Trusted Housesitters or similar

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HelenBack

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Has anybody used Trusted Housesitters or similar for care of their dogs while on holiday? I’m considering options at the moment and just looking for honest reviews/ recommendations.
 
My next door neighbours use Trusted Housesitters a lot (they're away a lot!)
They get the same couple for short to medium term stays and had an Australian couple come over last summer when they were away for about 4-6 weeks

They don't have dogs but chicken and sheep - seems to go smoothly, tbf.
 
Always read their references and have a very clear and frank discussion with them. Go for an older couple. Younger ones seem to use it as accommodation, jumping from place to place which always feels a bit off to me. And from doing a lot of research into it and being in a few groups with people who do it, they seem to be incredibly entitled the younger they are and there is this attitude that they are doing you a favour. No one else can even visit the house as its against the rules and they walk out if they do etc. Ive seen some total horror stories. Always, always, always have a back up you can call on and have cameras on at least the main doors so you can keep an eye on them without being intrusive.

Obvs the people posting are the "problem" ones. But just giving you some downsides from what I've seen. I know 99% of sits are at least fine and many are excellent for both parties.
 
Eventually we had a very positive experience - a kiwi couple who work for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

BUT we nearly ended up with a pair of serious bad uns. They’re still on the site,
many years later, with dozens of 5 star ratings. Evidently those homeowners didn’t Google the couple and see they are top notch holocaust denying, nazis. Fortunately they didn’t change their names on TH, then - they have now.

Beware anyone asking a lot of questions about your broadband. This pair were making conspiracy theory YouTube’s (which I reported and have now been deleted).
 
Thanks for these comments, they're all really helpful. My other half and I are not naturally very trusting people so it is quite worrying for me to have random strangers in the house. Ideally we'd be looking for somebody who could come every time we go away so that they can get a bond with the dogs, rather than having new people each time. We'd definitely go for more mature people as my OH is convinced young people would just have parties and wreck the house and I wouldn't trust them to look after the dogs properly. It sounds like if we go for this option then we definitely have to do quite a lot of due diligence whoever we consider though.
 
HelenBack said:
Thanks for these comments, they're all really helpful. My other half and I are not naturally very trusting people so it is quite worrying for me to have random strangers in the house. Ideally we'd be looking for somebody who could come every time we go away so that they can get a bond with the dogs, rather than having new people each time. We'd definitely go for more mature people as my OH is convinced young people would just have parties and wreck the house and I wouldn't trust them to look after the dogs properly. It sounds like if we go for this option then we definitely have to do quite a lot of due diligence whoever we consider though.
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If you want to DM me, I’ll tell you they are - just in case ;-/
 
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