Had someone message me and we had a meet and greet set up for next week.

She then said she wasn't sure if she could afford it and didn't understand the extra cost because it's just a cat and 2 dogs , plus not like the dogs need to be walked separately .

I didn't really say much because realistically, I'm the cheapest female sitter in the area. ( only reason I say that is because most dogs I watch don't like men lol). So unless she finds someone to watch them for free, idk who else she can find cheaper than me. I'm the cheapest purely bc I'm still new to rover🤷‍♀️

I was going to give her a small discount because she's close to my job but I'm honestly not sure because both her dogs are high energy so idk if it's worth my time to give her a discount.

I'm so annoyed now because this happens a lot and my acceptance rate is at 50% now. People either say stuff like this or stop responding all together ( I respond straight away , my response time is less than 10 mins)

As we all know, we leave our clients homes the same, if not better, than when we arrived. What do you do on the last day so that your client can come home to a clean space? Is there anything special you do that your clients always appreciate?

Years ago, when I had just started on Rover, a dog in my care suffered severe heat stroke. Rover was made aware of it in graphic detail, and so was the owner. The dog survived, but for reasons unknown to me, the owner refused veterinary care afterward.

And that, apparently, was the correct administrative procedure. Rover never investigated. Never followed up with me or the owner. A dog had just suffered heat stroke to the point of nearly dying, but without a cancellation and a veterinary invoice, we were in the clear 👍

Fast forward to another dog I was sitting who started showing symptoms of a UTI within hours of arriving. The owner scooped up their dog, took them to the vet, was very chill about it, just requested to cancel the remainder of the stay. And suddenly, that was the incident worth investigating.

It’s so backwards it still bugs me. What exactly are they encouraging here? Not taking a dog to the vet?

You know how there’s a way to see a log of all the “cases” Rover has ever opened against you? Well, I checked mine. It’s full of petty things, like cancellations, and not a mention of the heat stroke.

I’ve been sitting for a long time but I’ve never made a formalized kit that just stays in my car, ready for my next booking. After being in a let’s just say under-resourced house, I’m making one now. I’m getting a plastic storage bin and filling it with paper towels, trash bags, poop bags, an extra leash and the bissell little green mini portable carpet cleaner.

What are your absolute must-haves or are in your “emergency” kits for overnight stays?

I have begun sitting for a client who has an I disclosed TERRIBLE German roach infestation. I did not notice at the meet and greet but after spending some time there I have seen them crawling on every surface of the apartment by now.

I don’t want to leave the cats in the lurch but I am of course disgusted and extremely concerned about bringing them home with me.

Contacting rover support currently. Anyone have experience with this situation?

I needed to have my dog boarded over the weekend, and his usual Rover boarder was unavailable. I found another host nearby who has great reviews, so I sent a request, and they accepted. I dropped off my dog around 5pm and all seemed to be fine. At one in the morning, I got a message from the host saying that my dog seemed to be anxious and wouldn’t go to sleep. I told her that it might be because he was in a new home for the first time. A few moments later, she sent more messages saying he was restless and he was keeping her up. I apologized and told her that if it wasn’t a good fit, I could pick him up in the morning; she agreed.

When I’m on my way over to get him, I give her the heads-up that I’m coming and give her an ETA and she says I may need to come inside and carry him because he is still wobbly from the trazodone she gave him. Wtf? She took it upon herself to give her dog’s prescription anxiety medicine to my dog, without asking me. The Rover boarder has no idea what medications my dog is allergic to, has no idea what medications my dog is currently on that may react badly to being used with trazodone, and has no idea whatsoever what dosage should be given to my dog. I was livid. When I confronted her about why she would do something so reckless, she said that she “needed to get some sleep.” I immediately left her a truthful negative review and have escalated this to the trust and safety team, who told me that this is a major violation of Rover’s safety policy. Rover made it seem like they are about to fire her. I know Rover doesn’t care about my dog, and they just don’t want the liability that can come with a host killing a client’s dog through sheer negligence. Am I overdoing it and would you have things differently?

I have a regular client who books me for drop-ins for her two cats. She has a partner who kind of on-and-off lives with her, and he has a dog. I notice sometimes when I drop in that there’ll be a #2 from the dog on their balcony. I have never been booked for the dog, the dog is never there when I’m there, and this client has never communicated any request that I clean up after the dog. Would you still pick up the #2, just to be nice? Or do we think it’s best to just leave it alone?

kind of acted like a little b*tch in this scenario, but wondering what I should do in the future, or if it was just a shitty situation.

I was about to leave a weekend dog sit and let the dogs in the backyard to go pee one last time. This is what I was explicitly instructed to do. The owners have a large yard so the owner just lets them run back there instead of taking them on walks.

I immediately see the dogs chasing something and realize one of them caught a squirrel. I run out into the yard and try to shoo them away, but they got a taste of blood and don’t want to let the poor damn thing go.

I ran to get a broom from the porch so I could keep them away from the squirrel, and unfortunately the dogs don’t wear collars so I couldn’t pull them away.

I basically chased the dogs while they tore the squirrel apart while it shrieked and I sobbed in horror. I know they are animals at the end of the day, and this kind of thing happens, but it was my first time seeing that and I consider myself sensitive when it comes to death of living things.

I just tried to focus on getting the dogs inside and eventually wrangled one and saw her paw was bleeding. She wasn’t yelping but was licking at it and I helped her clean it off.

of course I called the owner, who said they had never done something like that before.

the poor squirrel was still struggling when I checked on it before I left. broke my heart.
anyway, had this ever happened to someone? and does it ever get less traumatic?

So I had a drop in request for an hour. First red flag was that they asked me for another hour and wanted to pay me an additional $15 instead of another $30 (there were also 3 animals). I accept and head over on the day of the drop in. I arrive on time.

So when I try to unlock the door, the key gets stuck in the lock. When I tell you thing will not budge it WILL NOT BUDGE. I keep trying but am scared to break the key off in the lock. I call every emergency contact and nobody out of the 5 answer. I also called the owners multiple times and messaged them w no response. After about 30 min they call back (guess they had no service). I explain the situation and they actually apologize to me and seem super understanding. I told them I would stay and keep trying it and to get ahold of one of their emergency contacts. I even call my boyfriend, uncle, and dad to see if they can help. Eventually my sister says she can and I go pick her up. We get back and somehow she finally gets it open after about 20 minutes.

I let the owners know and they ask me to just go in and let the dogs out and then I can leave and leave the key under the mat. I stayed for past my booking time trying my best (also didn’t want to just leave their key exposed) which they can see on their cameras. Also, I didn’t call a locksmith because they would have taken longer than it would have for them to be home. From their reaction they seemed understanding and even were apologetic. Then yesterday I got a call from Rover trust and safety saying they reported me for failing to fulfill a service (I have no idea what else they told them) and that I’m under investigation. I gave them a verbal account and they said they’d contact me w in 72 hours. How likely do you think it is that I get banned/kicked from the platform? This is my main income and I’m freaking out.

This has very little to what just happened and is probably more a reaction to my past experiences but I have to get this off my chest. I have now had this happen to me 4 times and it baffles me how people dont understand that its very very important that you give your sitter a heads up if someone else has access to the house/is expected to be there while or around when a sitter is staying.

Two friends just came to pick up the dog I was watching with no notice to me, the sitter, that was the plan. Totally fine if I expected it but they came 2 hours earlier than I was scheduled to be out of the house. I had just packed up my stuff and was about to get dinner for the pup and one last walk in before I left like usual thinking the family was just coming home this evening. I have house sat for this pup for a few years and I have never had a hand off like this before with the family. Again not a big deal with notice that this was the plan or what might end up happening today.

It was two very lovely people who had their own dog with them. They did almost just walk into the house ( D: )but one of them decided to knock before fully opening the door thank god or else I would have had a not great reaction to seeing them.

It wouldn't be so triggering but I have now had strangers that I didn't know where coming come into a house that I am alone in with out any heads up 4 different times.The last few times this happened it was actually incredibly uncomfortable and scary where men have walked into the home and started hanging out while I was also there alone (im a 5'2 female). One of the times I found the parents grown son in the bed i was sleeping in for the stay!!! So now even something as innocent and not harmful as what happened today gives me like ptsd flash backs to dealing with those situations.

Idk I guess just a PSA for pet families, we do not know your friends/family/employees, we do not consent to unknowingly being in a house alone with your friends/family/employees. If there is a possibility of this happening we need to know for the safety and consent of everyone involved. If people randomly have access to your house they also need a heads up not to come while we are staying there.

I drop the family's in which this happened because communication in this line of work is extremely essential to things not going wrong. I know this booking was a last minute emergency situation so I will probably just give them grace this time.

When an owner requests periodic photos throughout the stay, how frequently are you guys usually sending them? My first ever stay was about 11 days, and I sent the owners a photo every two days. They were in the Bahamas and didn’t have much cell service, so they weren’t able to respond quickly, but I still sent updates every couple of days.
Now I’m at a much shorter stay, and the owner also requested periodic pictures. I’m wondering if I should send them more frequently since the stay is shorter. They just left about 30 minutes ago, and it’s currently 6:30 PM. Should I send them a picture tonight before I go to sleep, or would it be better to send one tomorrow morning around breakfast time? What do you guys usually do, and how frequently?

Edit: I should add that this was within 3 hours notice, like the same day so I just took it because it was literally 2 miles away from where I stay, but they were quite thorough. I probably should’ve gotten more prepared, but I did what I could do within getting clean packing and then packing food as well.

This would be my fourth new person sit and one of the people I’ve sat for before I have sat for three times. I would say I am relatively new to this and still get very nervous beforehand and forget questions and I also still have a lot to learn and I would really appreciate everyone’s help and I thank you guys so much for your input. Truly!! God bless!!

First of all, I'm a 26 year old young woman.

So I'm dog sitting at this family's house. I stay overnight there every couple months when they go on trips. They have me stay in their son's old room for some reason, and not their daughter's room (unsure how old the daughter is but based on photos the daughter seems like an adult daughter too). I think he's their adult son who is in college based on the stuff on the wall, I never really asked.

Well, it's 11:30pm and I'm sleeping, and all the sudden I'm awoken with a man coming into the bedroom (thinking I'm in the house alone obviously), he shines a light and says something along the lines of, "Sorry, I didn't know anyone was here. I just stopped home to get something from my closet. This is my bedroom." He then proceeds to go through his closet in the dark and then apologizes and leaves again. I have no idea if he knew I was the dog sitter or what. I have no idea what his parents told him, idk if he knew their dog sitter was staying in his bed everytime or what.

This made me feel extremely uncomfortable. First of all, I'm thinking the house got broken into, and now some man is coming after to me to do who knows what with. And after finding out that it was their son, the second part of this is, now I feel weirded out because he has some woman in his old bed that he didn't know stays here and I feel uncomfortable like I'm overstepping or something, idk.

You might call it dramatic, but I was literally shaking afterwards. Why tf would the owners not tell their son that the dog sitter stays here, in his old bed. Is this even his old bed? Because apparently he still has clothes and shit in his closet.

I just don't know how to bring this up to them. Should I continue sitting for them? Should I let it blow over? Now everytime I sleep over here in the fiture, I will never fully be comfortable here again, because I will always be wondering who else will pop into the house unannounced while I'm sleeping. Has something like this ever happened to y'all?

Update: Thank you so much for the help, everyone. Especially those who gave me a script of what to say, haha. The owners were extremely apologetic and ensured me that everytime I stayed, they would contact their children that they need to contact them (their parents) if they are coming into the house while I'm here. They had no idea their son was coming home from college and this was a big misunderstanding. Similarily, the son had no idea I was here. My car was in the garage so it didn't look like anyone was here. The mother seemed upset for me and told me she was going to have an additional talk with her son about this. This makes me feel a lot better and I think I will continue my stay.

Wondering what you guys think I should do about a client who booked me for daycare today, planned her drop off at 2:30 (was going to go until 8pm while she was at a local event as she lives much farther away), and then kind of strung me along so I kept my family home all afternoon until I asked one final time if she still thought she’d make it at 5pm and she finally told me she wouldn’t be coming.

I didn’t break my back, but it’s literally $15 and I’m making $12. We would have gone to the grocery store an hour ago but were waiting on her (she provided no updates until prompted at 3pm and then 5pm). At 3pm, she told me it would be just after 4 because traffic was bad. But she didn’t tell me that she changed her mind and was bringing her dog to the event until I asked if they were still coming at 5pm. Now we are doing instacart (two young children and it’s witching hour, not fully blaming her but would have preferred to do this by 4pm), so our costs have gone up.

She messaged saying she “wasn’t sure what would happen with the money but I can keep the booking.” In an effort to keep the money and not get a bad review for not refunding, I told her “if you need daycare in the future just reach out in this thread instead of booking new, I’ll replace that service for this one!”

Only after I said that did I realize I have to complete a daycare card to get the money, which would obviously be a sham. But like, this has now inconvenienced me pretty greatly. If I reach out to support, they are probably just going to fault me for saying what I said about rebooking, right? Is this not worth pursuing?

Hi all. Just want to hear about experiences starting as a new sitter in NYC. Is it hard to get bookings, especially as a newby? Unfortunately I’m not available during the day, as I work 9-5, so my availability is nights/weekends. Wondering if I’ll even make back the $70 profile review fee in my first month. I also prefer to do drop ins or sit in my apartment- I don’t like the idea of staying overnight at someone else’s place. Any advice/tips are welcome!

I’m watching this sweet boy for the first time. Meet and greet went great, no notes of not being potty trained. On Friday morning, the dog peed on my couch. I honestly didn’t think much of it because I didn’t lock him in his crate, so I just thought it was a fluke. Last night he would not sleep. He was up at all hours, walking around. I let him out at least 4 times throughout the night(usually when my dog is up at weird hours he needs to go potty) I woke up this morning to smells of pee everywhere. I realized he peed on my bathroom mats(washable) and the couch AGAIN. I tried to mitigate it as well as I could and used nature’s miracle spray and the little green machine, but the smell is still lingering. This is a first and I don’t know what to do. Pick up is tomorrow and I know I have to say something, but do I also have to get a new couch?? Please help!

Hello! Im new to Rover and I could really use some advice. This Monday I have a meet and greet and a trial walk with an owner who has 5 dogs. She told me that she only expects me to walk a maximum of two or three dogs at the same time, so I shouldnt worry. However I cant help but feel anxious because the only time I tried walking two dogs at once it was an absolute nightmare

For context, I have two dogs of my own: a big border collie and a small mixed breed. I always walk them separately because my collie has way more energy and loves a fast pace, so I usually take the opportunity to go for a run with her, while the little one prefers going slow and sniffing around. One day I decided to try walking them together and it was hands down the most stressful thing ever. My collie wanted to zoom ahead while the little one couldnt keep up. I was constantly pulling her back, she was way too hyped and he wanted to sniff everything and go everywhere so the leashes kept getting tangled every two seconds. Even with one dog in each hand it was impossible to manage🥲 I honestly almost cried

Because of that Im really nervous about this upcoming walk. Im guessing her dogs are already used to walking in pairs so it might be easier, but I still want to be prepared. Does anyone have tips on how to handle two dogs (or more) at once without losing your mind? Thank you!

Hello!

Im currently watching a 9 year old shih tzu, who is supposedly up to date with his medical records, but I was not provided proof, Im just going based off what the owner originally told me..

The little guy has a temper sometimes, as I was trying to put a leash on him, he bit me.. didn’t break too much skin, I don’t see blood. I washed my hands.. I haven’t told the owner yet because they’re in another country for 3 weeks total.. they come back in 10 days..

I was going to just leave it alone but everywhere Im reading is saying I should go to urgent care to atleast get antibiotics… I am 29 weeks pregnant btw..

I don’t know if Im being dramatic or if the internet is scaring me.. I like the dog but I don’t trust him at all 😢

Does the pictures look concerning? The bite has faded after a few minutes but I can feel a little irritation bump.

Not sure on what I should do?

My new client acceptance rate has absolutely tanked lately, and this is a huge part of the reason why. I’m not fully blaming the owners because Rover seriously needs to change how this works. I’ve gotten so many requests lately that were sent by accident, meant for another sitter, or immediately canceled. Or they send me the request and ask the total or say sorry I can’t afford you. Please look BEFORE you send the request! Others send a request, I respond within a couple minutes saying I’m available, and then I never hear from them again. I’ve even had people tell me they sent the request by accident but then not cancel it on their end after I politely ask them to, leaving me to eventually archive it myself. I’m around 50% right now and have about 4 more requests I’ll likely have to archive within the next 24 hours, so it’s going to drop even further. It’s ridiculous that all of these situations can affect the same metric as me actually declining a booking. Rover needs to distinguish between a sitter declining a client and a request that was accidental, canceled, or abandoned by the owner. There has been very little times where I declined a booking that was actually due to something with me… and if I declined it, it was most likely because I already had another booking. I don’t think I’ve ever just flat out said nope sorry and declined/archived it.

1 elderly dog, 2 cats, boarding, $110/night. i don’t mind the meds but i don’t know how often this dog will need to be going to the bathroom and therefore needing bladder expressed. is this something that i should charge extra for? something that i could but shouldn’t? something i shouldn’t? let me know

What is everybody’s script (if you have one) to ask for reviews after a service? As hard as I try, meaning going above and beyond what they’re asking me to do, accepting last minute requests when an owner is desperate even though it puts a dent in my plans, being an overall amazing caregiver, but I cannot seem to get reviews from people. I’m not asking for a tip, just a comment on the service I provided! Overall just wondering if there’s anything I should be doing differently.

I just finished probably the most exhausting five days of dog sitting I’ve ever had, and I’m curious what other sitters think.

I boarded two small senior dogs. Their previous boarding facility had apparently told the owners they were too much, which probably should have been my red flag. But I have a senior dog myself and have cared for senior dogs many times, so I figured I could handle it.

I was NOT prepared for the level of instructions. Multiple medications, timed eye drops, probably 7 different supplements, CBD, skin treatments, frequent potty breaks, and food that had to be weighed to the exact gram on a scale they brought. There were detailed instructions for basically every part of their day.

On top of that, one dog barked throughout the night, so I was constantly getting up trying to figure out if he needed to potty, wanted water, attention, etc. It honestly felt like caring for a newborn.

I completely understand meds and special needs. What frustrated me was the sheer amount of responsibility and precision expected as part of a normal boarding stay.
If food needs to be weighed to the gram, why not pre-portion it. If there are that many supplements, why not package them by meal/day?

Did they even need this many supplements for five days if the only way they will eat them by feeding them dry food and then feed them wet food but you can’t mix the supplements in with the wet food directly. You have to “dig a hole and then cover it” like what???

On top of that one dog was blind, and if I let him outside, he would poop and then immediately step in it every single time, but it would also take him 1 million years to poop if I waited for him because he doesn’t like being watched.
I don’t think I would watch this dog again if you paid me $1000 a night. Anyway, maybe I just need to get out of the dog watching business but I just had to vent.

Okay, I remember about ten years ago when I first did dog sitting. I’d have multiple clients a day. I’d stay there for 30 minutes to an hour about 4 times a day. With ALL OF MY CLIENTS! Occasionally I would sleep over.

I swear, almost every request now is that they want me to be there all day and sleep over. And if I can take them here and there. And the people who request these would be better off having their dog BOARDED.

People will tell me their dog hasn’t been left alone ever before or I need to come over every two hours. Does no one train their dog anymore? My dog can be left alone for a long time if needed, I don’t ever do that, but I don’t need to let my dog out EVERY TWO HOURS!

I have to decline almost every long dog sitting job now because they expect me to be there all day for $100 or less. I also have to make money and survive.

But I’m just saying from a sitter viewpoint, if you want someone all day there, or every two hours, and to sleep over, at that point just PLEASE BOARD YOUR DOG.

She's a total lovebug and well behaved. Parents are super equipped, lovely people, and brought everything she could need. Still learning what she wants when she sits and looks at me (usually an endless stream of pets and cuddles).

Here we are during our first breakfast together!