I called Rover support and left a note in the file for a paper trail at least. :/

Thanks, I read that too. I thanked the client, said I'm an adult and can regulate my own comfort. It's important to draw a firm boundary & keep taking great care of the dogs. If we get nicked in ratings for not liking being watched over like this, we'll comment on the rating about what happened.

I have always been OK and polite about cameras, and of course assume there are cameras. I read this thread when I started on Rover (and the other thread).

Now I'm at an appointment where not only has the client made me aware there are cameras — they're being BLATANT that they're watching them. Nearly all day. And not only commenting on their animals or their house in relation to my activities — they're commenting about what I'm doing, my personal comfort, etc.

It's invasive and disturbing. I've got other repeat clients with cameras. They say nothing to me about what I'm doing or how I care for their animals, even though that latter would be OK so long as it's not a micromanaging text conversation all day that includes comments that have nothing to do with the purpose of my stay.

Very upset.

I always do a meet-n-greet at mealtimes. It's the time of the day where everyone interacts the most, and I get to see portions, where the food is, what they say to the animals, where they put the food, etc. I have forms I fill out with a bunch of questions — so if something doesn't come up I check

I asked the cats' human to list them on the profile, and I charge a cat rate for each cat. I'm not sure whether they'd be covered by the Rover insurance if they're not listed. I don't want to be responsible for their health or accidents, or whether they run away, if I'm not getting paid to watch them.

There's different services for pet sitting (overnight) and "Drop-in visits" and you can price each accordingly. Since you could possibly do a drop-in and still have an overnight booked, you can set your calendar to offer bookings accordingly. Most overnighter pets can be left for errands or to check in with other animals that you have booked for walking or drop-ins.

Easter isn't a bank holiday because it's always on Sunday. So banks are closed anyway. My bank has virtual teller machines and they close on Easter. So it's still a bank holiday here with my credit union ;)

I would at least have considered making it a light joke: "Are you a religious person?" "Would your dog find that offensive?" It kinda points out that it's a strange question, and redirects the conversation back to the dog and their stay.

I would think you want the address of any pet who boards with you. Let's say there's a power outage, the owner's cell phone took a dive, there's (God forbid) a raging fire in your area, etc. you may end up having to bring the boarding dogs back to their owners for any of a number of reasons. "Emergency Contact Information" for pets who board with you would include their street address, an emergency contact (spouse, neighbor, sibling of the dog's human), vet, etc.

The gift is just a side bonus of having that information.

I had an Alaskan malamute and because she's a sled dog breed at first she wanted to run and pull at the leash. I trained her to heel and stay at my side while walking her, would give her a command to run with me, and gave commands of when to stop, then did roller skates with her and gave commands to let her pull me and would command her when to stop pulling (the same heel command, so she'd let up on the leash and I could stop myself skating). I can't remember whether I had her run with my bike, but I would think so, without pulling (I was 12 or 13 :) ), so using the heel/stay with me command. I would say it depends on the breed, their leash discipline, and training. I wouldn't want her to decide she wanted to pull when I was on my bike, for example. If she was a birder or running after every squirrel, this probably wouldn't have worked out. :) She just wanted to run. She didn't care where. lol