What is TruePath's cancellation policy for dog sitting?

TruePath's standard policy: full refund for cancellations 7+ days before the stay, 50% refund within 3–7 days, no refund within 48 hours of the stay start date. Individual sitters can apply stricter personal policies, which are disclosed in their profile. For Christmas and other peak periods, many sitters apply tighter terms — read these specifically before confirming a peak booking.

Can I get a refund if I cancel my dog sitter?

Depends on timing. 7+ days before: full refund under TruePath's standard policy. 3–7 days: 50% refund. Under 48 hours: typically no refund. For documented emergency cancellations (hospitalisation, family bereavement), contact TruePath support — these are assessed case by case. For peak-period bookings (Christmas, Easter), check the individual sitter's terms, which may be stricter than the platform default.

What happens if a dog sitter cancels on me?

If a TruePath sitter cancels your booking, you receive a full refund on all payments and TruePath provides priority assistance to find a verified replacement sitter for the same dates. Contact TruePath support immediately — the team can expedite the matching process based on your dog's profile and the urgency of the situation.

Dog sitting

Dog Sitter Cancellation Policies — What's Fair for Both Sides

Cancellation policies for dog sitting vary by platform and individual sitter. Here's how TruePath's policy works, what's typical across the industry, and what's actually fair when a booking falls apart.

By atticus · 6 min read · Last updated 17 May 2026

Cancellation policies exist for a reason that's easy to overlook until you're on the receiving end of it: a sitter who reserves their calendar for a 10-night Christmas booking and loses it a week before departure has lost income they could have filled. That reality is why cancellation terms are stricter in this industry than in most service businesses — and why understanding them before you book matters.

Key takeaways

TruePath applies a flexible cancellation window: full refund if cancelled 7+ days before the stay start, 50% refund within 3–7 days, no refund within 48 hours of the start date.
For peak-period bookings (Christmas, Easter, school holidays), many sitters apply stricter cancellation terms — some require non-refundable deposits from mid-November onwards.
Sitter-initiated cancellations (the sitter cancels) entitle the owner to a full refund and platform assistance finding a replacement, regardless of timing.
Travel insurance with pet care cancellation cover can mitigate owner-side cancellation risk for expensive bookings.
If your cancellation is due to a genuine emergency (hospitalisation, bereavement, flight cancellation), contact TruePath support directly — most platforms apply discretion in documented emergency cases.

How TruePath's cancellation policy works

TruePath's standard cancellation terms:

7+ days before the stay: Full refund, no questions asked. The calendar has enough lead time to be re-filled.
3–7 days before the stay: 50% refund. The sitter has held the dates but still has a narrow window to find a replacement booking.
Under 48 hours before the stay: No refund. At this point the sitter has made arrangements, declined other bookings, and has no realistic opportunity to fill the gap.

These are the platform defaults. Individual sitters can apply stricter terms — this is disclosed in their profile and at the time of booking. For high-demand sitters with long booking lead times, stricter personal policies are common.

Peak period policies

The Christmas–New Year period (December 20 – January 5) operates differently from the rest of the year. Sitters who are fully booked months in advance for this period often apply non-refundable or minimal-refund policies from a certain date — sometimes as early as mid-November.

The logic: a December 27 booking confirmed in September occupies a slot that could have been filled by any of the other owners who were turned away. If an owner cancels that booking on December 20, the sitter has lost irreplaceable peak-period income.

If you're booking Christmas care, read the cancellation terms specifically for that sitter before confirming. This is also the argument for travel insurance — a policy that covers trip cancellation and includes pet care costs protects you against the scenario where a family emergency prevents the trip and you lose a substantial booking.

Sitter-initiated cancellations

If the sitter cancels on you, the calculus reverses entirely. TruePath guarantees:

Full refund on all payments made
Priority platform assistance to find a verified replacement for the same dates
Expedited matching based on your dog's profile and the urgency

Sitter cancellations are unusual — sitters who cancel routinely don't retain their platform standing — but they do happen. The most common cause is a sitter's own emergency (health, family). In these cases TruePath's support team manages the rebooking process directly.

What's actually fair: a framework

It's worth thinking about this from both sides before a cancellation becomes necessary.

From the owner's perspective: Life happens. Trips get cancelled, plans change, emergencies arise. A policy that doesn't allow for any of this is frustrating when you're on the receiving end of an unavoidable change.

From the sitter's perspective: Sitting is their income. A booking confirmed 8 weeks before Christmas represents that slot being taken off the market — anyone else who enquired for those dates was turned away. A late cancellation doesn't just produce a refund; it produces a gap that may not be fillable.

The fairness calibration that most owners reach, after experiencing both sides: short-notice cancellations (under 48 hours) should expect to lose the full amount; moderate-notice cancellations (1–7 days) should expect to lose some but not all; well-ahead cancellations (7+ days) should expect a full refund. TruePath's standard policy aligns with this.

If you need to cancel

Do it through the app, not by message. Cancellations initiated through the TruePath platform trigger the refund process automatically. A message to the sitter saying "I won't need the booking" without a formal platform cancellation delays the refund and creates ambiguity.

Give the sitter as much notice as possible. Even if you're within the non-refundable window, early notice is the decent thing to do. A sitter who finds out a week before rather than the day before can at least try to fill the gap.

For emergencies: contact support directly. TruePath's support team handles documented emergency cases (hospitalisation, family bereavement, unavoidable flight cancellation) with discretion. They can't override platform policy universally, but documented genuine emergencies are assessed case by case.

Consider travel insurance. For any booking over $300, travel insurance that includes pet care costs is worth checking. Many Australian travel insurance policies cover pre-paid pet boarding or sitting costs as part of the trip cancellation cover. Read the PDS specifically for this inclusion — "pet boarding" is sometimes listed explicitly, sometimes covered under "other pre-paid expenses."

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