How to handle when an owner misrepresents their dog?

A Late boarding request is first red flag. An owner who did not want meet& greet or rushed to get through one quickly is second red flag. To be safe, interpret “Moderate” the same as “high” energy when boarded. Consider moderate & high energy dogs as hyper, high maintenance, and needy. If a dog is consistently lazy, it would have been listed as low energy. For new clients, you can try to minimize negative surprises by encouraging the owner or telling the owner that they need to book a shorter stay, such as daycare, before booking overnight stays.

I would consider that this owner may not have intentionally misrepresented her dog. Her dog could act completely differently when at home, with its family. When a dog is away from home, with strange humans and strange other pets, it can react differently and seek to bond by jumping on furniture and whining and crying if it can’t be with a human. Some sitters might tell you that to avoid the dog being on your furniture they only accept crate train dogs and ask the owner to bring the dog’s crate. However while the dog is in a crate, it can whine and cry all night which would still disrupt your sleep. As for the accidents inside, those also can be due to nerves (camping in a strange place, strange humans, pets) and likewise the owner may not be aware because it’s not something seen at home/ only when boarded elsewhere ( unless a previous sitter informed her, she wouldn’t know ).

A lot of people are clueless, and have no idea what kind of a dog they actually own. This person was probably told he was buying a toy poodle. I have seen many people believing they owned a certain breed while they didn't. I have seen amstaffs and APBT listed as labrador retrievers or jack russells.

Also remember, when boarding dogs you have never met before (in your case, you didn't do a meet and greet), these pup are nervous and scared, they are being thrown into different environment, their owner is leaving them with a stranger just like that. Most of these dogs will bark and run around and freak out and will pee everywhere even if you take them out every hour. It happens to everyone. It's hard and difficult for everyone involved, even the dog. I stopped boarding dogs for this exact reason. I had sleepless nights and pee and poop at my place and I could not deal with it anymore. I do have dog diapers ready. I used to request the owners bring a crate, a blanket the dog sleeps on, toys, own bowls and leashes, PLUS a used t-shirt with the owner's scent to keep in the crate for the dog.

Always do a meet and greet or set up a play date to see how they are at your home for a few hours. Sometimes owners aren't purposely misrepresenting their dogs, their pup might just behave differently without their owner in a new environment that they aren't used to. Set a limit for yourself when it comes to last minute boarding requests. I personally don't take clients that I don't have at least 3 days notice for.

I’ve come to realize that 9/10 people “misrepresent” their dog. Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best!

Sometimes, (if it’s really outrageous / blatant ‘failure to disclose’), I’ll mention it in one of my checkins (sending pics/updates) and don’t be afraid to request additional money if it’s costing you more.

Far too often i find myself going SO far out of my way to “be a people pleaser,” but it just leads to being completely walked all over. Evaluate if you really want them as a repeat client and don’t be afraid or forget what you deserve!