AnotherPea
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,968
Jan 4, 2015 1:47:52 GMT
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Post by AnotherPea on Mar 18, 2019 22:43:36 GMT
Merge’s thread - sorry that happened to you, Merge, got me wondering how common this is.
Years ago we had someone housesit. Worked out wonderfully. We asked a young woman who lived a few roads over but was related to our next door neighbors, to sit for us for 8 days. Our dogs knew her well and she was completely trustworthy. She had the option of sleeping at home or our place.
Her immediate family was very religious, but not the extended family next door. This was the summer before she was to start college at Liberty University. Her family wasn’t Pentecostal but they looked/acted like they were. No pants, no makeup, hair in buns, no tv or non-Christian music.
She did a fantastic job for us. But after the week she decided that she really liked not being accountable for every second and being able to walk around in her underwear. She really liked tv, lol. She told her mother that she changed her mind about school and stopped being as involved in church. Her mother jokingly blamed me for the wing-spreading but the girl flat out said that being able to sit on the couch and flip channels caused her change of heart.
She ended up doing great in life despite our interference. The whole family split from that church a couple of years later.
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Post by bc2ca on Mar 18, 2019 22:54:27 GMT
AnotherPea, that is a funny story. I used to house sit quite a bit from my late teens into my early 20s. It was always for families I had babysat for so I knew them, the pets and houses well. With a some of the families I was allowed to have a couple friends stay and it was a ton of fun to have our own place. One of DD's friends has a pet/house sitting business so if our first choice pet care isn't available, we use her. If our first choice pet care takes the pup, we don't have anyone stay at the house. All our neighbors know we are away and someone collects mail, flyers, takes in and out garbage, etc.
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Post by dudleypippen on Mar 18, 2019 22:57:12 GMT
We’ve never had a house sitter, but the best job I had as a college student one summer was house/dog sitting for neighbors in my parent’s neighborhood. They had a total of 4 rescued greyhounds that I was in charge of walking 4 times a day. They paid me to stay at their house so the dogs would have company, watch tv, read, do homework and I went to my parent’s house for dinner every night. I made $100 a night for 10 nights and thought I was rich.
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Post by Delta Dawn on Mar 18, 2019 23:00:45 GMT
We had a retired radiologist and his wife stay at our house as they like to do that for fun. We will be asking them to come back in the fall. The house was spotless. They have a cute, well-trained dog and took great care of the house. Nothing was missing nor got broken. It landed in our lap. They usually pay people to stay at the house like a hotel but we just wanted peace of mind. We got that. It was truly an excellent experience.
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Post by Linda on Mar 18, 2019 23:04:18 GMT
not a house sitter but the daughter of a close friend cat-sits for us if we're gone more than a weekend - she comes in daily to scoop litter, feed and water, and love on the kitties. They already knew her since she's DD18's good friend since DD18 was 10-ish and she works for our local animal shelter/humane society.
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Post by 950nancy on Mar 18, 2019 23:28:26 GMT
My boys house sat my good friend's dogs. The house was out in the forest and I asked her to put away the booze and guns. My boys were both in late high school and I just thought not having 30 bottles out in the open might be better. There was at least 5 guns for every bottle of booze, but I knew the owner had them all in a large walk in safe. I joked about porn, but she said they didn't have that. At the end of the week, I asked my guys how they liked it. My youngest, ever the honest guy, said it was awesome. "They have a lot of booze, guns, and it was the free porn weekend on Cinemax." My friend said they forgot about moving the booze, the guns were pistols that were movie props (collector items) and yes, it was free Skinamax that weekend.
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Post by padresfan619 on Mar 18, 2019 23:37:02 GMT
We don’t use a house sitter but we do have our next door neighbors check on/feed our cat and bring in our mail. We do the same for them when they are out of town. We take our dog to stay with my mom so he gets exercise and attention, he’s a little needier than the cat and my mom likes to have him over.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Apr 26, 2024 22:52:20 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2019 23:40:38 GMT
In the past we had house sitters to come stay with our animals while we were gone. Since then dh was military he always asked one of the young soldiers from the barracks; especially if he knew of one having roommate issues that would enjoy the solitude of a house with just animals. Always came home to the house in order and the animals well cared for. I'm sure the fact they were all over 21 and had already experienced spreading their wings made for better choices.
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gina
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,201
Jun 26, 2014 1:59:16 GMT
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Post by gina on Mar 18, 2019 23:52:11 GMT
Never, and never would. When we go away, we leave our dog home and either my Mom or my in-laws come by and take care of her a few times a day (we all live VERY close). I would never be comfortable having someone else in my house.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Mar 19, 2019 0:00:18 GMT
Yes, several times over the years. We have a good friend that took care of DD part time in our home for 2-1/2 years when she was little. This friend got to know us and our pets very well and she cared for them like they were her own. We just had her house and pet sit for us when we were out of town for 13 days on vacation and the peace of mind knowing that someone we trust was at our house looking after things is priceless.
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Post by auntkelly on Mar 19, 2019 0:02:26 GMT
We have a dog sitter stay at our house now that our dogs are elderly. Our sitter is a graduate student whom I have known since she was born. We haven't had any problems, knock wood.
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Post by myshelly on Mar 19, 2019 0:10:31 GMT
Nope.
We don’t have any pets.
When we want to go out of town, we just pick up and go.
We were just gone for 9 days for Spring Break. Didn’t have to ask anybody to do anything 🤷🏻♀️
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milocat
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,421
Location: 55 degrees north in Alberta, Canada
Mar 18, 2015 4:10:31 GMT
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Post by milocat on Mar 19, 2019 0:20:29 GMT
Never had a housesitter. My inlaws and SIL live right in town. By sister lives less than 10 minutes away in the next town. My parents are 15 minutes away on the farm. We all will check each others houses, pets or water flowers (in the summer). I've watched my sister or mom's dogs, here at my house. We all have cats.
I let older neighbours across the street know when we will be away so if they see anything fishy, they let us know when they are gone. We each know each other's families vechiles. We've lived across from them for 20 years. They know my parents, my grandparents.
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Post by boys5times on Mar 19, 2019 2:04:47 GMT
We live in a small town (pop. 450) and have a farm. I have 3 sons that live within a mile, but if we are all gone (family vacations) We've always hired one of the high school boys that work for us to stay at the house while we are gone. They enjoy it and their parents are within a mile away and can check on them if they want to.
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Post by NanaKate on Mar 19, 2019 2:40:36 GMT
Never, and never would. When we go away, we leave our dog home and either my Mom or my in-laws come by and take care of her a few times a day (we all live VERY close). I would never be comfortable having someone else in my house. I’m with you! When we travel my stepdaughter (lives 5 miles away) keeps our dog for us. I really wish we could have someone come in and clean once or twice a month but for now...no way.
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Post by melodyesch on Mar 19, 2019 2:41:58 GMT
Just my SIL. She lives out of town and worked at our house during the day and either spent the night at our place or her Mom’s. She can’t always do that so we usually have my MIL and two friends alternate days coming in to check on the cats, feed, scoop, and love on them. I really wish we had a dependable house sitter. Our cats are really human dependent and miss us when we are gone. So much that they give us the cold fur for quite some time when we get home. But gosh, the story on the other thread scared the piss out of me.
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Post by theroadlesstraveledp on Mar 19, 2019 5:59:36 GMT
I housesitted for one of my mentors for years until he moved to WY. I enjoyed taking care of their cats, and always kept the house clean. If we go anywhere we use my significant others brother. All the animals love him, he is trustworthy and we don't have to worry about anything.
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anniebygaslight
Drama Llama
I'd love a cup of tea. #1966
Posts: 7,394
Location: Third Rock from the sun.
Jun 28, 2014 14:08:19 GMT
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Post by anniebygaslight on Mar 19, 2019 6:22:37 GMT
We have a reciprocal arrangement with our wonderful neighbours. I would. It be happy to have strangers in the house.
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camcas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,967
Jun 26, 2014 3:41:19 GMT
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Post by camcas on Mar 19, 2019 8:09:54 GMT
Yep-adult daughter of a good friend -for 2 weeks -worked out great She kept sending pics of the dog enjoying itself- on the beach,in her car, on the couch! I think the dog really missed her when we got back!
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Nanner
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,960
Jun 25, 2014 23:13:23 GMT
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Post by Nanner on Mar 19, 2019 12:07:21 GMT
Nope. We board Riker at the same place he goes to doggy daycare 3 times a week. He loves them there. DS comes over every 2 or 3 days to make sure all is good at the house, and to comply with insurance requirements.
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schizo319
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,030
Jun 28, 2014 0:26:58 GMT
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Post by schizo319 on Mar 19, 2019 12:15:31 GMT
We had a friend stay at our house for a couple of weeks when we were in Germany. Everything worked out fine, EXCEPT that he washed his white underwear with our (red) bed sheets. He used to send me an email every time he wore his "pink panties". He passed away unexpectedly a few years ago, but this memory always brings a smile to my face, so thanks for starting this thread...
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Post by peano on Mar 19, 2019 12:51:55 GMT
We used the college-aged daughter of friends who live down the road from us last summer when we went on a two-week trip to the West Coast last summer. She didn’t live in because she lives so close to us, and because our dog went to stay with our usual dog sitter. Our trip unexpectedly coincided with our kitten needing removal of a kidney at Cornell in Stamford, which really made things complicated. She was wonderful though. She had to truck all the way to pick up Mabel when she was discharged, came to the house multiple times daily to do aftercare and just hang out with both cats. We were very pleased with her work.
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Post by Merge on Mar 19, 2019 13:02:39 GMT
I had never used one before this girl. We have one dog with anxiety who basically got kicked out of boarding, and who requires special care at home. I'm not sure what we'll do now. Find a boarding facility more willing to work with special needs dogs, I guess.
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Post by warrior1991 on Mar 19, 2019 13:35:15 GMT
I house sat once for my mom's cousin. I was going to be moving into a brand new townhouse on July 1st and I moved out of my apartment on June 30th. Found out on the 30th that the townhouse wasn't going to be ready until July 15th, but i was able to move my stuff in, I just couldn't live there yet. So I took my week off that I planned to use to unpack and stayed with family. After that week, my landlord said the place was still not ready, so I had to find somewhere to stay for another week as I had to get back to work. My mom's cousin lived in the next town over from where I was moving to and so mom called her to see if I could "rent" a bed from them for 5 days. They were actually getting ready to leave for a week on a trip and were having a hard time finding someone to watch their dog. Not that the dog was bad, but because people were busy. I am not a dog person, so I was apprehensive about it. I don't hate dogs, I'm just not comfortable around them. I went to their house several hours early and met the dog who was very nice and friendly and well behaved. This was Sunday. I actually left their house and went to work for a few hours to get out of their way while they packed and left for their trip. I got back to their house around supper time, let the dog out, watched him play in their fenced in backyard for a bit then followed all their instructions for food, kennel, etc. Monday I went to work after letting the dog out and doing all the morning chores. After work, I came home and let the dog out again and planned to bring him back in right away as it was over 100 degrees that day, but he would not come in. Refused to come when I called. He ran laps around the yard then processed to lay in the sun panting. I was frantic. I didn't want anything to happen to the dog. I tried to go get him, but of course that started him racing and playing again. After 20 minutes of me in tears, I finally got the dog back in with treats. I sat on the floor in a puddle of sweat and tears exhausted from the stress of it all. He plopped down in my lap and tried to lick my face. (He was a lab). At bed time it was cooler but still warm, so I took him out for potty while on a leash, I wasn't doing all that again. Tuesday morning everything went smoothly with him and I went to work. When I got back to their house after work, their adult daughter was there doing laundry. (She didn't go on the trip.) We chatted a bit and I told her about Monday afternoon. She said he does that. Totally normal for him and felt bad that her mom didn't tell me. While I was eating supper, my mom called me and said that the landlord called her as he lost my number and said the townhouse was ready that I live there any time. He told me where the key was hidden. I told him that I was house sitting all week and I would go get the key right away though, but wouldn't move in until end of that week. The daughter heard me talking and when I got off the phone, she said I should go to my townhouse. How could I not. I said I promised her mom that I would watch the house and the dog. She said that she could. She explained that she was scheduled to be out of town for work and couldn't watch the dog. But now her work plans changed. She said that her mom would insist on me going to the townhouse, she would understand. (This was years before cell phones were common and the family was camping, so no pay phones.) I did pack up and leave that night for my townhouse but I felt guilty for a long time. My mom and her cousin talked and the cousin was not mad, was happy for me with the new townhouse. Only time I have ever house sat. Maybe the last.
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mallie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,253
Jul 3, 2014 18:13:13 GMT
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Post by mallie on Mar 19, 2019 13:46:40 GMT
I would never allow a stranger into my home like that.
The only people I've allowed housesit are close family members. And even then, I lock up my financial info because, sadly, I've known too many people who have hidden addictions and compulsive behaviors to trust anyone that well.
Now that we have dogs and these particular dogs, I would never trust anyone but my kids. I have just heard too many bad stories -- both from the homeowners and the assholes who housesat. Like the guy who thought it was no big deal to not feed/walk the dog for over 24 hours. Could not understand why I was upset with him. Best part was that the owners knew him and trusted him with their dogs because his stated goal was to become a vet.
I housesat a couple of times before I was married. One time was fine. The other time, a pipe in the wall burst and the family refused to come home from vacation and wanted me to "take care of it" - by which they meant, PAY FOR IT. Yeah, no.
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Post by angieh1996 on Mar 19, 2019 15:19:49 GMT
We had the daughter of a close friend of ours house sit for us for years. The animals loved her and she loved them. She was still in college and went to classes and was at our house when she wasn't at school. It worked out well, she made some extra spending cash on the side. She did such a great job. My daughter now house sits for her quite often, and also her mom my BFF. My daughter loves it. Now when we need a house sitter my daughters GF stays.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Mar 19, 2019 15:33:14 GMT
We use a pet-sitting service where they do in-home stays for 12 hours.. 6 pm to 6 am, 7 pm to 7 am, etc. They will also do 24-hr house-sitting if you need.
We only use pet-sitters that are a legit licensed business, and they have criminal background checks on file, business insurance, etc. They send us photos and/or videos every day, they do pet meds if necessary, and the business owner is animal first aid certified. They have legit contract paperwork we sign before every job they do for us listing the days of the trip, what they'll be doing for us, vet information, our contact info for emergencies, signed authorization for the vet to treat if necessary, etc. The only thing we've ever been asked for that we weren't comfortable with was when they wanted the password to our in-house wifi network. For emergencies, they said, but my DH never gave it to them, and they never pushed the issue.
We had a bad experience a while ago that made us leery of letting just anyone watch our pets-- one of our dogs died while we were on vacation, we believe due to overheating from being forgotten about outside (AZ in August). We had boarded them at a neighborhood 'kennel' and we found out the hard way they weren't insured or licensed.
ETA: and with 6 pets (3 dogs, 3 cats) boarding the dogs gets expensive-- plus they always end up with digestive issues-- and we'd still have to have a pet-sitter check on and feed the cats.
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Rhondito
Pearl Clutcher
MississipPea
Posts: 4,660
Jun 25, 2014 19:33:19 GMT
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Post by Rhondito on Mar 19, 2019 17:06:00 GMT
I can see having a house sitter if you have pets but I don't understand the people who use one when they don't have dogs, cats, or any other kind of pet. I had a friend who would always stay in a couple's house because they didn't want their house to be empty. OK... but she was leaving HER house empty to stay in theirs. Made zero sense to me.
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Post by cmpeter on Mar 19, 2019 17:44:09 GMT
Just family or now that we only have cats, a neighbor girl who I’ve known for 13 years comes by to feed them twice a day.
Nanner-I’ve never heard of an insurance requirement. Can you elaborate?
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Mar 19, 2019 18:07:59 GMT
Nanner-I’ve never heard of an insurance requirement. Can you elaborate? perhaps it has something to do with a long-term trip and making sure the house is 'occupied' rather than 'vacant' to the insurance company? I think property-owning snowbirds (from Canada, etc.) here in AZ probably have different insurance requirements during the summer when their AZ houses are totally vacant.
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