How do you deal with pup parents that are not very honest about their dog?

It might help if you look at the situation from a different perspective. Maybe the owners are honest and dog doesn't chew at home or have separation anxiety when left at their own home. Look at the situation from the dogs point of view. They have been deserted by their family and left at a strange house with strange people. I try to prevent these behaviors by keeping them busy. I walk each dog 30-45 minutes a day (15 min for older or toy breeds). I provide a lot of durable dog toys (Nylabone, Kong, Leaps & Bounds, Petstages). I have a basket for larger dogs and one for smaller dogs. As for myself, pet sitting isn't "playing with dogs all day". It's takes work to keep a harmonious dog pack going and I find it normal to have mis-haps like dogs peeing inside on the first day. I keep my carpet shampooer handy and a supply of pee pads. Having an extra large crate, x-pens, baby gates and puppy-proofing your house like you would for a child helps tremendously. I hope this helps.

Nicole, I feel for you, and I understand how you are feeling. I recently have had similar experience with not very honest owners. It also made me question why I even bother to be a dog sitter. My way to deal with this negative experience is stop accepting new clients (for a while), and book only with repeat clients who I know are nice/reasonable owners and good dogs. They help cheer me up and maybe one day I will be willing to accept new guests again. I agree with Mark that you should contact Rover and find a suitable substitute. From my point of view, chewing and destroying things and other bad behaviors were NOT what you signed up for based on the previous meet and greet. I believe you had every right to contact the owners in a professional manner and discuss alternative solutions instead of you and your family suffering through the whole stay. Owners should evaluate their dogs and judge if they should go into someone's home or not. I've been a Rover sitter for more than 4 years, and I've met very reasonable owners who would gracefully find solutions during stays when mishaps happened, and others would leave an emergency phone numbers if their dogs are not behaving. But there are some that just feel entitled to everything because they pay you a fee. Dog sitting is a business for Rover and a business for every dog sitter. In other businesses, if reality is different than what it was agreed upon, there would be negotiations or the deal is off. Why should dog sitter be any different? I love dogs and I enjoy dog sitting most of the time, but I aspire to be strong when doing business.

One thing that has helped me is to have an extra M & G just with the dog. Several times now I've had the owner bring the dog to stay for 3 or 4 hr. at no charge, or if they're willing, a day care booking. Not only do I get a better reading of the dog, but when he comes back for his/her long stay they are already feeling at home. I'm sure that's not practical for everybody to do but it works for me. I can see in a few hours any unwanted behavior I need to be prepared for. For instance, one dog recently demonstrated that she loves to pee on pillows, so I've been able to prepare properly for her & saved myself a lot of aggravation.

So typically for boarding, I have meet and greets in my home. Then, if everything seems to be going pretty well, I'll have the owner leave the apartment and wait outside to gauge for separation anxiety. It's possible that many of these dogs have never boarded before, and the owners may not know how the dogs will react in a boarding situation. I like to ask if the dog is used to daycare or boarding.

I also like to check the dog's boarding pictures here on Rover to see if they've had a history of jumping from sitter to sitter.

I also JUST had this experience yesterday. An owner came over and clearly lied about the age of the dog on their profile. When he walked in within seconds I said "Are you sure hes not a puppy" and he said oh no hes full grown. I did some research and that Sheppard dog was NOT full grown, it was as big as my chihuahua. They were trying to rush the booking also. After observing the dog, and looking up the breed the owner claimed it is, I came to the conclusion it was NOT full grown at all, and immediately cancelled the booking upon further investigation. I would have hated to come home from a trip to the grocery store to find my house ruined. The owner also knew nothing about his own dog, so I had to research the breed myself. It is really sad because I hate turning people away, but you have to think about things that can happen and its not worth having to worry if you have to step out for an hour what you are coming home to.

I have gotten very lucky and had an amazing streak of older, easy going dogs. I would definitely remove your puppy service on your profile page. I also included in my bio types of behaviors I will not accept, and to please refrain from booking me if the dog has these traits such as not potty trained or destructive behaviors, because I cannot accept them. It really does help having someone read that and maybe second guess booking you knowing you are serious. To me its not worth the money if you have to turn around and replace your carpet or furniture, so its better to be safe than sorry! There are some sitters who will just take any and every dog that they get requested and I am not one of those people, I like having a nice house and a safe environment for the dog I am sitting as well.

So sorry you've been experiencing difficult stays! That can be really exhausting and discouraging.
We've had our share of difficulties, but I've never really felt deceived by an owner. For me, the point of my Meet and Greets is to figure out what kind of lifestyle the dog is used to, so that we can know how to prepare for a smooth transition into our lifestyle. I ask the owner questions, but I also read the dog for myself. One of the roughest stays I've done was for a client who brought her two dogs for a Meet and Greet about 6 months before she wound up traveling. One of her dogs went from a puppy to an adolescent in the interim, and ended up having a hard time in our environment. Could I have picked that up during a Meet and Greet? Maybe, but not one 6 months out. I'm also a HUGE believer in supervision. Most of the dogs are limited to the doggy area of our home; no one gets free roam. If I think they're going to have housetraining/manners issues, supervision is tightened.

You're not alone with that.

I require dog I watch to be crate trained. Helps shift out ones with seperation issues, potty issues. I always say that I want the dog to be safe if I need to step out. And that I'm being fair to my resident dog. However I think I'll need to update that to say that dog needs to be okay with being crated for the entire time I'm gone which could be up to 4 hours.

However I find owners either overestimate their dogs abilities or straight out omit it. Like you said where you talk with them afterwards and its like oh yea she doesn't like to share her toys. Etc. This question is very similar to one I put out and am waiting for feedback. My thing is either I'll have to be pretty blunt with the questions (which I'm not comfortable doing) or eles maybe I have to kennel them while owner in room. Like if your dog can't handle being in kennel while you're there, probably can't handle overnights. Thoughts?

Another thing I just did was cut back my days open. That way even if problems arise, it's only for day or two.

Wouldn't you require dogs be crate trained, accompanied with their crate? I.e., don't trust a dog until you've observed it. Crate them if you have to leave (especially if you haven't observed trustworthiness). If an owner misleads you about the dog's crate training, contact Rover to place it with a suitable substitute (someone who can provide 24-hour presence).

I don't think owners would lie as much as having limited experience (maybe they only boarded with cousin Pat -- who the dog saw every week. Maybe other boarders didn't have venetian blinds, or other dogs were present who calmed the dog.). There are so many variables, I wouldn't feel safe when Rover's terms of service say property damage is our responsibility. When it comes down to no responsibility on the pet owner, it's just reality that you can't trust what you haven't seen with your own eyes.

That's how I think about it. You either have to have some backup support (friends/family) so you're not stuck at home for a week. Or, you have to require crates (and trust as you experience the dog, test it with 2-minute absences, then 5, and 10).