My dog, Lula, and I met up with Hongbin a couple of weeks before her stay with Hongbin, to see if we were a good fit. We discussed Lula's schedule, her habits, and her temperament (she's goofy, smart, and dramatic, probably due to being part Husky). We covered that Lula has never had an issue with any person or dog. I let Hongbin know that my husband and I would be traveling to the Southwest for some hiking so we wouldn’t be nearby when Lula was with them. The afternoon before our early-morning flight, I dropped Lula off at Hongbin’s house. Within ten minutes, Honbin texted me that he was nervous that Lula was going to bite him. Lula has never bitten anyone, but Hongbin had been bitten the week before by one of his Rover dogs. He said that Lula was in a "defensive stance" and sent photos. In the photos, she was hiding behind a table, so my husband and I told him to just let her be an ‘invisible dog’ for an hour or so and she'd be able to relax. For the next couple of hours, Hongbin and his wife tried to coax my dog into playing and interacting with them. Lula wouldn’t play and instead laid down at the front door. I now understand that Hongbin and his wife are inexperienced with taking care of dogs; they failed to pick up on basic dog body language and were not able to follow our advice to just let her settle. Because Hongbin was so uncomfortable with Lula, we went to pick her up. (He said he was not confident that he could care for her so of course, we were not either.) We had to scramble to cobble together a care plan for Lula, which included five sets of our neighbors. It was incredibly stressful to try to put an adequate, last-minute, neighborhood-based schedule in place for our dog, who we obviously care very deeply about. Because of all of this turmoil, I had to really squeeze in packing and preparing for my trip and ended up pretty exhausted before my trip even began. Because of Hongbin, a good chunk of my time traveling included thinking about Lula and corresponding with my friends and neighbors to make sure that she was getting what she needed. I wish Hongbin would have spoken more honestly about his experience, both in caring for dogs and in being bitten by a dog. Because he wasn’t honest, we had a really stressful trip instead of a relaxing one. I have had nothing but good or even great experiences with Rover before Hongbin, but after this experience, I will probably steer clear of using this app—the ordeal was truly that stressful. I highly recommend not using Hongbin.

This was such a great experience and comfortable environment for our Lilly. We will definitely book again soon!