Wait, when did Rover start covering insurance at dog parks?

I have an American Eskimo puppy under my care who has for the past week developed really high guarding behavior towards a bone that he chews on. Now, he is usually left alone for 7 hours a day and I usually make my drop-in at the middle interval. In the alone time all he has is that bone to play with and he is only 4 months old so I am guessing that might affect this a lot, too.

He used to be very playful just a week ago but now all he wants to do is chew on that bone and be left alone. As a sitter this is counter productive for me. I have helped resource aggression before but with the dogs that had really bonded with me and that doesn't seem to be the case with this particular dog. What do you recommend I should do in this situation?

That's a very valid point. I hadn't thought of it this way. I stand corrected.

Yes its pretty cut throat but so far I have been able to keep all my clients so it has been working out. In a month once I have 6-7 permanent clients I will raise my rates every few months. I already clean up the houses but it's a standard practice around here.

That is what I intend to do as well but living right by Manhattan there is literally hundreds of sitters competing so raising the prices too early on may/may not be the most ideal thing I can do currently.

That's a good point. Walt, do you also have any suggestions as how to politely decline the usual "can't you just take cash" talks?

Except I didn't downvote you and I didn't say you didn't take owner's permission but "if the owner was not okay with it" which meant if they weren't entirely on board with it. As mentioned, I work with dogs with anxiety, check my last review. and I don't think drugs should be the first thing you try

I have clients who keep asking me if they can pay me in cash and possibly a flat monthly fee for a few fixed days and I keep declining it. The main reason I get asked this is usually clients are unaware that cash is strictly prohibited and I obviously have to cover the 20% fees and taxes so it is not as competitive as a lot of other sitters around that they can hire outside of Rover. So what is your opinion, do you think Rover should take less share in repeat clients or give monthly discounts?

Paige, Sure my point is mostly about people just starting out. They might be skeptical at first whether it is a good idea to invest the time and money into it. My suggestion is test the waters, try it out and if you get 1-2 clients then definitely go full on marketing.

Walt, I am originally not from Jersey city but Go Snyder!!

Oh good to know that. I will keep it in mind. Thank You.

Agreed with Mary here, however I would like to add that being genuine and not handing the card to everyone is important. Timing is everything. Your delivery of business cards needs to be exceptional as in a grocery store checkout if you handed me a business card saying I win $100 I will think that is too creepy and just throw it away. However, to each their own. You need to be the judge as whether that is the right move.

Now, I started about 10 days ago and I have more requests coming than I can fulfill. I may even quit my job to pursue this full time. I have yet to print a single business card. The first thing I did was got my neighbor to sign up and gave him $20 promotion and walked his dog a couple of times. I got my first 5 star review. That alone put me from 4th page on my local listing to 1st page although ranked 18. But I kept my communication under a few minutes, had 100% booking rate and finally I can't stress this enough, pass Rover 101 courses and get a CPR certification. After adding these two, I was on Rank 5 on first page for my area. All my clients have approached me organically. So I would say getting 5 star review is highly important, using rover app and getting those certificates is too. If you still are not getting any business, follow Mary's advice. I only suggested these so it doesn't overwhelm you with all the work you need to put in to get a client. Eventually you would want to, as you will want to keep a small list of clients but the dogs you are much more comfortable with.

I am not sure giving melatonin especially when the owner was not okay with it, was the right move. I have worked with low to moderate separation anxiety dogs before and with the traditional methods of walking the dogs, communicating properly I can help them be comfortable much faster.

If you haven't already go watch youtube video on separation anxiety by Zac George. I can't post the link here but it would be the top result on youtube or google with the keywords "separation anxiety by Zac George"

Agreed with Moureene, Udemy is definitely a great place to start. If you need more hands on training try your local shelters, too. Some of them have discounted first aid/CPR training programs.

You need to give more information. What kind of dog, what age is the dog, what are the circumstances when this happens. Without that you will only get boilerplate advice.

Now, when I say basically free I am not saying literally free. What I mean is deducting transport and taxes I am not making any money on it. My reasoning is I do not want to burden the family with large fees just to get the dog taken care of. So after 1-2 weeks I would charge them regular.

Those are some excellent points I will definitely try to take him to some dog friendly places.

I have a client who suffered a loss of her fiance a week ago and the dog is definitely showing signs of depression and cuddles a lot too which is great except after every 15 mins of cuddling he looks at me and starts sobbing. That breaks my heart every time and I am basically doing the walks for free now. What else do you recommend to help the dog in this situation? He hasn't socialized with other dogs like ever so he is very aggressive towards other dogs and being a boxer that amplifies the situation so I am not too big on dog parks and it is too cold to spend a lot of time outside too. Any other suggestions?

Update: I worked 2 full weeks with the pupper and the dog is so much happier now that he's getting enough exercises and training we can already see a lot difference. Although he has his moments when he would miss his dad but for the most part he's a happy camper. Thank You all for your suggestions diverting his attention for short periods of time works like a charm.

I use paypal business although not for any particular reason I imagine the taxes and everything would be similar but it is easier to document.