Do you charge for a requested overnight meet & greet?

Jennifer,

What you are describing is not a M&G. The owners want a "test run" with their dog and you of limited duration before they commit to a longer stay. This is an excellent idea and I just had one of those myself with a new dog.

As you said a M&G is fairly brief. This should be treated as a one-night booking. I looked at your rates and the owners shouldn't balk since you charge so little as is.

I suggest you have them book for one night and have them drop off the dog in the morning and then plan for a pick up the next day at the same time. With this schedule, you lessen the possibility of having to deal with problems in the evening hours. The dog can get used to you during the day by going on walks, which really helps them get acclimated. In the evening, they can get stressed.

On another post in this forum, a sitter wanted to charge for a meet and greet. You can try to do that. Be prepared for pushback because it’s more common for the meet and greet to be free.

The purpose of a meet and greet is for both parties (client & sitter) decide If it’s a good match.

I would not charge for a meet and greet, because I have met dogs that were not a match and let them know right then and there, no booking happened. If I had charged them for the meet and greet, I don’t know how smoothly that conversation would have gone.

Side note: you can meet wherever you want, but I prefer places with little to no other stimuli, so I definitely would not meet in a dog park. Usually if it’s for housesitting, I meet near their home and if it’s for boarding, near mine. Rover used to require posting photos of your home and yard/area where walk/play for potential clients to view.

Words of wisdom: Be prepared. Some pets nerves impact them when staying away from home. Even for trained adult dogs: There may be a lot more barking, whining, pacing, peeing indoors, door darting, and other destructive tendencies. Most experienced sitters would likely advise: Have pet gates, or indoor playpen, or indoor fences, urinary belly band wraps, possibly diapers fitting sizes of all dogs you'll board available, as well as extra bowls for water/food, beds, leashes, collar with tag with your emergency phone #, and really closely evaluate any security threats in your yard. Also, It benefits you to plan to stay with the dog and not leave it alone in your home for a minimum of the first 24 hours. Some dogs can’t be left at all without either destruction to your home or themselves having issues. That means taking care of everything you need before those dogs arrive.