We have sent a lot of messages to different dog walkers, each one is in our area and shows they are available. But we have not gotten a single response back. Why would that be?
I’d suggest calling rover. They can contact sitters upon your behalf and also review those who did not reply.
That is surprising because Rover has communicated that sitters who don’t respond timely to initial request from each dog owner, will be penalized (via computer algorythm showing their profile lower than others).
Not only is it surprising, but nearly impossible if all the sitters are real people. If Rover contacts a sitter on an owner’s behalf, what does the message say? Does it say “john needs a sitter and we selected you?”
It’s not impossible because the platform only allows so many requests at a time. Generally when rover sends a text on behalf of an owner, it has the owner&pet name and has the formatting very similar to a direct contact, often sent to a few sitters at time, asking for reply, (not “we selected you”)
Chris, I can't actually see your profile for you and your dog/s but make sure it is complete with photos and details about your animals. Also not sure how far in advance your are requesting but sometimes that matters. Finally make sure in your requests you are detailing your flexibility.