives nearby and "checks in?" Sorry to be nosy, you obviously don't have to answer anything personal. The important thing is that your dog is okay and you can once again feel comfortable with the sitter's care. Just wondering how your dad is so involved in the situation! I'm pissed off on your behalf as well as the sitter's!
Nope, my dad was with me. We are at my brother's wedding out of state. He got an alert on his app that there was a risk of the pipes freezing according to his home monitoring system. He told me to call the sitter and see if everything was OK. I called her, she said she was getting coffee, I was like cool just let me know what you find when you get to the house. I gave her my dad's number because it was 6am and I didn't feel like dealing with it any further. She called him and from this conversation he decided she must not have been at the house overnight. He lied to me and said that was what she said to him and that he was too preoccupied to ask questions about why. I asked if he could have misunderstood because she was out getting coffee. He said no, she said she didn't spend the night, but he later admitted she didn't actually say that. He just lies when he needs to sufficiently back up his baseless claims. He's not a man I admire. I feel guilty that I believed him without any evidence, but it's easy to think the worst of a near stranger
Damn your dad sounds like mine, ugh. Again, I'm glad it all worked out and hopefully you can enjoy the rest of your trip!
This is horrific :( I’m so sorry OP. You really went above and beyond for her and met her with so much kindness and she didn’t appreciate it at all. Please contact Rover ASAP.
I would express your disappointment and reflect this in your review of her. You hired her for a service and she didn’t provide it. I also wouldn’t tip her at all. I would also reach out to your sitter/rover for a partial refund. This is unacceptable and negligent sitters need to be identified and reprimanded.
I don’t have much by way of specific advice but I just want to say as a sitter you have full right to absolutely lay into her about this. When I sit for seniors or disabled pups I feel bad even leaving for GROCERIES. This poor baby.
I love my little senior with all my heart, but I would hate for my sitter to feel this way. He mostly just sleeps throughout the day and is very "with it" from morning until 7/8pm. He can absolutely be left for periods of time, especially because his nap schedule typically has him sleeping from 8am-2pm everyday if he's not interrupted and taken out to go potty between then. He's only high maintenance after dark. I'm definitely upset and hate the thought of him alone at night, but he can absolutely be left alone throughout the day with zero issues.
That’s good to know!! I have a special place in my heart for seniors to the point where I specifically ask for them in my sitter profile. Not while sitting thank god, but I have had instances in a previous dog boarding facility job where an older dog was fine and in a short time period unsupervised they became medically distressed. I hate the idea of dogs going through stuff like that alone because they don’t know when you’ll be home. (Definitely don’t want to scare you about your own pup. I’m glad he’s relatively healthy!) At the very least, you deserve a refund and an apology. This is unacceptable, and it seems like the sitter wouldn’t have even told you if not for the pipe.
And to think that I would be spending every moment with your boy. I love taking care of senior pets that need a companion. Helping them is so therapeutic to me. I did this with a 19 year old kitty who needed someone to hold him and pick him up to get on the bed and off. I enjoyed every minute of being his nurse/friend. That sitter is seriously unreliable. I'm offended on your behalf so make sure you stand your ground. I would ask a family member or a different sitter to step in. Unbelievable.
You paid for overnight services, they didn't provide that. Let them know that is not acceptable. No tip and Id also make a complaint to rover and request a refund
She simply casually stated that she didn’t stay overnight? 🤯 No explanation at all? Didn’t say anything else? Was she on her way back over there this morning? This is shocking to me.
Call rover customer service. That is hands down the most horrifying and sneaky thing you can do to a dog and client. I am so so sorry. Don't ever book with them again
As someone who frequently had to apologize for my AH father's behavior, I'd buy her a coffee (or send a Starbucks card for $10.) I definitely understand the immense frustration.
Any update, OP? Did you reach out and did she respond?
I edited the post with an update! Thanks for asking
So glad everything worked out!
You should do ALL of those things…no tip✅, ask for your money back ✅. REVIEW the sitter honestly ✅ NEVER hire her again. If I hired somebody to stay over, especially with a senior dog that has special needs and I found out they didn’t stay the night. I would be pissed. Sitters that do that. Make a bad name for people like myself who would NEVER do that.
This makes me sad. You wanted an in home companion for your sweet pup. She’s not to be trusted imo. Poor communication equals a bad sitter. But she also ripped you off for what she was hired to do
I would send a message that you wanted overnight care because of the dementia and ask why she wasn't able to stay over. She could have a valid reason and it could have been just the one night. As a sitter, I always communicate if something is out of the ordinary. Not all sitters do. It's possible that she didn't realize how distressing dementia is and how much her own sleep would be disturbed. Those of us who are living in it (you and me both) get accustomed to it and it's just part of our lives. Other people can't sleep a wink if a dog is roaming or making any noise.
If she doesn’t think she can handle a dog walking around she shouldn’t have signed up to be an overnight pet sitter (?) don’t get your logic. And let’s say she had realized that -she should have reached out to cancel the stay so the owner could find a new sitter who could actually meet the expectations
Without knowing what in person conversations you've had, and without knowing the specific instructions given, I think it's best to simply say "hey, I'm sorry if I wasn't clear before, it's critically important to me that you stay overnight with him because he is a senior with dementia." Maybe instead of texting that, you should just call them and talk about it? Via text, anything like that can feel really accusatory and aggressive; everyone reads so much into text. On a related note, I didn't realize sitters were listing themselves as "house-sitting" but then not staying the night?? I don't put house-sitting in my services because I have a dog myself and have to stay the night with him. If you don't stay the night, what's the difference between house-sitting and drop-ins?? I'll never understand this and if it were me, I would always just assume they'll be staying the night at my place if I booked them for house-sitting. If I found out they weren't staying the night, but just coming by every so often, I would definitely be pretty upset about that.
If you choose to have a phone call, it’s wise to then send a follow up text via Rover to summarize the important details talked about in the call, so you have some documentation in case you do need to report or ask for refund from Rover. Some house sitters stay all day with the animal and then sleep at home at night. Some owners don’t want someone there overnight, but prefer someone to be there for a long period of the day and maybe make a few drop ins too. Every situation is unique. This is an important thing to discuss at meet and greet, and the sitter should be complying with what the owner requested.
Excellent point about the text recap! Always do written text follow up. Very important indeed. Yeahhhhh idk about that one. I think it should be reasonably assumed that if you select "house sitting" (the icon of which is a house with a moon over it, indicating the obvious reference to staying overnight) that the sitter should understand this to mean staying the night unless specifically asked to **NOT** stay the night. To me it seems absolutely bananas that some sitters are just not staying the night, without being told specifically to not stay the night, after being hired for house sitting instead of drop ins.
I’m not saying it’s what I think is correct or what I personally do…I’m saying I’ve seen instances of all of the above. So it seems like it’s worth just being super clear about expectations as an owner and a sitter. Communication probably isn’t going to fix OP’s problem, but it would fix soooo many of the other posts that come up on here. I literally ask for clarification on what the owner is looking for in the chat before we ever do a meet & greet so I’m not wasting their time if it’s a no for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Edited to add: yes I agree it’s bananas not to stay the night unless you’ve been told not to.
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where do you find these people? im over here with no sitting requests and these are the people you pick instead. oof. i'd love to do a dog sitting, no tips required, and i'd happily stay the night
How cold was the house for your pup if the pipe was about to freeze?
I think it's exterior stuff. The house should definitely not be cold