So I have on my profile that I will only take kennel trained dogs and that for longer stays I would strongly prefer for them to come with their own kennel. Hey I still have people asking me if I'll take their dog who isn't kennel trained. The reason I ask for this is because if I need to go to work or leave the house for an hour or two I don't feel comfortable leaving a dog out in my house who's unfamiliar with everything. Is this unreasonable? And how much of a stickler should I be over this? I've lost two or three clients already because of this. In my opinion it's just asking for a bathroom accident, as I've noticed that a lot of dogs who are in unfamiliar areas tend to have accidents. And when dogs do have kennels from home they gladly curl up in them for some downtime when they're overwhelmed.

I've had three dogs in the house at once, one of my own, and two others, each from different homes. I guess you just have to trust the owner when they say the dogs get along well with others. And if they aren't coming from out of town I always try to do meet and greets at a dog park so I can see how they'll interact with other animals. I haven't had any issue with this method before. Meet and greets are crazy portant in my opinion. Awhile ago i once watched a dog for a friend and it did not get along well with my dog at all, and doing a simple meet and greet would have eliminated any possibility of that experience.

First and foremost I would ask the dogs owner if it's okay. If it is, go from there about what toys they're okay with. For example many people aren't okay with rawhides. To go off of what Katie said, from there you can decide if you'll keep the toy for future visitors or send it home with them.

I would say it depends on the duration of the stay and how much exercise you're willing to give the dog. If you take say, a husky or something, and you plan on taking it for walks or to the park etc then I don't see the issue. If it gets its wiggles out it'll probably just want to chill anyways (: