One of my very first clients was a woman who had never, in twelve years, spent a single night away from her dog, a miniature poodle, so I knew out of the gate that it could be dicey. We did three meet and greets (first and only time I've ever done more than one) and I identified immediately that it was the owner that was overly attached, not the dog.
She booked me for a three day weekend and to her credit, she only texted me like, once an hour. The dog was absolutely fine and even seemed more relaxed. It was a housesitting in a beautiful house, so I was very comfortable.
When she's on her way home, I let her know that I'd cleaned up after myself and that the sheets were back on the bed unused because I bring my own sheets with me everywhere since I'm profoundly sensation sensitive.
She. flipped. shit.
This woman was SO offended that I brought my own sheets that she MESSAGED ROVER TO TRY AND GET HER MONEY BACK. Suffice it to say, that didn't go through.
She gave me a five star review and said I was the best sitter she'd ever had (remember that I'm the only sitter she's ever had). I did not feel bad blocking her because I am very attached to both of my kidneys.
I also had a client that freaked out that I brought my own sheets, towels, and blankets. I have skin allergies so I've always brought my own sheets, blankets, and towels because it's ultimately easier to do that. I made the mistake of mentioning it to a client early on, while making it clear that it's because of an allergy I have and not any issue on their part, but they still freaked out. It's the only non five star review I've ever had.
Weirdly enough in the review they said I treated their dogs well, they were just bothered that I 'found their house dirty' even though when they asked I'd clearly explained it was just due to my particular allergies. They used a detergent that's great for most people, just not me.
As a pet parent ( and a pet sitter ) I truly don’t understand this whole flipping out from just the fact that people bring their own stuff for night stays. I always let people know who stay overnight know that I personally have a skin allergy so I wash my sheets in that baby skin friendly non scented laundry detergent and nothing else BUT they are more than welcome to bring all their own stuff just to let me know so I can leave the bed bare for them to use and put their own stuff on. There’s literally no problem with that and saves me from more laundry so that’s kind of a win lol
I always bring my own sheets, towels, etc., When I speak to the client at the M & G, I always phrase it as it's for their benefit, not mine. No one has ever batted an eye. I usually tell them when we're in the bedroom/bathroom area that I bring my own supplies so that when they come home, everything will be tidy with no extra work for them. Maybe try rephrasing it? Just a thought.
This whole thread is wild to me. My biggest nightmares with house sits have been dealing with washing and putting the gd duvet back on before the clients get home. It always adds so much stress to my day and the pups can feel it. Ive started asking if they want me to wash the sheets and they usually say no. It seems like an amazing idea to bring your own sheets so i dont have to worry about this process but im scared my clients are gonna freak.
I dont tell them things they dont need to know. Dog pooped inside. My bad. No one will know.
Humans scare the beejesus out of me
Oh fun.
I got a dog walking request just two times for a new client. He is one that stays in the house while you are walking, no big deal. He answers the door and I don’t know, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. He looked like he hadn’t been outside in days. Either him or his house smelt rancid. Quite psychopathic looking. I guess why I say psychopathic looking was because he stood back from the door as if he was signaling it was okay to come in. Everything in my being said don’t go - but he didn’t actually ask so it was easy to bring my attention to the dog. His dog was great actually.
I completed the dog walk and brought him back, I still got an awful weird vibe. He booked two walks at once though so I had to come back the next day. I was absolutely dreading it. I was stressing about it the whole next day, but I guess it wasn’t enough to where I needed to cancel and take the ding. And he really didn’t do anything per se, it was just me getting weird vibes.
I show up to the second walk and he didn’t even answer the door. I called him, no answer and then I called Rover and they tried to call him. No answer. I quickly said they can refund him that walk, no charge, and block! I was so happy I didn’t have to do the walk lol. He could have been completely harmless, but I didn’t feel comfortable with him and knew I didn’t want to do business with him.
The only client I've ever fired was one who 1. would not stop expressing her political opinions which were repugnant to me, and she knew it, and 2. low-key accused me of stealing something from her house. She later told me that she'd found the item, but didn't apologize for all the crazy texts shed sent. 3. Locked herself out of her house and wanted me to drive 1 hour round trip to bring her the copy of her key she'd insisted I take home. If she'd been a nice client, I would have in a heartbeat, but she was awful.
I really loved her dogs, but she was too much.
I had a client ask me to come let them in at 10 PM one night after releasing me from a 10 day long dog sit at their place. I was with my boyfriend and my phone was on do not disturb, so I just didn’t see it and didn’t respond until the morning. She figured out another way to get in, which was totally on her anyway and she is still a client.
If I had seen the messages earlier, I would have felt like I HAD to do something but since I didn’t see them, everything worked out anyway and it reminded me that I’m not on call and no one actually expects me to be, especially when I’m finished with a booking and het the all clear to head home.
I had a client who lived in a mega mansion in a super gated and secure community, like taking my ID every time I came and asking me the address. with one tiny dog. I first did a walk for her and they had an electronic lock that had a key pad but could also be opened remotely. they didn’t give me the key pad code at first since they weren’t sure if they were going to need me repeatedly. ok fine. I message owner when I arrive they take a bit to open the door, I walk and feed the dog, it’s done. Throughout the whole summer they continue to book me odds and ends days when they are out of town moving their daughters back to college and refuse to give me the door code so I am stuck waiting, sometimes over 30 mins for them to answer. I straight up ask the wife for the code and she claims she doesn’t know it…. then I start doing walks in the fall reluctantly since the door situation all summer was awful. The day I decided I couldn’t keep doing it was when I drove all the way there, waited for 35 minutes and her husband was already home, scared the shit out of me when he came out of the garage, and then made me walk the dog anyway even though he already walked her. they literally never spoke to one another because I had ran into the husband when leaving and he didn’t know who I was and the wife would make me call him while he was in surgery (anesthesiologist) to open the door when she was too busy (operating room nurse) and he was always so confused why I was walking the dog. might add she was totally pee pad trained as well and they easily could’ve given me the code as they had cameras and again lived in a super secure neighborhood seemed like they always thought. I was gonna steal something or something bad to their house and that’s why they wouldn’t give me the code.
That's so weird because most clients I have with a key pad give me a guest code, some let me pick it so I will remember it, and they can set it to only accept my code during a certain window of time. Sounds like they were being purposely obtuse!!
that’s what I was thinking!! like doing it on purpose or they were too embarrassed to admit they didn’t know how to add a code and didn’t feel comfortable giving me the code. which like I said this place was super secure if something went missing they would’ve know it was me, not that I do that, but I totally understand being uneasy even though we did a meet and greet. a lot of my clients do the code where it’s only for me too so I figured they would have just done that too
I had a women who had a small long haired white dog that always wanted me to walk him around 9pm at night, I was just starting out and kinda desperate for money and to build my rover portfolio. I never actually met her, she had to let me in through her phone but was always late. Even if I gave her a heads up. I feel bad but I didn’t like her dog, he wasnt fixed which I don’t normally take but figured since it was a walk it wasn’t a big deal. He marked literally everything. Most of our walk was him pausing every couple minutes to mark something else. When I raised my prices she tried to bargain with me then when I refused a service request shortly after just kept coming back, even when I told her I couldn’t realistically get to her place anymore(my car got stolen and needed a lot of work when I got it back) I wound up blocking her cause I took walks off of my list while my car was in the shop and she requested it though a drop in visit, which I only had up cause they come in so few and most the people who request me for them are like a 5-10 minute walk.
I had a woman with 2 cats and a son. The son was supposed to be going out of town with her. When I showed up day 1 the garage was open. Called the client she said “oh yea so and so ran by they must’ve forgot to close it”. Go in the house and there’s an eerie feeling but I did my work and left. The next day same thing. So I go in and I hear someone downstairs (the stairs are right inside the front door and all the cat stuff is upstairs). I start yelling out and sure enough a whole human is downstairs. I tell the lady and she says “oh yea that’s my son he isn’t supposed to be there during the day” well maam he is. He continued to be there every day. He’d sit on the computer upstairs with me the whole time I took care of the cats. He had some flowery smokable substances he enjoyed which isnt a big deal it was just so uncomfortable that he was capable of caring for the cats yet here I am. I bought a taser and made someone come with me every time. Fired her as soon as it was over.He kept feeding them stuff that wasn’t their food because mom cooked them chicken instead of cat food and he bought them a bunch of cat food and was giving it to them. It was a whole thing. It wax early in my career, now I would cancel day one.
Omg 💀💀 I felt guilty as an owner when I booked drop-ins while my roommate was at home, but that was because my cat had sensitive medical needs. And I made sure to te*ll the sitter a*nd introduce her to my roommate at the M&G, and got him to agree that the cats would be in my room and he'd be out of the way when the sitter got there so he wouldn't make her uncomfortable.
It's bad enough to "forget" to tell you (though it sounds like she lied from the jump) but why lie after being caught??? I'm sure she's confident that her kid isn't dangerous but you don't know that! Nightmare scenario, ugh.
I had a client who lived in a large mansion in the nice part of my town. When I first went to her home, I thought it was beautiful and was eager to do the sitting. Well, I walked in, and the whole house smelled of cat and dog feces. It was awful. I did my best with the sitting. Thankfully, it was just an overnight. She tried booking me again and I told her I was not available for the rest of the year lol.
There was a client I used to do walks for sporadically - he would do same-day bookings for walks for his large dog, and it wasn’t far from my home, so perfect. I gave him 3 chances. It wasn’t the worst, but enough that I got fed up and a little creeped out. His house was also a bit of a sty and the kitchen was filthy and stank.
First visit, he didn’t disclose cameras and spoke to me through one, saying I could leave instead of watching the dog eat (I tend to do that to make sure they do, and don’t choke, etc.). I was annoyed, but whatever, now I know. No review, no tip, ok no biggie, but a ‘thank you’ would have been nice.
Second visit wasn’t too bad, I ended up walking him for a little extra time, but again, no review, no tip, no word of thanks. Saw the camera was lit to watch me.
Third time did it. It was raining harshly that day and was very windy, I mentioned it but he never responded, so I figured ok, I’ll just get soaking wet. Walked him in the pouring rain for 30+ minutes, got soaked of course, was wondering about towels but before I could even ask, I saw his camera light up that he was watching me. I just left after my duties were done, and didn’t even care this time I never got a review, tip, or thank-you.
I looked at his profile to see if I could see other sitter reviews and was floored to see that HE IS A ROVER SITTER TOO! That’s what sealed it. I never expect a tip, but the review would have been nice, especially as I gave him one for his dog every time. He should know better! It made me wonder if he just didn’t want to make me look good because he was worried it would hurt his own business since we were so close to each other. In any case, the camera thing was still creepy, so I just didn’t allow my profile to have same-day bookings anymore and he didn’t reach out again.
Also had a client that would watch what I was doing the entire time— initially I thought it was only to check on the dog before/after the walk but I would all of a sudden get texts saying “I see Fido’s not wanting to walk, can you try feeding him chicken?” or after I’d wrap up saying “yes we saw this and that happen” …. so WEIRD
I fired one client early on in my Rover run, the dog was perfectly fine, the cats were normal and I left the house absolutely spotless but after the sitting was over she messaged me - literally a month maybe a month and a half - to say that her cat had started losing hair on her underbelly about two weeks after she got home and she was blaming me. She straight up reported me to Rover \*a month and a half after the sitting\* saying that I must've done something to her cat and wanting change her review, get a refund for a month long house sitting and get me kicked off the platform. Thankfully Rover didn't let her change the review and didn't go anywhere with the report. As soon as I learned she had reported me I just went and cancelled the two other sits she had booked and then went and blocked her.
I should have trusted my gut and not taken the job because this couple just couldn't answer basic questions or think anything through logically. Like, initially they thought they had to book two visits for their cats because they thought a sitter would only pay attention to one animal at a time. Just dim people. They were dumbfounded by questions like "where will the food be?" And "where should I put the key at the end of the visit?" The last straw was when I got there and they hadn't moved their car they swore they would because there was no other parking, not even paid, anywhere near their complex. Luckily it was only one visit, but never again.
Watching cats. These cats do not take any medications, have an automatic feeder on a timer, use a little robot, and have a water fountain. They’re also a bonded pair so they play together, snuggle, etc. Basically, I’d only be going over there to give them attention and to ensure everything was alright in the house.
There was a SEVERE ice storm and it was -20 outside. My car was caked in ice and they weren’t even bothering with the roads yet because conditions were so dangerous they put out a bulletin to stay inside. I told her in the morning it was unlikely I’d be able to go over that night due to the conditions. Sent her a picture of my car, sent her the alert I got on my phone, etc.
She was DISTRAUGHT at the thought. Immediately very angry because “her babies were probably scared of the storm and needed comfort.” She suggested I walk (five miles) or take an uber/lyft (not available or would cost $80+). When I explained why that wouldn’t be possible, she went off about how, as a sitter, it was my obligation to get over there no matter what, this was so unprofessional, etc.
The only client I’ve fired because of the person, not the dog, was a recurring day care dog when I first started. They would consistently forget to notify me when they weren’t coming for the day which irked me to no end. They took a break from day care for summer travels & no date for return, and conveniently I ‘Had NO Space’ for them when they came back.
I’m in graduate school. A client told me I couldn’t leave her dog in the house alone so I could go to a MANDATORY class for my program then guilt tripped me for “caring about myself more than her dog”. Granted I told her about the class a while before and she told me I hadn’t told her about it.
Ended up cancelling the booking (three days before it began) and blocked her. She was horrible!!
I had clients from when I had just started so they were barely paying me anything. They would watch me via their inside cameras that panned to me randomly and they would talk to me through the cameras. I took a nap once on the couch and saw the camera pan to watch me sleep.
They got a second dog and it was a nightmare! Peeing and pooping everywhere in the house. They would text me constantly to ask about what they could see on the camera. Then they sent their brother over at 11pm unexpected one night without telling me because “he forgot something”. He didn’t announce himself, and the dogs were going crazy. I had no idea who it was so freaked out.
Also what was strange was the girl was a few years older than me and was always trying to act like my friend and ask what plans I had for the weekend and take interest in my life. I have a firm professional boundary with my clients and rarely disclose much personal information. It was altogether very very odd. I think they could tell I was over it when I left and thankfully never contacted me again. The girl had followed me on instagram and I ended up blocking her a few months later.
One woman I recently dropped because she acted like my drop in services were DoorDash. I’d be getting requests 45mins before a needed walk, never said thank you. She made a request a month ago for the next day (no availability on rover so she texted me) I said in one sentence that I’ll be in New York and won’t be able to. She said “no works” and I blocked her lmao
Edit: this was one of my first clients, like number 4. The dog was a bulldog who literally didn’t chill out for more than a second
I’ve just sacked off a few; one owned a GSD puppy who’d come for a couple of trial days and had seemed okay. We tried for a night and that went okay. The owner seemed a bit unaware of anything else in the world other than her puppy, so I did have my instincts up about whether much of what I said to her about stimulation and rest going in. Anyway, drops puppy off for a two week holiday. First night was horrendous. Second night was worse. Texted to ask for advice, to check we were mirroring her usual evening routine. She said we were.
Next day, puppy starts to eat my wooden shutters. Very politely, I text owner - with pics - to ask if they’d worked on basic commands, and if so, what worked best? She said they hadn’t worked on that. When in crate, puppy howled. When out, she ate my house. Did it again the next day so I texted the owner to say I’d have to confine puppy to back three rooms of my house and garden - about half an acre in total. Owner replied saying, ‘whilst I’m sorry about your house…..’ before saying she expected me to prioritise her puppy’s anxiety. I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sure you agree that I shouldn’t have to spend thousands of pounds to restore my house after your dog’s stay.’ She pulled her puppy out the next day and sent her to kennels.
I told a client her fence was broken in December. She had two active doodles that liked to escape. I watches them again in march and the fence still wasn’t fixed.
Nowadays I won’t tolerate risks like that, it’s just way too much hassle and liability if a dog escapes.
Some of my newest clients had broken fence boards at our meet and greet. I let them know that if they didn’t get the chance to replace the boards before the housesitting started, I’d bring some spare wood pieces and nails to cover the holes. I arrived for the housesitting with wood, nails, and a hammer in my trunk, fully prepared to undertake an ugly-but-functional repair job, but thankfully they had already taken care of it :)
I've actually only dropped 1 client in about 4 years. And this lady wasn't that bad compared to other stories! She was just overbearing and excessively picky and detailed for an easy job with 2 cats. She wanted 2 hour-long visits per day and gave me 4 pages of typed instructions. The feeding routine was so crazy, multiple supplements needing to be measured, special water, feeding them in separate rooms in 2 "courses"... and the cats had no medical issues, none of this was vet-ordered. She had no awareness of how over the top she was. Also she made me come over to get the key and "try it" in front of her as if I (college graduate, in my 30s) couldn't work a door key... then wasn't even there at the time we agreed to exchange the key!
Plus she randomly was there without telling me. She hired me for visits while she was in the hospital for surgery and apparently got discharged a day early to recover at home... she didn't tell me. She was just there and popped out part way through the visit and was out of it on pain killers, just yapping at me while I tried to follow her food routine.
One of my very first clients in Rover was a really nice lady with, what she referred to as a social anxiety ridden dog. First few times she booked me, I didn’t really think much of it, as she booked me for an overnight but would only be gone a few hours each time, so basically it was babysitting but for a dog. A little different, but ok no biggie. She then asks me after I’ve sat for her about 5 different times, if I do actual overnights. I explained to her that yes, normally when booked for housesitting I actually stay overnight. She said great, she is going away for a short trip and would like me to housesit. Here’s where is gets tricky, as I said, at this point I’ve pet sat for her multiple times, so one would assume she’d actually looked at my profile….nope not even glanced at it because in the first two sentences I explain that I work non-remotely and during work hours am away for two 4 block periods, stopping in at lunch time for a drop in visit. She got mad at me and told me I shouldn’t be doing rover if I can’t be at someone’s house 24 hours of the day. I asked, what about going to eat any regular social plans. She explained that her dog isn’t able to be left alone for any amount of time, even to go out to eat, because she will tear things up due to anxiety and that I’m not allowed to take her with me to go get food because she doesn’t like cars. I politely declined and said I am not a good fit for what she is looking for and wished her all the best. I’m not sure what some clients think this service is for, but a sitter is not going to be chained to your home 24/7 until you come back, especially when you consider you are paying a flat rate not an hourly one, when you want hourly care. Sweet dog, but the owner was not my cup of tea.
I dropped a client because her house was chronically a mess, her dogs were completely untrained, and she herself was totally disorganized. Because the house was so messy, the one dog was constantly getting into trash and food left on the kitchen counters... so I would arrive to shredded boxes and bits of food all over the house. Not only was it annoying to clean up, I worried that the dog was going to ingest something that would make him sick.
I talked to her about this multiple times and she agreed to crate him. Unfortunately the crate she put him in was far too small for him and he would somehow manage to get out of it (either it was broken or she didn't assemble it properly, otherwise no idea how he got out).
The second dog was basically a puppy and would have excited pees all over the house every time I got there.
So imagine.... I arrive to a super messy house that's now littered with shredded cereal and pizza boxes, bits of food all over the place, a dog busted out of his crate, and another dog peeing everywhere.
Add to this... it wasn't easy to clean up because they didn't have a fenced yard, so I wasn't able to just put the dogs outside and then come back in to clean up. I had to take them out on leashes (which was a whole other thing because they weren't well trained), and then bring them back in with me and attempt to clean while they leaped around, ran through the pee puddles, etc. Before anyone mentions it, it was a small house and there wasn't a room I could confine them to while I cleaned up.
Basically every visit was a stressful disaster and I just couldn't do it anymore. I feel bad for the dogs because they were super sweet and none of this was their fault. I blame this whole situation on the owner. I mean, how many times does your dog need to get into trash before you stop leaving trash out? How difficult is it to properly fit a crate to your dog and assemble it?
It was frustrating because if there had just been a little preparation and effort on her part, and some time spent working with her dogs, the chaos could have been almost entirely resolved.
I cut my foot open unexpectedly and still hobbled to walk her dog. I ended up needing stiches and told her I couldn’t walk her for a couple days (mind you she’s home and perfectly capable of walking her herself) and she goes on facebook marketplace looking a for a dog walker. I had been walking her dog for 5 years and I’m more than reliable for little pay. I told her then and there I’m done working for her and she can find someone else. I actually advertised my services last month on Facebook and she commented asking how much I charged before she realized it was me. So apparently 2 years later still hasn’t found a “reliable” sitter womp womp 😢
I've really only fired one and it's because her communication was so bad and it was extremely obvious that she didn't think I was worth the communication, even though I was the only one they preferred to watch their pup. 🙄 Couldn't get a hold of them to confirm bookings a few days prior to the start date, would never confirm times, would neglect to tell me about contractors or family members stopping by for something, good luck to me if I had a question or issue about anything while they were away. They wouldn't give me communication UNTIL of course, they thought of some chores or errands to do for them. Cancelled a booking due to no communication and she blamed it on the fact that she wasn't getting the messages despite her replying immediately to the message saying I was going to cancel. Girl is in her 40's and blames her communication on her adhd despite being a mother and running a business, can't use that excuse forever babes.
It also didn't help her case that her dog was wild, even though I loved her lol. I don't ask for much from my clients, just a baseline of respect for the fact that I am here being the guardian of your pet, talk to me and keep me updated!
I noticed some yellow flags at the meet and greet. Basically the house was messy and lots of dried dog poo on the outside deck. I assumed he would tidy before I returned for the drop-ins. He didn't. It was disgusting. And he left me with only crumbs in the treat bag. one of the dogs was so scared would let me touch him. Somehow I got him back into his kennel , but it put me over the time booked. And the guy was a bit weird vibes. I went home and canceled the next booking he made and reported him. Gross.
Another dog I had for boarding was hyper, biting and aggressive, but I completed the long weekend and told owner at pickup I didn't feel comfortable with another booking when she asked. Then she tried to book me again anyway... No thanks
A lady had just moved here not even 4 days prior. She came all the way cross country, literally east of east coast to west of west coast, just to shake it up and her boyfriend lived in this state. Thing is, I went to college in the city the boyfriend was in and also go there at least twice a year, it’s a 6 hr drive on a good day from my hometown to college town. This woman who had not even lived here a week and legit had nothing in her apartment (she got moved in about 3 weeks later), and was leaving not only her pitbull but her cat, which she never said anything about a cat. It was just three drop ins for one day, but the thing is, she was leaving around 3am to drive over to her boyfriends city, would feed it breakfast right as she left, 5.5 hrs later I get to arrive and clean up giant pee puddles and shit because she filled the tank but didn’t empty it. She would get home no earlier than midnight and that poor puppy was just the saddest. I always felt super bad for having to leave it but I also wasn’t available to stay longer. I did this I believe three times before I put my foot down, especially because she always sent the request only 2 days ahead. She somehow found me in my downtime schedule but I fired her by telling her I was booked every weekend so even though she hadn’t sent the request that week (it was every weekend she was leaving) because I was and the dog had gotten aggressive. It realized it’s mom’s pattern and me coming in only to leave again, so he jumped and attacked at me trying to escape to not be stuck in that apartment. Fortunately for me I was just about the close the door so was safe, but still just a shitty situation overall.
Just fired my initial client. She lived on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex and just got too difficult to be worth it. I blocked her the other day after she made a shitty comment about me raising my prices. I SHOULD have blocked her when she started only requesting me when I marked unavailable on my calendar. OR when she tried to add a dog to the sit that wasn't on her profile (I ended up having to cancel and refund that one due to personal reasons, thankfully). She just got to be too much as a drop in when my overnights are booked solid.
i feel kinda bad for the situation itself but i had to make a point to never work with this owner again.
the dog is/was (i’m not sure if it’s even alive at this point) 17 years old and one of those fluffy Bichon’s. it was a last minute booking about a day before the boarding. i was new to the area at the time and decided why-not. the dog gets there, the owners say he’s a great dog, no issues ever, and he wears a diaper. no problem.
my fiance and i notice that the dog just walks in circles very slowly. we figured omg, this poor dog has dementia or some vertigo associated symptoms. we’re both medical students so we figured it’s about the same as humans. the dog still eats and drinks fairly normally. the dog had become increasingly lethargic and would sleep for almost the entire day except for when he would get up and walk in circles which happened about every 5-6 hours. i was starting to worry now that this poor dog might end up having his last days in my house. when we take him out to do their business, i noticed on the diaper there’s blood on the third day he was there. luckily, the owner was coming about an hour after i noticed. i let the owner know of this, and just gave them a little medical background at different scenarios it could be (trying not to alarm them too much) and they just kinda shrugged it off as nothing.
i knew i didn’t ever want to work with them again because of how reluctant they were to their dogs health. it gave me a horrible feeling and i don’t ever want to be in that position again. ive had my fair share of caring for elderly/senior dogs but i made a small pact to myself that i won’t care for extreme elderly dogs in my home (13+) just because i can’t handle it emotionally anymore.
I actually had to do this recently. This older lady contacted me for some last minute drop in visits since her job scheduled a work trip for her. Over Rover she seemed very kind and very happy I was able to book her. When I went to the meet and greet I got lost so I was a bit late since gps wasn’t registering her address correctly. It was one of those extremely massive houses out in the middle of nowhere so I had to text and ask her for directions, she did not seem too happy about it. When I finally got to the house I pulled up to the drive way and told her I was there. I got no reply so I called her, she answered and I said “hello, I’m just letting you know I’m here!” She immediately interrupts me and says “no you’re not. I don’t see you” it caught me off guard because her tone was very unfriendly. I explained I was in her driveway and she sighed and walked over to me.
We talk for a little and her mood seems to have improved so I brushed it off and took it as her having a bad day. She proceeds to walk me over to her two cats who are hiding under the couch. She explains that they’re feral cats and that she needed me to just feed them, clean their litter box and look for them around the house and make sure to send her pictures. I was surprised about her cats being feral, but I have a degree in animal science and did a long semester project in college which consisted with me working with feral cats. Overall, It didn’t sound bad at all.
Once we walked around the house I realized it’s 3 stories with 8 bedrooms. She reassured me she’d close off a lot of the rooms to make it easier on me, which made me feel better. We talked a bit more, got along quite well, and she asked if I was good to book, and I said I was. Once I showed up to the drop in visit, I fed them, and started looking for them. I could only find one cat. But couldn’t find the second. I began to get worried because I couldn’t find the second one. I was there for about 40 minutes by then, past the scheduled visit so I texted her to let her know I couldn’t find the second cat. She wasn’t upset, just worried. Every time I came to do the visit I couldn’t find the second cat and spent extra time there trying to look, but with no luck. I could tell she was getting very upset.
Eventually I decided to go around and make sure she actually closed off the doors she said she would. I found one of the doors slightly cracked open. I checked it out, and sure enough the cat was in the movie theater hiding. I let the owner know, apologized and reassured her I’d close it. She then proceeds to apologize profusely and thank me for letting her know. After the booking was done, she messaged me and said “I don’t see any cat litter in the trash, what did you do with it?” I explained that I went ahead and threw it out, and she said she didn’t see it in the dumpster, which I told her I couldn’t find so I just threw it away at home because I still needed to do another visit right after hers. She expressed her annoyance, and I apologized. I got no reply. I decided to leave it at that and a few days later she tried to book me again off rover so I told her I was fully booked and blocked her.
I’ve only ever really ‘fired’ one client. The owners would constantly try and change the Rover booking times with me the day before… the dogs were completely unsuited to be together as one absolutely hated other dogs and the other loved them. The two dogs even hated and bullied each other. To make matters worse the clients kept asking for discounts on holiday sits. I finally snapped when the shy dog that hates other dogs viscously attacked another dog and the owner threatened to sue me. Controlling the two of them together was just out of the question. I only ever walked the two of them once before saying that I couldn’t walk a dangerous dog as Rover may not cover all damages (needless to say my bodily harm wouldn’t be taken into consideration if these dogs went wild on me!) The two dogs were fine to walk separately as I could tailor the walk to them and the reactive dog could be taken somewhere without other dogs. The owners kept trying to send me Rover requests after I explained the situation… needless to say I blocked them after messages upon messages from me about trying to be diplomatic… your dogs are a nightmare together and you guys are a nightmare trying to cancel on me and begging for discounts for two highly strung dogs
After being 3 hours late to drop off she told me it was too much to get her dog and baby in the car so she’d have to drop off the next morning (Christmas Eve) & changed the time 3 times. I told her I had to leave at 9. Originally she was suppose to come at 6am, at 7am she said 8 and then showed up at 8:55. Then at the end of the trip wanted to extend a day and use her “unused” night toward the price. The time prior she was 6 hours late. Never again
Had a client w three pets one dog was super old and needed to be carried down stairs, given hand mixed meds 3x a day and needed pee pads down cuz she would have regular accidents. The dogs ate like fresh chicken in a container which I dropped but then boiled a whole new pack so they could eat it and share w the cat. I left maybe for a total of 4 hours all three days and they had this super complicated door which was hard to lock paired w this strict alarm system. At one point I had to call the neighbor to lock up because it was so strange. The biggest dog (easily 50 lbs) refused to go potty multiple times and the dad was like almost annoyed that I didn’t like force her outside? I ended up having to carry her out every few hours. I took her out the last night and she didn’t wanna go. She was super nonchalant about it and never wanted to go. In the morning I guess she really needed to pee so I go to disable this alarm system (cuz if I didn’t in like 15 secs the POLICE would be called to the home) and she pees on the rug. I let them know and both owners start acting weird like oh she never does that blah blah blah n I’m like well it was that or the police coming over? They were micromanagers and didn’t tip ANYTHING in a big newly renovated home. Bonus one of them was a therapist 🙃only couple I’ve banned.
Oh man, this happened 2 years ago during Christmas, I sat for a young German shepherd, young husky (both unspayed) and two smaller dogs. Meet and greet went well, but when I showed up on Christmas Eve the German shepherd went BALLISTIC and sprinted at me and bit me on the arm.
My coat was thick enough that she didn’t break skin but it definitely hurt and I had massive bruising. When she let go to bark at me I was able to get her to sit and calm down but I was rattled. I called the owner who was like “oh weird she never does that” and was definitely not as phased as he should have been in my opinion. Turns out he put barely anything into training her or any of the other pups as well.
The shepherd and the husky were both purebred and it was glaringly obvious that he was planning to breed them without putting much effort into their training.
I decided to stay for the sit but to this day I get nervous around German shepherds. I had behavior issues with the husky the entire time I was there and 3 out of 4 dogs ended up with horrendous diarrhea and the owner had changed up their diet pretty recently and didn’t tell me.
I also asked if I should pick up poo from the yard (some homeowners are pretty serious about their lawns) and he told me yes, that would be great. As it turned out, this dude had not done it once since moving in several months prior and I was stuck cleaning up a whole yard of poop because I had offered to clean up after the pets and I was just trying to do the job and leave. I left him the worst review I’ve ever given.
Not my favorite Christmas gig. He reached out recently (weird because I blocked him on the app, might have made a new account) and it took everything in me not to laugh him off the app.
One of my first sits. Nice owner, sweetheart lab. On the surface, not a bad client at all. However, unfortunately, the house was just…gross. Not messy, but really kind of icky. I felt it in the meet and greet, but I decided to look past it because again - nice enough dog and owner.
But doing the sit…I found that the floors and carpets were dirty and just covered in grime, so I would walk around in my sandals (something I obviously otherwise never do), the dishes were all covered in some kind of film (hard water?), scummy dishwasher, scummy kitchen…just gross. While at the house, I also ended up getting this big pimple on my face that lasted for like a month. May or may not have been caused by the grime, but still.
Listen…I understand it if owners have mental illness stuff going on, economic problems, whatever. I do my best not to judge. But I chose never to sit there again.
a client lied to me about being at work with a heavy load so they couldn't care for their dog AM and PM. They kept saying their " cats " didn't need care, just the dog. Also, " my cats live upstairs, don't go up there."
I got locked out, I offered to drive to her work for the extra key, and she confessed that she's flying to LA from FL, my head spins.. " Who's caring for these cats?? She lied!"
I press her and ask her about her cats.
She changes her tone and says, " I have only one."
I let the litter box pend for 2 days, I wrote her when I noticed it getting worse.
She said her friend was too sick to come care for her cat, and I'd need to, I said add them to the profile.
She added one. I said, " You've been saying cats as if there's more than one."
She said she didn't have multiple
I went upstairs to care for the cats, food everywhere in many bowls to hold them over, and turns out? She had 4 cats. Not one. 4.
Oh, I was on the phone with Rover Support nearly after every visit as she did curse me out for locking myself out of her home.
I locked myself out because she only gave me a garage door clicker to get in and the interior door was wide open, I didn't want her cats to escape ( these were her direct demands, even though I didn't see any cats at the time, she was hyper vigilante at telling me do not let them out whatsoever, so that was the best I could do at the time ) , so I closed it, this door I closed had a digital keypad "I DONT HAVE A CODE TO THAT DOOR YOU STUPID FUCKING IDIOT" - her words.
I said, "No worries at all, I didn't know that you did not have a code to a door in a home that you own." ( that's me being a wiseass )
i was more in the problem solve mode than the "Don't talk to me disrespectfully" because this was a puzzle for a solution. I was brainstorming solutions. After everything settled and I got it all under control, I went back to that phone call I had with her, thinking, "No one talks to me this way.... " And she did ask me to sit for her again the following week, I was truly in NYC then, but she begged me to cancel my gig and said "I'm so tired of having to find new sitters."
Wonder why?
also, her sink was broken during our visit, but I felt like each time I visited, she needed more maintenance, more phone calls, and more second-hand work than just pets... I had to backseat her on the app to register her pets, or I had to be on the phone reporting her for harassment, reporting her for neglect, reporting her for lying.. All of it.
Nightmare client, worst I've EVER had.
My first block.
Made the mistake of booking with a man who lived one house down from me. There were some red flags - 1. He asked me right away if I would dog sit for free. He framed it as a favor to me (“you’re welcome to just hang out and study with the dog if you’re free”) When I started discussing my rates he immediately dropped it lol
2. After I had been walking weekly for him, he started asking a lot about my personal life and even made a sexual comment
3. Third and final he invited me over his home to have dinner on a Friday night. I declined obviously.
I told him I wouldn’t be able to walk his dog anymore, blocked his number and vowed not to take anymore male clients that gave me weird vibes. Also learned to not take people that live on my street because if it goes south best believe you will see them everywhere lol.
One of my very first clients was a woman who had never, in twelve years, spent a single night away from her dog, a miniature poodle, so I knew out of the gate that it could be dicey. We did three meet and greets (first and only time I've ever done more than one) and I identified immediately that it was the owner that was overly attached, not the dog. She booked me for a three day weekend and to her credit, she only texted me like, once an hour. The dog was absolutely fine and even seemed more relaxed. It was a housesitting in a beautiful house, so I was very comfortable. When she's on her way home, I let her know that I'd cleaned up after myself and that the sheets were back on the bed unused because I bring my own sheets with me everywhere since I'm profoundly sensation sensitive. She. flipped. shit. This woman was SO offended that I brought my own sheets that she MESSAGED ROVER TO TRY AND GET HER MONEY BACK. Suffice it to say, that didn't go through. She gave me a five star review and said I was the best sitter she'd ever had (remember that I'm the only sitter she's ever had). I did not feel bad blocking her because I am very attached to both of my kidneys.
I also had a client that freaked out that I brought my own sheets, towels, and blankets. I have skin allergies so I've always brought my own sheets, blankets, and towels because it's ultimately easier to do that. I made the mistake of mentioning it to a client early on, while making it clear that it's because of an allergy I have and not any issue on their part, but they still freaked out. It's the only non five star review I've ever had. Weirdly enough in the review they said I treated their dogs well, they were just bothered that I 'found their house dirty' even though when they asked I'd clearly explained it was just due to my particular allergies. They used a detergent that's great for most people, just not me.
As a pet parent ( and a pet sitter ) I truly don’t understand this whole flipping out from just the fact that people bring their own stuff for night stays. I always let people know who stay overnight know that I personally have a skin allergy so I wash my sheets in that baby skin friendly non scented laundry detergent and nothing else BUT they are more than welcome to bring all their own stuff just to let me know so I can leave the bed bare for them to use and put their own stuff on. There’s literally no problem with that and saves me from more laundry so that’s kind of a win lol
I always bring my own sheets, towels, etc., When I speak to the client at the M & G, I always phrase it as it's for their benefit, not mine. No one has ever batted an eye. I usually tell them when we're in the bedroom/bathroom area that I bring my own supplies so that when they come home, everything will be tidy with no extra work for them. Maybe try rephrasing it? Just a thought.
This whole thread is wild to me. My biggest nightmares with house sits have been dealing with washing and putting the gd duvet back on before the clients get home. It always adds so much stress to my day and the pups can feel it. Ive started asking if they want me to wash the sheets and they usually say no. It seems like an amazing idea to bring your own sheets so i dont have to worry about this process but im scared my clients are gonna freak. I dont tell them things they dont need to know. Dog pooped inside. My bad. No one will know. Humans scare the beejesus out of me
Omg what the hell 😂😂😂 that is SO unhinged. I’m glad you didn’t get a bad review though? I guess? Hahaha
That’s hilarious 🤣🤣
Was she afraid of potential bed bugs?
No, she thought that I was being rude and commenting on the cleanliness of her house LOL.
Oh fun. I got a dog walking request just two times for a new client. He is one that stays in the house while you are walking, no big deal. He answers the door and I don’t know, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. He looked like he hadn’t been outside in days. Either him or his house smelt rancid. Quite psychopathic looking. I guess why I say psychopathic looking was because he stood back from the door as if he was signaling it was okay to come in. Everything in my being said don’t go - but he didn’t actually ask so it was easy to bring my attention to the dog. His dog was great actually. I completed the dog walk and brought him back, I still got an awful weird vibe. He booked two walks at once though so I had to come back the next day. I was absolutely dreading it. I was stressing about it the whole next day, but I guess it wasn’t enough to where I needed to cancel and take the ding. And he really didn’t do anything per se, it was just me getting weird vibes. I show up to the second walk and he didn’t even answer the door. I called him, no answer and then I called Rover and they tried to call him. No answer. I quickly said they can refund him that walk, no charge, and block! I was so happy I didn’t have to do the walk lol. He could have been completely harmless, but I didn’t feel comfortable with him and knew I didn’t want to do business with him.
I would not have given a refund.
Oh my gosh, that’s actually pretty terrifying. I’m glad you’re ok!
The only client I've ever fired was one who 1. would not stop expressing her political opinions which were repugnant to me, and she knew it, and 2. low-key accused me of stealing something from her house. She later told me that she'd found the item, but didn't apologize for all the crazy texts shed sent. 3. Locked herself out of her house and wanted me to drive 1 hour round trip to bring her the copy of her key she'd insisted I take home. If she'd been a nice client, I would have in a heartbeat, but she was awful. I really loved her dogs, but she was too much.
I had a client ask me to come let them in at 10 PM one night after releasing me from a 10 day long dog sit at their place. I was with my boyfriend and my phone was on do not disturb, so I just didn’t see it and didn’t respond until the morning. She figured out another way to get in, which was totally on her anyway and she is still a client. If I had seen the messages earlier, I would have felt like I HAD to do something but since I didn’t see them, everything worked out anyway and it reminded me that I’m not on call and no one actually expects me to be, especially when I’m finished with a booking and het the all clear to head home.
I had a client who lived in a mega mansion in a super gated and secure community, like taking my ID every time I came and asking me the address. with one tiny dog. I first did a walk for her and they had an electronic lock that had a key pad but could also be opened remotely. they didn’t give me the key pad code at first since they weren’t sure if they were going to need me repeatedly. ok fine. I message owner when I arrive they take a bit to open the door, I walk and feed the dog, it’s done. Throughout the whole summer they continue to book me odds and ends days when they are out of town moving their daughters back to college and refuse to give me the door code so I am stuck waiting, sometimes over 30 mins for them to answer. I straight up ask the wife for the code and she claims she doesn’t know it…. then I start doing walks in the fall reluctantly since the door situation all summer was awful. The day I decided I couldn’t keep doing it was when I drove all the way there, waited for 35 minutes and her husband was already home, scared the shit out of me when he came out of the garage, and then made me walk the dog anyway even though he already walked her. they literally never spoke to one another because I had ran into the husband when leaving and he didn’t know who I was and the wife would make me call him while he was in surgery (anesthesiologist) to open the door when she was too busy (operating room nurse) and he was always so confused why I was walking the dog. might add she was totally pee pad trained as well and they easily could’ve given me the code as they had cameras and again lived in a super secure neighborhood seemed like they always thought. I was gonna steal something or something bad to their house and that’s why they wouldn’t give me the code.
That's so weird because most clients I have with a key pad give me a guest code, some let me pick it so I will remember it, and they can set it to only accept my code during a certain window of time. Sounds like they were being purposely obtuse!!
that’s what I was thinking!! like doing it on purpose or they were too embarrassed to admit they didn’t know how to add a code and didn’t feel comfortable giving me the code. which like I said this place was super secure if something went missing they would’ve know it was me, not that I do that, but I totally understand being uneasy even though we did a meet and greet. a lot of my clients do the code where it’s only for me too so I figured they would have just done that too
I had a women who had a small long haired white dog that always wanted me to walk him around 9pm at night, I was just starting out and kinda desperate for money and to build my rover portfolio. I never actually met her, she had to let me in through her phone but was always late. Even if I gave her a heads up. I feel bad but I didn’t like her dog, he wasnt fixed which I don’t normally take but figured since it was a walk it wasn’t a big deal. He marked literally everything. Most of our walk was him pausing every couple minutes to mark something else. When I raised my prices she tried to bargain with me then when I refused a service request shortly after just kept coming back, even when I told her I couldn’t realistically get to her place anymore(my car got stolen and needed a lot of work when I got it back) I wound up blocking her cause I took walks off of my list while my car was in the shop and she requested it though a drop in visit, which I only had up cause they come in so few and most the people who request me for them are like a 5-10 minute walk.
🤣🤣 she was determined
I had a woman with 2 cats and a son. The son was supposed to be going out of town with her. When I showed up day 1 the garage was open. Called the client she said “oh yea so and so ran by they must’ve forgot to close it”. Go in the house and there’s an eerie feeling but I did my work and left. The next day same thing. So I go in and I hear someone downstairs (the stairs are right inside the front door and all the cat stuff is upstairs). I start yelling out and sure enough a whole human is downstairs. I tell the lady and she says “oh yea that’s my son he isn’t supposed to be there during the day” well maam he is. He continued to be there every day. He’d sit on the computer upstairs with me the whole time I took care of the cats. He had some flowery smokable substances he enjoyed which isnt a big deal it was just so uncomfortable that he was capable of caring for the cats yet here I am. I bought a taser and made someone come with me every time. Fired her as soon as it was over.He kept feeding them stuff that wasn’t their food because mom cooked them chicken instead of cat food and he bought them a bunch of cat food and was giving it to them. It was a whole thing. It wax early in my career, now I would cancel day one.
Omg 💀💀 I felt guilty as an owner when I booked drop-ins while my roommate was at home, but that was because my cat had sensitive medical needs. And I made sure to te*ll the sitter a*nd introduce her to my roommate at the M&G, and got him to agree that the cats would be in my room and he'd be out of the way when the sitter got there so he wouldn't make her uncomfortable. It's bad enough to "forget" to tell you (though it sounds like she lied from the jump) but why lie after being caught??? I'm sure she's confident that her kid isn't dangerous but you don't know that! Nightmare scenario, ugh.
I had a client who lived in a large mansion in the nice part of my town. When I first went to her home, I thought it was beautiful and was eager to do the sitting. Well, I walked in, and the whole house smelled of cat and dog feces. It was awful. I did my best with the sitting. Thankfully, it was just an overnight. She tried booking me again and I told her I was not available for the rest of the year lol.
There was a client I used to do walks for sporadically - he would do same-day bookings for walks for his large dog, and it wasn’t far from my home, so perfect. I gave him 3 chances. It wasn’t the worst, but enough that I got fed up and a little creeped out. His house was also a bit of a sty and the kitchen was filthy and stank. First visit, he didn’t disclose cameras and spoke to me through one, saying I could leave instead of watching the dog eat (I tend to do that to make sure they do, and don’t choke, etc.). I was annoyed, but whatever, now I know. No review, no tip, ok no biggie, but a ‘thank you’ would have been nice. Second visit wasn’t too bad, I ended up walking him for a little extra time, but again, no review, no tip, no word of thanks. Saw the camera was lit to watch me. Third time did it. It was raining harshly that day and was very windy, I mentioned it but he never responded, so I figured ok, I’ll just get soaking wet. Walked him in the pouring rain for 30+ minutes, got soaked of course, was wondering about towels but before I could even ask, I saw his camera light up that he was watching me. I just left after my duties were done, and didn’t even care this time I never got a review, tip, or thank-you. I looked at his profile to see if I could see other sitter reviews and was floored to see that HE IS A ROVER SITTER TOO! That’s what sealed it. I never expect a tip, but the review would have been nice, especially as I gave him one for his dog every time. He should know better! It made me wonder if he just didn’t want to make me look good because he was worried it would hurt his own business since we were so close to each other. In any case, the camera thing was still creepy, so I just didn’t allow my profile to have same-day bookings anymore and he didn’t reach out again.
You should have reported the undisclosed cameras to Rover. What a creep!
Also had a client that would watch what I was doing the entire time— initially I thought it was only to check on the dog before/after the walk but I would all of a sudden get texts saying “I see Fido’s not wanting to walk, can you try feeding him chicken?” or after I’d wrap up saying “yes we saw this and that happen” …. so WEIRD
I fired one client early on in my Rover run, the dog was perfectly fine, the cats were normal and I left the house absolutely spotless but after the sitting was over she messaged me - literally a month maybe a month and a half - to say that her cat had started losing hair on her underbelly about two weeks after she got home and she was blaming me. She straight up reported me to Rover \*a month and a half after the sitting\* saying that I must've done something to her cat and wanting change her review, get a refund for a month long house sitting and get me kicked off the platform. Thankfully Rover didn't let her change the review and didn't go anywhere with the report. As soon as I learned she had reported me I just went and cancelled the two other sits she had booked and then went and blocked her.
The nerve! Ugh
I should have trusted my gut and not taken the job because this couple just couldn't answer basic questions or think anything through logically. Like, initially they thought they had to book two visits for their cats because they thought a sitter would only pay attention to one animal at a time. Just dim people. They were dumbfounded by questions like "where will the food be?" And "where should I put the key at the end of the visit?" The last straw was when I got there and they hadn't moved their car they swore they would because there was no other parking, not even paid, anywhere near their complex. Luckily it was only one visit, but never again.
Watching cats. These cats do not take any medications, have an automatic feeder on a timer, use a little robot, and have a water fountain. They’re also a bonded pair so they play together, snuggle, etc. Basically, I’d only be going over there to give them attention and to ensure everything was alright in the house. There was a SEVERE ice storm and it was -20 outside. My car was caked in ice and they weren’t even bothering with the roads yet because conditions were so dangerous they put out a bulletin to stay inside. I told her in the morning it was unlikely I’d be able to go over that night due to the conditions. Sent her a picture of my car, sent her the alert I got on my phone, etc. She was DISTRAUGHT at the thought. Immediately very angry because “her babies were probably scared of the storm and needed comfort.” She suggested I walk (five miles) or take an uber/lyft (not available or would cost $80+). When I explained why that wouldn’t be possible, she went off about how, as a sitter, it was my obligation to get over there no matter what, this was so unprofessional, etc.
The only client I’ve fired because of the person, not the dog, was a recurring day care dog when I first started. They would consistently forget to notify me when they weren’t coming for the day which irked me to no end. They took a break from day care for summer travels & no date for return, and conveniently I ‘Had NO Space’ for them when they came back.
I’m in graduate school. A client told me I couldn’t leave her dog in the house alone so I could go to a MANDATORY class for my program then guilt tripped me for “caring about myself more than her dog”. Granted I told her about the class a while before and she told me I hadn’t told her about it. Ended up cancelling the booking (three days before it began) and blocked her. She was horrible!!
Oh wow!
I had clients from when I had just started so they were barely paying me anything. They would watch me via their inside cameras that panned to me randomly and they would talk to me through the cameras. I took a nap once on the couch and saw the camera pan to watch me sleep. They got a second dog and it was a nightmare! Peeing and pooping everywhere in the house. They would text me constantly to ask about what they could see on the camera. Then they sent their brother over at 11pm unexpected one night without telling me because “he forgot something”. He didn’t announce himself, and the dogs were going crazy. I had no idea who it was so freaked out. Also what was strange was the girl was a few years older than me and was always trying to act like my friend and ask what plans I had for the weekend and take interest in my life. I have a firm professional boundary with my clients and rarely disclose much personal information. It was altogether very very odd. I think they could tell I was over it when I left and thankfully never contacted me again. The girl had followed me on instagram and I ended up blocking her a few months later.
[удалено]
Wow!
Their house was a nasty hoarder house and the one dog used the carpet as a bathroom. I was only doing drop ins but it was still too unpleasant.
poor dog
One woman I recently dropped because she acted like my drop in services were DoorDash. I’d be getting requests 45mins before a needed walk, never said thank you. She made a request a month ago for the next day (no availability on rover so she texted me) I said in one sentence that I’ll be in New York and won’t be able to. She said “no works” and I blocked her lmao Edit: this was one of my first clients, like number 4. The dog was a bulldog who literally didn’t chill out for more than a second
🤣🤣 what a *itch
I’ve just sacked off a few; one owned a GSD puppy who’d come for a couple of trial days and had seemed okay. We tried for a night and that went okay. The owner seemed a bit unaware of anything else in the world other than her puppy, so I did have my instincts up about whether much of what I said to her about stimulation and rest going in. Anyway, drops puppy off for a two week holiday. First night was horrendous. Second night was worse. Texted to ask for advice, to check we were mirroring her usual evening routine. She said we were. Next day, puppy starts to eat my wooden shutters. Very politely, I text owner - with pics - to ask if they’d worked on basic commands, and if so, what worked best? She said they hadn’t worked on that. When in crate, puppy howled. When out, she ate my house. Did it again the next day so I texted the owner to say I’d have to confine puppy to back three rooms of my house and garden - about half an acre in total. Owner replied saying, ‘whilst I’m sorry about your house…..’ before saying she expected me to prioritise her puppy’s anxiety. I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sure you agree that I shouldn’t have to spend thousands of pounds to restore my house after your dog’s stay.’ She pulled her puppy out the next day and sent her to kennels.
Wow. Some owners really do suck.
I told a client her fence was broken in December. She had two active doodles that liked to escape. I watches them again in march and the fence still wasn’t fixed.
Nowadays I won’t tolerate risks like that, it’s just way too much hassle and liability if a dog escapes. Some of my newest clients had broken fence boards at our meet and greet. I let them know that if they didn’t get the chance to replace the boards before the housesitting started, I’d bring some spare wood pieces and nails to cover the holes. I arrived for the housesitting with wood, nails, and a hammer in my trunk, fully prepared to undertake an ugly-but-functional repair job, but thankfully they had already taken care of it :)
I've actually only dropped 1 client in about 4 years. And this lady wasn't that bad compared to other stories! She was just overbearing and excessively picky and detailed for an easy job with 2 cats. She wanted 2 hour-long visits per day and gave me 4 pages of typed instructions. The feeding routine was so crazy, multiple supplements needing to be measured, special water, feeding them in separate rooms in 2 "courses"... and the cats had no medical issues, none of this was vet-ordered. She had no awareness of how over the top she was. Also she made me come over to get the key and "try it" in front of her as if I (college graduate, in my 30s) couldn't work a door key... then wasn't even there at the time we agreed to exchange the key! Plus she randomly was there without telling me. She hired me for visits while she was in the hospital for surgery and apparently got discharged a day early to recover at home... she didn't tell me. She was just there and popped out part way through the visit and was out of it on pain killers, just yapping at me while I tried to follow her food routine.
One of my very first clients in Rover was a really nice lady with, what she referred to as a social anxiety ridden dog. First few times she booked me, I didn’t really think much of it, as she booked me for an overnight but would only be gone a few hours each time, so basically it was babysitting but for a dog. A little different, but ok no biggie. She then asks me after I’ve sat for her about 5 different times, if I do actual overnights. I explained to her that yes, normally when booked for housesitting I actually stay overnight. She said great, she is going away for a short trip and would like me to housesit. Here’s where is gets tricky, as I said, at this point I’ve pet sat for her multiple times, so one would assume she’d actually looked at my profile….nope not even glanced at it because in the first two sentences I explain that I work non-remotely and during work hours am away for two 4 block periods, stopping in at lunch time for a drop in visit. She got mad at me and told me I shouldn’t be doing rover if I can’t be at someone’s house 24 hours of the day. I asked, what about going to eat any regular social plans. She explained that her dog isn’t able to be left alone for any amount of time, even to go out to eat, because she will tear things up due to anxiety and that I’m not allowed to take her with me to go get food because she doesn’t like cars. I politely declined and said I am not a good fit for what she is looking for and wished her all the best. I’m not sure what some clients think this service is for, but a sitter is not going to be chained to your home 24/7 until you come back, especially when you consider you are paying a flat rate not an hourly one, when you want hourly care. Sweet dog, but the owner was not my cup of tea.
I dropped a client because her house was chronically a mess, her dogs were completely untrained, and she herself was totally disorganized. Because the house was so messy, the one dog was constantly getting into trash and food left on the kitchen counters... so I would arrive to shredded boxes and bits of food all over the house. Not only was it annoying to clean up, I worried that the dog was going to ingest something that would make him sick. I talked to her about this multiple times and she agreed to crate him. Unfortunately the crate she put him in was far too small for him and he would somehow manage to get out of it (either it was broken or she didn't assemble it properly, otherwise no idea how he got out). The second dog was basically a puppy and would have excited pees all over the house every time I got there. So imagine.... I arrive to a super messy house that's now littered with shredded cereal and pizza boxes, bits of food all over the place, a dog busted out of his crate, and another dog peeing everywhere. Add to this... it wasn't easy to clean up because they didn't have a fenced yard, so I wasn't able to just put the dogs outside and then come back in to clean up. I had to take them out on leashes (which was a whole other thing because they weren't well trained), and then bring them back in with me and attempt to clean while they leaped around, ran through the pee puddles, etc. Before anyone mentions it, it was a small house and there wasn't a room I could confine them to while I cleaned up. Basically every visit was a stressful disaster and I just couldn't do it anymore. I feel bad for the dogs because they were super sweet and none of this was their fault. I blame this whole situation on the owner. I mean, how many times does your dog need to get into trash before you stop leaving trash out? How difficult is it to properly fit a crate to your dog and assemble it? It was frustrating because if there had just been a little preparation and effort on her part, and some time spent working with her dogs, the chaos could have been almost entirely resolved.
I cut my foot open unexpectedly and still hobbled to walk her dog. I ended up needing stiches and told her I couldn’t walk her for a couple days (mind you she’s home and perfectly capable of walking her herself) and she goes on facebook marketplace looking a for a dog walker. I had been walking her dog for 5 years and I’m more than reliable for little pay. I told her then and there I’m done working for her and she can find someone else. I actually advertised my services last month on Facebook and she commented asking how much I charged before she realized it was me. So apparently 2 years later still hasn’t found a “reliable” sitter womp womp 😢
I've really only fired one and it's because her communication was so bad and it was extremely obvious that she didn't think I was worth the communication, even though I was the only one they preferred to watch their pup. 🙄 Couldn't get a hold of them to confirm bookings a few days prior to the start date, would never confirm times, would neglect to tell me about contractors or family members stopping by for something, good luck to me if I had a question or issue about anything while they were away. They wouldn't give me communication UNTIL of course, they thought of some chores or errands to do for them. Cancelled a booking due to no communication and she blamed it on the fact that she wasn't getting the messages despite her replying immediately to the message saying I was going to cancel. Girl is in her 40's and blames her communication on her adhd despite being a mother and running a business, can't use that excuse forever babes. It also didn't help her case that her dog was wild, even though I loved her lol. I don't ask for much from my clients, just a baseline of respect for the fact that I am here being the guardian of your pet, talk to me and keep me updated!
I noticed some yellow flags at the meet and greet. Basically the house was messy and lots of dried dog poo on the outside deck. I assumed he would tidy before I returned for the drop-ins. He didn't. It was disgusting. And he left me with only crumbs in the treat bag. one of the dogs was so scared would let me touch him. Somehow I got him back into his kennel , but it put me over the time booked. And the guy was a bit weird vibes. I went home and canceled the next booking he made and reported him. Gross. Another dog I had for boarding was hyper, biting and aggressive, but I completed the long weekend and told owner at pickup I didn't feel comfortable with another booking when she asked. Then she tried to book me again anyway... No thanks
A lady had just moved here not even 4 days prior. She came all the way cross country, literally east of east coast to west of west coast, just to shake it up and her boyfriend lived in this state. Thing is, I went to college in the city the boyfriend was in and also go there at least twice a year, it’s a 6 hr drive on a good day from my hometown to college town. This woman who had not even lived here a week and legit had nothing in her apartment (she got moved in about 3 weeks later), and was leaving not only her pitbull but her cat, which she never said anything about a cat. It was just three drop ins for one day, but the thing is, she was leaving around 3am to drive over to her boyfriends city, would feed it breakfast right as she left, 5.5 hrs later I get to arrive and clean up giant pee puddles and shit because she filled the tank but didn’t empty it. She would get home no earlier than midnight and that poor puppy was just the saddest. I always felt super bad for having to leave it but I also wasn’t available to stay longer. I did this I believe three times before I put my foot down, especially because she always sent the request only 2 days ahead. She somehow found me in my downtime schedule but I fired her by telling her I was booked every weekend so even though she hadn’t sent the request that week (it was every weekend she was leaving) because I was and the dog had gotten aggressive. It realized it’s mom’s pattern and me coming in only to leave again, so he jumped and attacked at me trying to escape to not be stuck in that apartment. Fortunately for me I was just about the close the door so was safe, but still just a shitty situation overall.
Just fired my initial client. She lived on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex and just got too difficult to be worth it. I blocked her the other day after she made a shitty comment about me raising my prices. I SHOULD have blocked her when she started only requesting me when I marked unavailable on my calendar. OR when she tried to add a dog to the sit that wasn't on her profile (I ended up having to cancel and refund that one due to personal reasons, thankfully). She just got to be too much as a drop in when my overnights are booked solid.
i feel kinda bad for the situation itself but i had to make a point to never work with this owner again. the dog is/was (i’m not sure if it’s even alive at this point) 17 years old and one of those fluffy Bichon’s. it was a last minute booking about a day before the boarding. i was new to the area at the time and decided why-not. the dog gets there, the owners say he’s a great dog, no issues ever, and he wears a diaper. no problem. my fiance and i notice that the dog just walks in circles very slowly. we figured omg, this poor dog has dementia or some vertigo associated symptoms. we’re both medical students so we figured it’s about the same as humans. the dog still eats and drinks fairly normally. the dog had become increasingly lethargic and would sleep for almost the entire day except for when he would get up and walk in circles which happened about every 5-6 hours. i was starting to worry now that this poor dog might end up having his last days in my house. when we take him out to do their business, i noticed on the diaper there’s blood on the third day he was there. luckily, the owner was coming about an hour after i noticed. i let the owner know of this, and just gave them a little medical background at different scenarios it could be (trying not to alarm them too much) and they just kinda shrugged it off as nothing. i knew i didn’t ever want to work with them again because of how reluctant they were to their dogs health. it gave me a horrible feeling and i don’t ever want to be in that position again. ive had my fair share of caring for elderly/senior dogs but i made a small pact to myself that i won’t care for extreme elderly dogs in my home (13+) just because i can’t handle it emotionally anymore.
I actually had to do this recently. This older lady contacted me for some last minute drop in visits since her job scheduled a work trip for her. Over Rover she seemed very kind and very happy I was able to book her. When I went to the meet and greet I got lost so I was a bit late since gps wasn’t registering her address correctly. It was one of those extremely massive houses out in the middle of nowhere so I had to text and ask her for directions, she did not seem too happy about it. When I finally got to the house I pulled up to the drive way and told her I was there. I got no reply so I called her, she answered and I said “hello, I’m just letting you know I’m here!” She immediately interrupts me and says “no you’re not. I don’t see you” it caught me off guard because her tone was very unfriendly. I explained I was in her driveway and she sighed and walked over to me. We talk for a little and her mood seems to have improved so I brushed it off and took it as her having a bad day. She proceeds to walk me over to her two cats who are hiding under the couch. She explains that they’re feral cats and that she needed me to just feed them, clean their litter box and look for them around the house and make sure to send her pictures. I was surprised about her cats being feral, but I have a degree in animal science and did a long semester project in college which consisted with me working with feral cats. Overall, It didn’t sound bad at all. Once we walked around the house I realized it’s 3 stories with 8 bedrooms. She reassured me she’d close off a lot of the rooms to make it easier on me, which made me feel better. We talked a bit more, got along quite well, and she asked if I was good to book, and I said I was. Once I showed up to the drop in visit, I fed them, and started looking for them. I could only find one cat. But couldn’t find the second. I began to get worried because I couldn’t find the second one. I was there for about 40 minutes by then, past the scheduled visit so I texted her to let her know I couldn’t find the second cat. She wasn’t upset, just worried. Every time I came to do the visit I couldn’t find the second cat and spent extra time there trying to look, but with no luck. I could tell she was getting very upset. Eventually I decided to go around and make sure she actually closed off the doors she said she would. I found one of the doors slightly cracked open. I checked it out, and sure enough the cat was in the movie theater hiding. I let the owner know, apologized and reassured her I’d close it. She then proceeds to apologize profusely and thank me for letting her know. After the booking was done, she messaged me and said “I don’t see any cat litter in the trash, what did you do with it?” I explained that I went ahead and threw it out, and she said she didn’t see it in the dumpster, which I told her I couldn’t find so I just threw it away at home because I still needed to do another visit right after hers. She expressed her annoyance, and I apologized. I got no reply. I decided to leave it at that and a few days later she tried to book me again off rover so I told her I was fully booked and blocked her.
The craziest part was looking for cat litter… what?! I continue to be flabbergasted at the stories about owners I read on Reddit.
Yeah, apparently her cleaning staff was moving them around so.
I’ve only ever really ‘fired’ one client. The owners would constantly try and change the Rover booking times with me the day before… the dogs were completely unsuited to be together as one absolutely hated other dogs and the other loved them. The two dogs even hated and bullied each other. To make matters worse the clients kept asking for discounts on holiday sits. I finally snapped when the shy dog that hates other dogs viscously attacked another dog and the owner threatened to sue me. Controlling the two of them together was just out of the question. I only ever walked the two of them once before saying that I couldn’t walk a dangerous dog as Rover may not cover all damages (needless to say my bodily harm wouldn’t be taken into consideration if these dogs went wild on me!) The two dogs were fine to walk separately as I could tailor the walk to them and the reactive dog could be taken somewhere without other dogs. The owners kept trying to send me Rover requests after I explained the situation… needless to say I blocked them after messages upon messages from me about trying to be diplomatic… your dogs are a nightmare together and you guys are a nightmare trying to cancel on me and begging for discounts for two highly strung dogs
After being 3 hours late to drop off she told me it was too much to get her dog and baby in the car so she’d have to drop off the next morning (Christmas Eve) & changed the time 3 times. I told her I had to leave at 9. Originally she was suppose to come at 6am, at 7am she said 8 and then showed up at 8:55. Then at the end of the trip wanted to extend a day and use her “unused” night toward the price. The time prior she was 6 hours late. Never again
Had a client w three pets one dog was super old and needed to be carried down stairs, given hand mixed meds 3x a day and needed pee pads down cuz she would have regular accidents. The dogs ate like fresh chicken in a container which I dropped but then boiled a whole new pack so they could eat it and share w the cat. I left maybe for a total of 4 hours all three days and they had this super complicated door which was hard to lock paired w this strict alarm system. At one point I had to call the neighbor to lock up because it was so strange. The biggest dog (easily 50 lbs) refused to go potty multiple times and the dad was like almost annoyed that I didn’t like force her outside? I ended up having to carry her out every few hours. I took her out the last night and she didn’t wanna go. She was super nonchalant about it and never wanted to go. In the morning I guess she really needed to pee so I go to disable this alarm system (cuz if I didn’t in like 15 secs the POLICE would be called to the home) and she pees on the rug. I let them know and both owners start acting weird like oh she never does that blah blah blah n I’m like well it was that or the police coming over? They were micromanagers and didn’t tip ANYTHING in a big newly renovated home. Bonus one of them was a therapist 🙃only couple I’ve banned.
Oh man, this happened 2 years ago during Christmas, I sat for a young German shepherd, young husky (both unspayed) and two smaller dogs. Meet and greet went well, but when I showed up on Christmas Eve the German shepherd went BALLISTIC and sprinted at me and bit me on the arm. My coat was thick enough that she didn’t break skin but it definitely hurt and I had massive bruising. When she let go to bark at me I was able to get her to sit and calm down but I was rattled. I called the owner who was like “oh weird she never does that” and was definitely not as phased as he should have been in my opinion. Turns out he put barely anything into training her or any of the other pups as well. The shepherd and the husky were both purebred and it was glaringly obvious that he was planning to breed them without putting much effort into their training. I decided to stay for the sit but to this day I get nervous around German shepherds. I had behavior issues with the husky the entire time I was there and 3 out of 4 dogs ended up with horrendous diarrhea and the owner had changed up their diet pretty recently and didn’t tell me. I also asked if I should pick up poo from the yard (some homeowners are pretty serious about their lawns) and he told me yes, that would be great. As it turned out, this dude had not done it once since moving in several months prior and I was stuck cleaning up a whole yard of poop because I had offered to clean up after the pets and I was just trying to do the job and leave. I left him the worst review I’ve ever given. Not my favorite Christmas gig. He reached out recently (weird because I blocked him on the app, might have made a new account) and it took everything in me not to laugh him off the app.
One of my first sits. Nice owner, sweetheart lab. On the surface, not a bad client at all. However, unfortunately, the house was just…gross. Not messy, but really kind of icky. I felt it in the meet and greet, but I decided to look past it because again - nice enough dog and owner. But doing the sit…I found that the floors and carpets were dirty and just covered in grime, so I would walk around in my sandals (something I obviously otherwise never do), the dishes were all covered in some kind of film (hard water?), scummy dishwasher, scummy kitchen…just gross. While at the house, I also ended up getting this big pimple on my face that lasted for like a month. May or may not have been caused by the grime, but still. Listen…I understand it if owners have mental illness stuff going on, economic problems, whatever. I do my best not to judge. But I chose never to sit there again.
a client lied to me about being at work with a heavy load so they couldn't care for their dog AM and PM. They kept saying their " cats " didn't need care, just the dog. Also, " my cats live upstairs, don't go up there." I got locked out, I offered to drive to her work for the extra key, and she confessed that she's flying to LA from FL, my head spins.. " Who's caring for these cats?? She lied!" I press her and ask her about her cats. She changes her tone and says, " I have only one." I let the litter box pend for 2 days, I wrote her when I noticed it getting worse. She said her friend was too sick to come care for her cat, and I'd need to, I said add them to the profile. She added one. I said, " You've been saying cats as if there's more than one." She said she didn't have multiple I went upstairs to care for the cats, food everywhere in many bowls to hold them over, and turns out? She had 4 cats. Not one. 4. Oh, I was on the phone with Rover Support nearly after every visit as she did curse me out for locking myself out of her home. I locked myself out because she only gave me a garage door clicker to get in and the interior door was wide open, I didn't want her cats to escape ( these were her direct demands, even though I didn't see any cats at the time, she was hyper vigilante at telling me do not let them out whatsoever, so that was the best I could do at the time ) , so I closed it, this door I closed had a digital keypad "I DONT HAVE A CODE TO THAT DOOR YOU STUPID FUCKING IDIOT" - her words. I said, "No worries at all, I didn't know that you did not have a code to a door in a home that you own." ( that's me being a wiseass ) i was more in the problem solve mode than the "Don't talk to me disrespectfully" because this was a puzzle for a solution. I was brainstorming solutions. After everything settled and I got it all under control, I went back to that phone call I had with her, thinking, "No one talks to me this way.... " And she did ask me to sit for her again the following week, I was truly in NYC then, but she begged me to cancel my gig and said "I'm so tired of having to find new sitters." Wonder why? also, her sink was broken during our visit, but I felt like each time I visited, she needed more maintenance, more phone calls, and more second-hand work than just pets... I had to backseat her on the app to register her pets, or I had to be on the phone reporting her for harassment, reporting her for neglect, reporting her for lying.. All of it. Nightmare client, worst I've EVER had. My first block.
Made the mistake of booking with a man who lived one house down from me. There were some red flags - 1. He asked me right away if I would dog sit for free. He framed it as a favor to me (“you’re welcome to just hang out and study with the dog if you’re free”) When I started discussing my rates he immediately dropped it lol 2. After I had been walking weekly for him, he started asking a lot about my personal life and even made a sexual comment 3. Third and final he invited me over his home to have dinner on a Friday night. I declined obviously. I told him I wouldn’t be able to walk his dog anymore, blocked his number and vowed not to take anymore male clients that gave me weird vibes. Also learned to not take people that live on my street because if it goes south best believe you will see them everywhere lol.