That's how I've been feeling but I was feeling guilty because we do have a 2nd rate (lower) posted on our page. But 1 isn't fully house trained yet which really is more work.

We usually charge a lower rate for the second dog that we book but we have a request coming in for 2 puppies and I'm wondering if you charge the puppy rate for both or if you give a second dog discount still?

I've just had a first time request that asked for a discount off our puppy rate. All the other sitters in my area have comparable puppy rates, so I'm not sure she'd get anything different from another sitter. I asked for a meet and greet before considering a price reduction. But puppies are more work and I don't really want to go down in price. I think sometimes people forget that even though they want a more affordable rate, we're still people trying to earn $. And after Rover fees, we're already not getting 100% of what they're paying. I also don't want to decline the request because I feel like I keep getting bogus requests from people who never get back to me, declining them and now I'm number 9 when I used to be number 1!

How do you know if people were scammers? And why would someone scam on a dog site? I've had many requests where people never got back to me and have wondered if they were scams...

Hi Sarah, We have taken dogs that chase non aggressively. For the most part, they are trainable and don't really care about the cats- they just think it seems fun. We haven't taken any aggressive dogs since my posting but have basically kept the cats in their own room when we have chasers.

We've had others that were aggressive towards our cats- they were easier to just say "I don't think we're a good fit in the future as they didn't get along with the cats"

It turned out that in the house and in the yard, one dog in particular was very assertive with our dog. Not aggressive, but very assertive and our dog started trying to avoid her and needed our help with separation. It just wasn't a good fit and it didn't show in the meet and greet.

The wording isn't quite specific enough on the review e-mails we get post stays. Will owners see the rating we give to their dogs or is it truly for internal use only at Rover??

I would check your paypal account and rover payment settings. If the funds are not in paypal, contact Rover support. They're very quick to help.

I would send a reminder that she'll need to confirm the booking through the inbox before you are able to start the stay. I've had several clients who didn't realize they were supposed to confirm the booking and a friendly reminder was all they needed. And if you're doing a key swap in person, that's another opportunity to remind her that the confirmation needs to happen before they leave.

All went well with the meet and greet but during the stay you realize this dog isn't a good fit for your family. Nothing is terribly wrong so you'll see the visit through but how do you break the news to the owners? And, how do you send updates during the stay in a way that doesn't a) make them think everything is fantastic and yet b) doesn't make them think everything is awful?

We have 2 cats that have always lived with dogs. The first couple of dogs we sat through Rover completely ignored the cats and everyone carried on with life as usual. The cats didn't adjust or change their routine AT ALL and were completely fine being out and about with the dogs. I would consider them dog savvy. Then we watched a dog that literally wanted to kill the cats and he was super aggressive towards them (obviously we should have caught this in the meet and greet but hindsight is 20/20) and they've lost their cool.

Now, any dog that comes in the house gets the cats completely worked up without even trying. We've had dogs who literally couldn't care less about the cats and will just walk into a room... and the cats hide under the bed, howl and growl, hiss and lunge at them and suddenly the super calm dogs think these hissing crazy cats are the funnest thing to chase. If the cats had just kept their cool, there wouldn't have been an issue. I'm looking for really specific advice on how to help support my cats when Rover dogs come into the house without having to keep them completely separate all the time. I don't want to stress them (and obviously they're super stressed about it)... and we have 2 dogs coming for 3 weeks so they're going to need to find a way to be ok with the new visiting dogs!

This is a great idea- I think we'll do the same because I've definitely wondered what I should do if a similar situation arose.

I ask specifics on what they're looking for from me: do they want dogs walked, how much time would they like me to spend with their pets, how many times per day (I usually upfront say 2-3 times a day plus 1 walk if wanted) and if there are any special games/toys that might make their pets more comfortable.

With cats be sure to ask if they're allowed outside and if you need to change litter.

And this is important- where do they want you to put the poop after walks. =)

You can also go to each date on the calendar where you've booked and manually change the number of dogs you're available to watch it you think you can handle more.

I send thank you notes home with each dog in addition to photos during the stay.

I have also had this happen and do not mark myself as unavailable until a date is booked. The clients should understand a wait time for a busy holiday and your rankings shouldn't be grossly impacted.

This happened with our older dog when we were on walks. He would lift to mark things and then walk away and would "decorate" the sidewalk. He never leaked on his bed or in the house so we discussed it with our vet. He described it as milder than incontinence and almost a "laziness" syndrome. It never progressed or got worse so we just let him decorate the sidewalks and felt better after consulting our vet.

To add to this, make sure you click immediately when they've completed their task and then give the treat immediately as a reward for that task. For example, if you ask them to turn around, don't then make them sit before giving them the treat. You reward them for the task they were assigned.