Reviews (31)

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  Marie - Houston, Texas, United States

  10 July - 19 July 2018

  Being a worrier, I was skeptical in spite of all the great reviews, but Stephen is a really nice guy who does live up to his reputation of being great with dogs. Every single one of our 4 dogs took to him right away, including the one that's typically anxious around men. They seemed to enjoy his ... + More

  Being a worrier, I was skeptical in spite of all the great reviews, but Stephen is a really nice guy who does live up to his reputation of being great with dogs. Every single one of our 4 dogs took to him right away, including the one that's typically anxious around men. They seemed to enjoy his presence and he theirs. Everyone was happy and in good shape when we came back from our 10-day long camping trip - our first one using this site. There were a few minor things around the house I won't go into as I attribute them to the fact that we had a super complex household and routine, and only a few minutes to explain it all (with a guide that was around 12 pages long). We have 2 connecting houses with 2 pairs of dogs, and while I normally have a petsitter for each place, this website doesn't allow more than one listing at a time, so Stephen did really well handling it all. I would have him over again any time.
  
  There are some things I would have liked to know before my first homesit, listed below. I hope this can help others considering booking for the first time :
  - Be honest about your priorities with your house and have those clearly concisely written out. You may be tempted to say all you care about is your dogs are taken care of (it is all that truly matters in the end), but you may also be really bummed out when you come home to a dead plant you forgot to mention to water, or a pile of dishes in the sink, or whatever. That said, don't expect perfection: do you think YOU did everything perfect your first week at work (one with no boss or coworkers around to tell you how you're doing?). Every house/routine is surely quite different.
  - Ask your sitter what their own routine is, normal bedtime/wakeup etc. That will allow you to gradually transition your dog, if needed, to this routine before you have to leave. So if they normally eat really early or get taken out really late or both, they don't suddenly have to hold their bladders for an extra few hours.
  - Your sitter may or may not have a regular constant home and may go from one housesit to another on a tight schedule therefore, try to add a day or two to your vacation dates to allow for the petsitter to get to know your dogs (if you have room for them). I think some housesitters do a search for dates that fit them and then assume people will be flexible. We had to leave later than we thought to do introductions, key hand-offs etc (almost had to get someone else to do it for us) and then had to get someone to come let our dogs out the last day since we were coming home late.
  - If you live in a less than walkable city and a car is practically required for where you live, your sitter may ask to use your car for groceries and the like. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, let it be known right away as you may need to find someone else. I was a little taken aback but I really shouldn't have been, as Stephen was clearly very careful and seldom used the car.
  - You may also be asked to arrange transportation to and from your house. This again may seem weird if you've only paid sitters in the past or have had airbnb guests, but it makes sense in this model. Make sure you arrange that in advance. We somehow forgot to go over that until the night before, and when I expressed surprise at having to figure out his transport back to the airport, Stephen suggested we may want to consider releasing each other from the agreement (this sent me into panic mode since I couldn't cancel my trip and probably couldn't have found someone last minute). When I realized it was in everyone's best interest to cover this, things smoothed over and Stephen actually went to great lengths to make sure it was the lowest cost possible, even as I offered to pay for more convenient (pricier) options.
  - This brings me to my last point. Have a solid backup plan to minimize panic. Since no money is being exchanged, if the situation does not end up looking good to the housesitter, nothing truly stops them from backtracking at the last minute (unfortunately I've also heard the reverse can happen as well, with the host flaking out). We ended up very lucky and happy with Stephen, but since we hadn't used this service before, we ran in our minds every worst case scenario imaginable before meeting him and seeing him interact with our dogs. Can you tell we are a bit obsessively protective of our pups?

  Organised

  Reliable

  Self-sufficient

  Tidy

  Pet care

  

  Response from Stephen

  I enjoyed taking care of the pets. It was my first experience caring for an alert, slightly impaired(blind) dog; and, also, my first experience navigating between two homes with sets of dogs that were human friendly and canine unfriendly. And it went well, along with caring for the other three dogs. This was the first time that Wes and Claire used THS. Usually, I try to communicate with the new owners and address the questions that they have. The task was complicated: Two separate homes were part of the compound, linked by wood gates, and a small self-contained space with honey bees, clothes lines and other paraphernalia. Two dogs per home with each set vocally disliking the other. I usually try to use the THS Manual as the core resource for communications.
  
  The homeowner indicated that they would have preferred pet sitters for each property. At times, the owner’s manual was vague as to one home versus two homes and what that really meant in terms of the sitter’s responsibility. A manual for each home may have helped the communication. Perhaps THS could set up the software that continually updates the manual as additions and modifications are made in response to questions. I usually review the manual one last time, the day before traveling so that there are no surprises. This would have helped with the issues of airport pickup as well as the car, discussed below.
  
  I am unconvinced that the owner would have been able to attract a sitter in the second home: the two dogs essentially rested on top of a piece of plywood that protected the sofa, or on the floor. The living-room also included two very comfortable chairs and the TV wall unit. The dining room was comfortable. It was setup like Airbnb. You have access to a bedroom, bathroom and share some of the other facilities. The backyard was unremarkable: nice lawn with comfortable patio area; nice set of toys for pets to play with. From the street, I entered this house through the garage; via the patio; into the house. Otherwise from the main house, I went through a couple of wood gates, one secured with a wire latch, the other by a cord, via the bee hive area.
  
  The day before I left, the garbage disposal stopped working. I suspect that it was a matter of finding the right kind of wrench to move the blade. I looked in the cupboards and the garage, without finding the wrench. For me, this was no big deal. It slowed down cleaning the kitchen and some pots that were soaking were left in the sink rather than clog up the disposal.
  
  The owner made a Keurig coffee maker using the pods available. It was the kind that most Airbnb homes include. The owner expressed the desire that not too many pods be used as they are expensive. The owner supplied an adequate number of pods as well as a couple of bags of coffee. Also, the owner provided several other items of groceries, asking me what I would like, and supplying the items. It worked out just fine. I mention this only because the narrative discussion about the pods triggered my fear that the approach was one of Airbnb, not THS.
  
  
  It might be helpful if THS could address the observation of how THS is different from Airbnb and rover or other service. On the other hand, I do not believe that each home was set up to handle pet sitters. Claire and Wes's home, with a very nice pool, did not have a mattress in the master bedroom, and bunk beds in the office. I administered drops to one of the pets in the master bedroom. With a matress, and this would be easy to address, the master bedroom, indeed the whole house was very comfortable and designed for comfort and for playing with the pets. The other home, the one with the mattress in the master bedroom, did not have soap in the bathroom that I used, except for doggie shampoo. And, the dogs were not allowed in the bedroom part of the house.
  
  The house with the pool had a very nice living area, and I played with the pets a lot of the time and had fun with them both in the house and around the pool. I played with pets at the other house in the yard. The home without the pool had some of the features of Airbnb, as I mentioned above, where you have a bedroom and access the kitchen facilities. About one third of the second house was off-limits to the pets, and consisted of an office, a second bedroom and the master bedroom. The mattress was comfortable.
  
  Although I had a flashlight, the walk between the houses at night was complicated. More lighting along the path would be helpful.
  
  The owners have suggested that a discussion about how to acclimate the pets with the sitter’s routine, like morning walks, feeding, et... In most cases, where the pets have access to the pet sitter, this is not a problem: the pets will wake up the sitter. Also, two sitters, one for each house, eliminates the problem so long as the pets have access to the sitter’s bedroom.
  
  The owners usually volunteer to pick me up at the airport and take me back to the airport. I also offer to take the owners to the airport and make arrangements to meet them when they return. Upon rereading the manual, I noticed that the car issue indicated that the sitter would need a car. I thought that this had been addressed in our communications. So, I posted a query to the owners along with reminding them that they had asked for my flight arrival and departure info. This created a little bit of anxiety. The owners confirmed availability of a vehicle, and it served my purposes quite well. But they wanted to pick me up from the airport but did not commit to returning me to the airport. Anyway, we worked this out.
  
  The bottom line is that I would pet sit for the owners again. I like their pets and their home. I like the pets in the other home. Since the two sets of pets don’t tolerate one another, I would have a difficult time sitting for both homes and both sets of pets. Does anyone have ideas about how to acclimate two sets of antagonistic pets?

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  Rika - Topsfield, Massachusetts, United States

  15 February - 23 February 2018

  Steve took great care of our dog. The two clearly liked each other. Always good to see that our dog connects with his sitter before we leave. We got updates throughout our trip. I was not a bit worried to leave Ziggy in Steve’s care. + More

  Steve took great care of our dog. The two clearly liked each other. Always good to see that our dog connects with his sitter before we leave. We got updates throughout our trip. I was not a bit worried to leave Ziggy in Steve’s care.

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  Imelda - New York City, New York, United States

  03 February - 08 February 2016

  Stephen cared for our French bulldog and home as if it were his own. Our dog was happy, relaxed and well looked after. We were so grateful to Stephen for all his updates and reassurance that our pup was in good hands. I would highly recommend Stephen to take care of your home and beloved pets. + More

  Stephen cared for our French bulldog and home as if it were his own. Our dog was happy, relaxed and well looked after. We were so grateful to Stephen for all his updates and reassurance that our pup was in good hands. I would highly recommend Stephen to take care of your home and beloved pets.

  Organised

  Reliable

  Self-sufficient

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