Although I charge $29 per day, I have a repeat client that I charge $22 per day because I just love his dog so much, haha. He is only one of two clients with this low rate.
Today he said he'd be gone for about a month, and was asking for a discount. I mean, I guess I can, but I just feel he's already getting me cheap. How can I convey this nicely to him? I normally don't do long-term discounts.
No, there's no reason why you should offer him a further discount. Tell him that you have already been giving him a 24% discount off your published Rover rate of $29 because you adore taking care of his dog. If another client asked for an extended stay discount, which you don't really offer, all you might give is, perhaps, 10% off, so he's really getting a bargain. Tell him that you hope he understands and that you cannot really go any lower.
Tell him he is already getting a discounted rate and you cannot afford to give him any additional discounts. I had a similar situation where I gave a client the long-term discount for a 2-week stay and they asked for the same rate on a short term, 5 day request. I told them that the discount was only offered because of the extended stay and I could not offer it for anything shorter. Unfortunately they didn't book the shorter stay, but I was ok with that because I needed a break from clients. :-)
Be prepared for some pushback or him to go elsewhere. Be polite but firm. You are a business and have the right to charge whatever you want, and remind him he's already getting a discount. Your time and care are worth more than what he's asking for.
I would tell him what you are telling us.
If you are asking for personal opinions, I personally would give him maybe $1 off additional per day or just $15 off of his total bill because it is going to be a long stay. The problem with that, however, is opening the door to haggling. Haggling diminishes your worth. So if I offered an additional discount I'd be careful about how I did it.
You may also want to point out that you are only able to keep so many animals and that it would take away from you being able to receive your full rate during the time he was gone. Sometimes people don't think these things through.
You already gave them a discount so I wouldn't give another. I'd let them know you're already discounting them