I'm glad to see someone bringing this up because I too have hated this performance rating since it first showed up on my dashboard. There is really no purpose for it in my opinion other than making you feel pressured as a sitter to take every request to help boost your score and anyone with good sense is not going to do that. And here's my main point, which may or may not follow in line with what other's feel. People constantly contact more than one person on Rover at a time, especially when they are requesting a stay not far enough in advance (which is something I have come across multiple times). I've had people contact me the day they want to drop their dog off and I don't work like that so often times those new clients get rejected and I get a hurt score because of it and that's simply not fair. I don't think there should be a performance rating for booking new clients. The reviews and number of them should be the only thing reflecting how well I'm doing my job as a sitter.

I feel strongly as a dog sitter it is best to limit the risk factors wherever possible for the best imaginable experience when taking in each, new dog. As dog sitters we have an incredible amount of responsibility to keep someone else's dog safe as well as the people and other dogs who come into contact with that dog safe. In my opinion, it is simply far too great of a risk to take another person's dog out to a public park. As a sitter who has been keeping dogs for more than 20 years I can tell you from experience it doesn't matter how well you or even the owner of a dog thinks they know their dog, they are ALWAYS capable of surprising you. Dogs are animals and at the end of the day we have to remember they will never not have that animal instinct to protect at any cost if they feel themselves or the people they are with are in danger. It is simply not worth the risk and many people don't think enough about what's at risk when the worst case scenario comes about until they're living in it. Be safe, not sorry!

Shelby I think it's a very responsible to have concern in this situation, although yes, of course it could very easily be a legitimate and safe request. I once had a guy contact me about one night of boarding saying that his son found a dog and brought it home and they just needed a place for it to stay for one night so to be very honest when I hear requests like this I immediately think this person might be trying to dump the unwanted dog.

I ALWAYS request meet and greet prior to a stay. I've had many clients over time come to me wanting to either drop off a dog the very next day and sometimes even the same day and to those people I simply say sorry but I cannot do it. To me, the much bigger risk comes in not truly knowing what the dogs demeanor is like. I have made the mistake in the past of accepting dogs without a proper meeting first and it can be a big problem in the end so I say always be cautious.

Hi Walt. I saw you've commented on a couple of things regarding insurance and I was wondering if in your area you are covered by a policy? I'm getting worried and I just can't imagine all these sitters follow a don't ask don't tell policy with their insurance. There has to be a better answer.

and was told they were going to drop me. Thankfully I had a more personal relationship with the main agent and he called me simply to say when it comes to things like this it's a complete don't ask, don't tell situation. I just can't help but worry what could happen. Best of luck to you. So sorry!

That is such a shame. To be honest, I was a little nervous even reaching out and commenting on your post because I worry about insurance companies snooping on here to try and catch people. Basically when I started my business (also back in 2014) I called and spoke to a rep at our insurance company

I have been dog sitting now for three years so I've handled many different situations over that time but still not quite sure how to handle this one...

I just ended a dog stay with a new client's dog. I wish I could say everything went well but this dog was a HANDFUL to say the least. It was all things we've come in contact with many times as dog sitters; poor behavior, not listening to any direction and using his powerful body to push through anything and anyone in the way of something he wanted. Despite all of that the only reason I won't be able to keep him again is because when he arrived he smelled so unbelievably strong of cigarettes, as did all of his belongings, that it made our living room and laundry room wreak of smoke for days and days. I'm a very non-confrontational type of person and I don't want to say anything to hurt this owner's feelings or make them feel bad about their habit.

Before you answer please really consider my personality and if you truly take into account handling this in as light a way as possible, how would you relay to the client an appropriate response to them asking for you to board their dog again in the future?

I'm curious Jared, does this mean you just go without homeowner's insurance completely? I ask because I faced this situation as well.

I stopped doing day stays simply because I tended to feel a lot the same as I think you are, that the lower rates for a day stay vs. overnight aren't worth it. The short answer to your question though is I don't think it should be an extra charge for over a certain amount of hours. Rover defines daycare as anything within a 24 hr period, I believe. For instance, for overnight stays it's not considered a new night unless you have the dog past midnight so I'm sure the rules for daycare are similar, as long as the dog is picked up sometime within that day it's the same rate. So, that being said, if you feel you're not being compensated well enough for the full day then charge a little more. I would just first check what your competitors in the area are charging so you can be sure you are not way over charging and therefore then won't get business.

From Rover's Website:

All 1099s will be sent via mail on January 31st. An electronic copy of your 1099 will also be emailed via http://tax1099.com on January 30 or January 31st. If you do not want to access your 1099 electronically, please disregard the email from http://tax1099.com.

Remember, not all sitters will be eligible to receive a 1099 from Rover, see section Will I receive a 1099 from Rover? for more information.

Will I receive a 1099 from Rover?

Whether you receive a 1099 from Rover will depend on how you’ve withdrawn your Rover funds and how much you’ve withdrawn. Here’s how it breaks down for sitters/walkers:

If you’ve been paid out over $600 via check over the course of a calendar year, Rover will send you a 1099 tax form.

Note: Rover does not handle tax documentation for redemptions made via PayPal, as per IRS rules, the entity that distributes these funds to you is responsible for generating these documents, as appropriate. To learn more, see this IRS document, 2018 instructions for Form 1099-MISC. If you redeem your earnings through PayPal, then PayPal will handle your tax documentation in accordance with its own tax reporting practices. For more information, see the PayPal article How does PayPal report my sales to the IRS? Will I receive a 1099 tax statement?