Yes. We hired a house sitter/dog walker, on the recommendation of our immediate neighbor (also a dog walker). The house looked fine when we came back, but when I checked my voice mail a day or so later, I found a cryptic message: "Please call, I have some information about your dog." Turns out while we were away, the sitter went on a bender, and someone in our neighborhood found her passed out on the sidewalk holding on to the dog's leash. Fortunately our dog had his tags on - also the way that the anonymous caller got our number - so they were able to get her back (to our) home. So it seems our dog/house was sitting her, instead of the other way around. :)

My parents have gone on extended trips and I check in on their house every couple of days for them. Once a week at minimum. I just end up watering their plants since they have no pets. I have a friend who has to take business trips so I go over her place and feed and play with her cat every other day if necessary. Usually the owner is just gone a weekend or so.

I have not hired a house-sitter as I've never needed one, but I have been a house-sitter. It's important to know and trust the person but I think having a close friend take this role can potentially harm friendships should things go wrong. I was not extremely close the the family I house-sat for, and this seemed to work out in both of our favours as I felt I was doing a job, not a favour, and in retrospect, took better care to make sure sheets were changed before they got home, groceries re-stocked, and house completely spotless, etc.

i'm housesitting right now. i work entirely by word of mouth and only work with people i know trust me.

i also pet sit and have a lot of experience with animals. my girlfriend is a vet so all (gods forbid) emergencies are covered.

i'm also a contractor so i can do any repairs that you might want done taken care of, too.

I have both hired a house-sitter and also had friends look after our place. It's nicer for the cat, and on one occasion, was great for a friend who was between apartments and could use the week to decompress alone. I left her bubble bath and a freshly-scrubbed tub.

There are people out there who are almost professional house sitters, they come with great references and will do a wonderful job. I hate to think of a few bad eggs ruining their reputation.

I've hired someone to come in and feed my cats. I have a cat with special needs so I needed someone to come in and set him up for the day. She was bonded and insured, and recommended by a friend who also petsits in another area of the city. She kept the cats fed, cleaned the kitty box, picked up the mail, made sure the house was secure, and even took out our recycling. She left a daily log of her activities. It cost me $18 a day, but for a two week trip to Europe, I feel it was worth it for peace of mind.

I've had friends come in and do this for free, with varying rates of success. The worst was a former coworker who offered to do it for me and ended up leaving my special needs cat's medicine out of the fridge, spoiling it and requiring me to purchase it when I got back. He also drank all of our beer.

I'm friends with a neighbor, who watched my pet bird for a couple weeks over the summer, and I'm watching her cats when she goes out of town for the holidays. Much more convenient! I recommend getting to know your neighbors, it is very handy!

I work partially from home, and my cat and high-maintenance dog are very used to me being around. When I go away for a just a day or two, I get neighbors to come in and take care of them three times a day.

When I go away for longer than a few days, I've hired people from Craigslist and hired friends to really stay in the house, sleep with the pets and hang out with them.

I can't afford a professional, bonded pet/house sitter (they charge $100 per day for an overnight plus $20 per day time visit), but I've been satisfied with the people I've gotten from CL and my friends. I stock the fridge, and they get to stay in a nice house, watch tv, movies, have wi-fi, and do their thing -- a few knick-knacks have been broken, and I think a party was held here once in my absence, but the pets have always emerged fine from the experience.

@nico_forgot: you sound like a *dream* house sitter! (though I wonder how you come by the 'forgot' in your user name...) Feed and walk the dog, water the plants, and -- oh, yes -- could you please fix the leaky bathroom faucet and install my new kitchen sink ?!
'-)

And I love the photo of the passport.

I have often wished I could find a housesitter. When I was in my early 20s I loved to housesit and did it often for older friends I knew through work. They had a very large and beautiful city house with a garden and a cat. It was a vacation for me (and they lived only a few blocks from my own tiny apartment).

But kids I encounter nowadays are so into nesting themselves that they are never interested in housesitting when I ask. I don't get it. I would certainly never spend money for one!

I've been a pet/house sitter for years. I am hired by word of mouth and have often turned down work as I am overbooked.

I would say that choosing clients is as important to me as the sitter is to the clients. I have had clients complain about what kind of greens I fed their rabbits and the prohibitive cost, dogs who require constant attention or they will chew the house down but the owners refuse to provide safe alternatives for the dog like crates or training, homes that had chronic problems like toilets running over, a.c. that fails, heat that fails, and generally tasks that required me to think fast, make decisions without their input cause they are out of phone contact, and clients who complain about the fact that their hardwood floors are scuffed. Of course their two large Labs didn't have anything to do with that.

I am over conscientious which is why I can turn down work, and I have essentially 'fired' clients who are clearly people who need to be unhappy. A good house sitter is essentially you in absentia. As much time as you spend on your daily life outside of work, I spend. And because I consider myself a guest as well as employee I do more than most homeowners. I always clean the house entirely before the family returns, even if it was a mess when they left. All dishes are clean. I leave details of anything they should know while they were gone. I do their laundry and change sheets on the bed. When they come home they can take a breath and not have to tackle anything.

In other words, it is work. The other piece of this work that clients never quite absorb is that just as they pack up enough of their life to hit the road I pack up the same, plus food. I have to check on my home, my mail, my life, in addition to theirs. It is why I am well paid for what I do.

i house sat for an art professor while in med school. i got free rent and privacy (no $$$). i took care of a blind arthritic 20 yr old cat that hated me for the first month, bumped its ass descending the stairs to the basement and couldn't seem to pee IN her litter box. she also triggered my now serious cat dander allergies.

it was a fair trade. i still think of that cat weaving between my legs the night before her owner came back.

I was a house sitter, I'd look after my friend's parents house and make sure the plants were watered, the cat was fed, give eye drops to the cat at night, and clean the house. Her cousin's family lived next door and there was a point where I had to do both houses... so that was 2 cats at that point.

I had trouble twice with both places, one- the original house, the water heater broke and slowly flooded the laundry room and the 2nd time was at her cousin's house when I was taking a shower I heard the garage door open... and then close... and then again several times! I called my dad to come over and he said there was a short in the machine for it. I thought it was one of their friends playing a prank on me because he had come into the house through an open door (I had to leave open for the cat after she would eat- they stressed this was VERY important) and he was inside closing doors. Mind you this is a 3 story self-built Tudor that looks like it's straight out of the Haunted Mansion.

Sorry for my rant... I've always wanted to have a house sitter, but sadly, we moved out of state and there's no way I would just let anyone in. I'm afraid people wouldn't know how to treat our parrots, nor would ONE of them be friendly to an "intruder" in his eyes. *sigh* My dad made me ultra paranoid. Thanks papa.

I absolutely love housesitting. I usually do it for my grandmother and take care of her two cats. She in turn usually (over)stocks the fridge with things that she thinks I'd like and usually leaves me a $20 to order pizza. :D It works perfectly - she gets to go on her trips and have the peace of mind that her kitties aren't destroying her house or each other and I get to have a mini-vacation at her house.

I've also done it for a friend for 12 days - that was the longest I've ever done it. She lived an hour north of where I live so I was slightly isolated from my friends. Honestly? I'd do it again in a heartbeat. She left me $60 for groceries, the password to her wireless and a list of phone numbers in case of an emergency. Hell yes. All I had to do was make sure the dog and cat didn't destroy the house, feed them, let the dog into the backyard to do his business and clean up after myself. I left her a nice little dessert to enjoy after a 16 hour drive. :)

I keep hoping someone will be going out of town soon so I can do it again!

I live in a hi-rise condo and other than trying to figure out what to do with the mail (there is a 30 day 3 time a year limit on having your mail held at the post office), I have everything else taken care of by management. Condo fees are expensive but its nice to leave a note with the office to check in for emergencies and leave without a worry. I wish I could find out what to do with the mail when I want to be away more than 3 months. Any ideas?
don

i've traded friends getting to stay in my brooklyn (before i moved) or la apartment in exchange for feeding cats and watering plants. it seems to be a good thing for everyone :)

Don, look into personal mailbox services around town. The UPS Store, for example, offers mailboxes. You could temporarily forward your USPS mail to the store. I believe the temporary change of address/mail forwarding is up to six months.

If you trust management to pop in and check on your home would they be willing to check your mail and leave it on the counter for you periodically? Management here has been kind enough to leave my new door key inside my mailbox for me.

I was pretty much a professional housesitter in LA and am now doin' it in Chicago. I find that by putting up a super-detailed ad on Craigslist, I've always been contacted by great clients. Unfortunately, I've had a few bad eggs that have made me want to throw in the towel, but overall it's a nice experience for everyone, including the pets!

My rule is to always leave the house cleaner than you found it, document each day, and be clear with your client about your daily schedule.

If anyone in Chicago is looking for a responsible, creative, energetic girl with nearly 10 years of experience, reasonable rates, and great references, please be in touch!

We have one right now while we're living overseas! She's been sitting our dog for years. It helps if you have a connection to a local college -- we've had great luck finding local students or recent graduates who appreciate the chance to get out of their parents' house, and we usually pay less than the vet charges for boarding. Many miss their own pets, too. The trick is finding someone super-responsible, but we've had no problems, and whether we're gone for three days or three months it's really nice knowing our dog can stay at home and the house isn't sitting empty. We leave cash for pizza and dog biscuits, pre-signed checks for emergencies and our credit card number with the vet's office in case anything happens.

Hold the phone...

"We have a friend who used to offer to check on our place when we were traveling. She's no longer available as her extramarital affair is over..."

ladymantle, please DO tell...

We have hired a dog/house sitter when our dogs can not come with us on trips. Since we have 2 large dogs, there are not many trips they can come on. :) I hate to kennel our dogs and so this is the best option for them, and it gives my husband peace of mind knowing someone is at home. Our house sitter has always been someone we know, a friend or friend of the family. We haven't had any problems.

During college and for quite a while after, I pretty much supported myself and paid my student loans by house/pet-sitting. Most of the people I sat for were through word of mouth, and were often times repeat customers. I was very fortunate that I never had nightmare houses or pets, and pretty much enjoyed all of the places I stayed. I very nearly started my own pet/house sitting business.

Now that I'm a real adult and have a house and a dog of my own, I hire dog/house-sitters quite often. I feel like it's my turn to give back and give someone else the opportunity I had. Kind of that full circle thing...

My main concern is that my dog is well taken care of. If anything breaks in the house, it probably can be fixed. But a broken dog is much harder to fix. I think keeping my dog in her environment is much less stressful for her, and it's cheaper than a kennel, and she gets more attention. I too, leave credit card numbers with the vet.

Plus, it makes me feel better knowing someone is in the house. I (sometimes) have an overactive imagination and freak myself out worried that someone is breaking into my house and I'm going to come home to a ransacked and robbed home.

I was hired as a house/cat sitter for a friend of mine when she and her husband traveled to China to adopt their daughter. They paid me a little bit but I didn't mind because I liked spending time with their cat and using their fireplace. The only request they made was that I sleep there so the cat wouldn't be lonely. I think it's a great idea for people with pets or plants or for those who are leaving for an extended period of time. If I ever encountered a situation where I needed a house sitter, I'd make sure it was someone I personally knew and trusted. I'd be more comfortable trusting their judgment if they choose to invite someone else over.

my husband and i have done lots of housesitting in the hyde park/south kenwood neighborhoods of chicago. (hello, obamas!) for us, it was a treat to get out of our apartment and hang with our neighbors' beloved pets (we couldn't have our own), while the pets avoided the kennel and the owners had peace of mind about their house not sitting empty while they were away.

if you can find someone you trust and who'd view the opportunity as a little vacation of their own, then great! paying them about what you would for the kennel could be enough. everyone wins!

This last weekend we asked my husband's best friend to stop by the house on Saturday and check on the cats, feed and water them and turn on a couple of different lights. When I called him Saturday evening to see how things were he said the cats were doing great and the house was still standing.

When we got home on Sunday evening, the cats met us at the door crying. We thought they were just lonely and wanted attention, but it turns out the friend had shut the door to the bathroom where we keep their food!! The bowls were full to the prescribed amount, water bowls were filled, but the door was shut, so they hadn't eaten in a day and a half (or perhaps longer, depending on when they finished their previous helpings)! I have no idea how it happened, but, as I'm sure you can imagine, we won't be asking him to cat-sit again. I'll probably just invest in an automatic feeder and some timer outlets for the lights. Thank goodness the door to the litter area didn't get shut!

I'm planning a much needed trip for 2 weeks next year. I don't have pets, but do have a lot of plants. I'm going to have to have someone come in and water the plants. I had a cat in my previous place and I always had a neighbor come in to feed, freshen the water and clean the litter box. She had a cat, so I cat sat when she was away. It was a good arrangement. I've also watched other neighbor's cats. It's always better to have the pet at home where they're comfortable with familiar surroundings....less stressful.

At Ontario, i know a service that offers dog walking and they are the expert in doing that... trained like royal guards as they say...