Are Rover.com sitters usually unreliable?
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Anonymous
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I live in a small city with zero pet sitting/dog walking companies, and I can't board my dogs at an actual facility since one has not been fixed yet (vet wants to wait until she's 1 year).
I found someone who boards in their home on rover.com and have used them the last 3 times we've gone out of town. They've always been reliable. I booked them for Christmas, but they cancelled on me about a week ago. No other boarders are available, so I've been contacting pet sitters on Rover. Many have several 5 star reviews, but have not responded to my inquiries. I did get one response, and she came out for a meet & greet. She seemed great and I said I'd go ahead and book her. But before I could confirm the booking and pay, she cancelled the booking and appears to have deleted her account (I can't find it anyway, perhaps she blocked me?). I've contacted more sitters on the website, but now I'm really nervous about someone taking the job and then cancelling last minute. We're traveling out of town, and I'm now terrified that I'll be across the country and realize the sitter has not been showing up. I have a neighbor who said they'd be able to take my dogs out twice a day, but I worry because the younger one still isn't fully potty and chew trained, so 1. She can't go more than 6 hours or so without a potty break (neighbor is gone 10 hours or so for work) and 2. She'd be in her crate almost the entire time we're gone, minus when neighbor takes her out, and that seems very cruel. Anyone have this experience with Rover? If it's common, I'll try to find another solution or cancel rather than risk a sitter not showing up. |
Anonymous
| Wait are you looking for a sitter to actually stay at your house with your dogs or just stop by a few times a day and let them out? |
Anonymous
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It’s probably because they are overbooked for Christmas. Usually, the 5-star sitters are very good and very reliable. But they get overbooked over the holidays and can’t watch that many. They prefer dogs they’ve already sat before to an unknown. Puppies are a lot more work too so they probably don’t want to take one on when they’re busy.
Rover sitter |
Anonymous
| Christmas is the worst time to find a sitter. The people not responding to you aren't flakes, they just don't have time to do your booking at the last minute. |
Anonymous
| Spay / neuter your pet and put them in a reliable facility. The idea that your vet wants to wait until 1 year is bogus. |
Anonymous
How is someone supposed to spay their pet, let them heal, and then find a boarding facility 5 days before Christmas? |
Anonymous
| Can you find an older teenager that will come over 5 times a day? |
Anonymous
it if you have a large breed dog. |
Anonymous
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I have had NO luck with Rover. We usually use a local kennel or, for a short gig, a neighborhood teen.
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Anonymous
Actually it's not, for any breed, but particularly for large ones. Neutering and spaying before physical maturity means stopping bone growth at a time when some bones are done growing, but others have not, with the consequence that some joints will face undue stress for the life of the dog because the bones aren't at the right angle to each other, since some are shorter than normal. In practice this means a ton of dogs suffer from painful arthritis, partial or total paralysis and joint pain as they get older, particularly the ones adopted from shelters, since those require procedures at 6 months, which is extremely early. It's a controversial topic, because obviously no one wants endless puppies and euthanasia of same... but if you have an intact puppy and are a responsible dog-owner, wait until the end of physical growth for that breed, and if you have a mix, wait until the end of physical growth of the largest of the suspected breed origins. |
Anonymous
| I’ve only used River once and it was great. Did you pay the sitter for the meet and greet? We used a guy when we were at the beach and going to be home during their normal walk/dinner time. I asked him to come the Sunday before but I paid him his full “ dog walk” amount. He says it wasn’t necessary but I did because it felt like the right thing to do. If you didn’t pay for the meet and greet that might be why you got ghosted. The one who canceled on you, I would give her a bad review with the reason if you have that option. |
Anonymous
| Day before. Not Sunday before. |
Anonymous
I offered to pay her and she declined. I told her that if she decided she did want payment, to let me know and I would send the money. |
Anonymous
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OP, do you have a friend or neighbor nearby who is willing to drop in? Any chance you can take them with you and board at your new location? We've never seen anything about the dog needing to be fixed first so unsure if that is normal.
I dislike Rover & Care.com. They are unreliable and vetting is not very serious. |
Anonymous
Adding, ask around at more vet's offices. They are staffed anyway. |