Experiences with Rover.com

[kannon]

Hello -

we are starting to kick in our travel plans in retirement, dreaming of 2 or 3 week cruises and car trips around the US. Problem that's limiting us is our doggy. Really wasn't an issue a decade ago when inlaws took her in but now that is not an option.

I really don't want to board our dog. She is older and lots of idiosyncrasies and medicine needs. Loves people and we don't want her to be alone for many hrs. We had a young lady in the area sleeping over but during the day our doggy was mostly by herself except for morning and afternoon walks.

My preference would be to find an "in-law" like arrangement where she becomes part of a family.

Be interested in your experiences with traveling and leaving an older dog behind. Many thanks

Kannon

 

[Scrapr]

Not our experience but a neighbor uses them with her young very active pup. She found a sitter that she really likes. We are probably going to use them before a big trip. I think we would try them on a weekend before leaving the country trip. I like the preview profiles so you can kind of see what the scene is. Our thought is to keep Oden the Shedder in our house so as to not upset the routine

 

[Ian S]

We have used Rover and one of its predecessors (DogVacy) for several years with great success. Based on our experience, I'd recommend testing out a sitter beforehand. By this I mean schedule the dog sitting for a long weekend (at least three days) while you're at home. See how it goes. If there are any issues, you can easily deal with them because you're close by. Also, look for a sitter who has experience with older dogs and administering meds - it's usually in the Rover sitter's profile. Most sitters suggest a meet and greet where you can meet the sitter and any pets they might have.

The great thing about Rover is the info they have on the sitter so for example, you can see if the sitter is stay-at-home, if there's a fenced yard, what other animals are in the house, ages of any children, frequency of potty breaks, etc. We have only had one minor negative experience: after successfully sitting several times, one sitter declined to take our dog again because neighbors claimed he barked too much. Other sitters have not had that problem so I'm not sure if it was the other pets present or what. Anyway, we feel that a Rover sitter is far better than a boarding kennel because our dog gets treated like one of the family in a home environment.

One other thing: typically the sitter will post pics of your dog while you're aware and we find it reassuring that ours is fitting in well with the sitter's environment.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I have heard of instances where people said they were at your house but weren’t. If you have a door lock where you give someone their own code you can tell when they came and for how long. Rocer had a instance where a dog got hit by a car and died on a walk and the company has refused to discuss the incident and won’t provide any specifics about the incident. We only use people we know very well.

 

[Another Reader]

There have been a number of incidents with Rover and similar operations. My understanding that Rover offers independent pet sitters bookings in exchange for a cut of the fee. Not sure how they vet these people, as they are not Rover employees.

I would get local recommendations for pet sitters from friends and family instead.

 

[Montecfo]

Our experience with Rover was really good. Used them many times. We did not have folks coming to our home, our preference was to go there.

We prioritized folks who did not have other pets and took just one at a time.

We did meet a really nice Mom and her daughters who loved our dog and it was a very nice relationship.

Rover has reviews which is nice and you can learn a lot from those and their profile. We had good success finding folks who were comfortable with older dogs, medicine, etc.

I recommend.

 

[Scuba]

We have also used Rover with mostly success. The first sitter used to live across the street from us and we asked if she ever did sitting. She has now moved, but recommended a different Rover sitter. We tried her just for an overnight and didn’t like her at all. Our dog was kept with several other dogs and came home with a bite wound on his face that the sitter never mentioned, possibly never noticed. The third one we found is perfect for us. She is on the expensive side, and not as flexible as some of the ones just starting out, but she has loads of five star reviews for a reason. She is excellent and our dog comes home relaxed and happy vs stressed. Totally worth it!

 

[Ian S]

We have also used Rover with mostly success. The first sitter used to live across the street from us and we asked if she ever did sitting. She has now moved, but recommended a different Rover sitter. We tried her just for an overnight and didn’t like her at all. Our dog was kept with several other dogs and came home with a bite wound on his face that the sitter never mentioned, possibly never noticed. The third one we found is perfect for us. She is on the expensive side, and not as flexible as some of the ones just starting out, but she has loads of five star reviews for a reason. She is excellent and our dog comes home relaxed and happy vs stressed. Totally worth it!

Yes, the reviews are important I think. I can imagine it's hard to get started as a sitter since you won't have any reviews so folks will be less inclined to try you out. Kind of Catch 22.

Anyway, most if not all Rover sitters get a background check and sometimes some rudimentary training. I've found that the sitters I've used have been real dog lovers and that often shows up in a meet and greet session which I'd recommend strongly. Also a trial run of several days when you're immediately available if something goes wrong. Make sure the sitter posts pics/videos as that can also give an indication of how your dog has adapted to the sitter's home.

Friends and family can be great sitters but many of Rover's sitters are there for your pet 24/7 which might not be the case with friend/family member. Also, I prefer not to impose on friends and family unless absolutely necessary. They may also have different ideas: I have one friend who is great with dogs but lets his dog run off leash whenever he can. I want our dog on leash all the time so it would be hard for my friend to deal with that requirement.

 

[SumDay]

We have several great Rover sitters. One is an older couple - he's disabled. They only take one dog at a time (day care or overnights) and basically let the dog sit on the couch and they pet him all day. He loves it.

The other notable one is a farm situation and she can have as many as 10 days. They are crated at night, but otherwise run her fenced in land and pond. He comes home exhausted, which is another plus.

He knows when we pull up in either driveway and leaps out to get to the door before us. Just take your time and interview them and I'm sure the right one will become apparent.

 

[Bamaman]

Our kennel charges $15 a night, and Xena the Rottweiler is very used to being there. She's technically my daughter's dog too.

You cannot just find a house sitter or dog sitter that can handle a 131 pound beast on a leash 3x per day/night. In fact, I don't want anyone to have the responsibility of having a key to my house--with it's elaborate alarm system.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We always pay the person except for my son. We pay 40/day and that’s for 3 or 4 dogs.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I have heard of instances where people said they were at your house but weren’t. If you have a door lock where you give someone their own code you can tell when they came and for how long.

Several years ago we hired a dog sitter to come into the house twice a day while we were out of town. She came "very highly" recommended. Long story short...she wasn't visiting but once a day, and usually for less than 5 minutes. The contract was for two 30 minute visits per day. When we called her out on it (from an interior camera and alarm activity reports), she would stay for the full 30 minutes but would ignore the dogs...even once swatting at one with a fly swatter. We even caught her coming in to disarm the alarm only to immediately leave. She would come back 40 minutes later to re-arm the alarm to give the appearance that she was there the whole time. What was especially shocking to me was we TOLD HER that there were cameras and that we would be checking it!!!

Anyway, now we only use family sitters (we pay them to stay at the house when we are gone) or a couple of friends that we know.

At an absolute minimum, I would recommend having a camera to keep tabs...or at least TELL the sitters that you have cameras and you will be keeping tabs. If they freak out about that, then they have no business sitting your animals.

 

[bhoferp]

We use a sitter on rover.com for our boxer (our furbaby). We did a meet and greet and also an overnight before we left her for longer times. She is 9 and we have never left her anywhere for more than 3 nights-she frequently goes with us. Our sitter is super and our dog comes home happy. She does work during the day, but comes home in the middle of the day to feed her and let her do her business. (We knew this in advance.) She really spoils our dog and is the highest rated dog sitter on rover.com in her town.

 

[Ian S]

Several years ago we hired a dog sitter to come into the house twice a day while we were out of town.

Was this through Rover.com? It doesn't sound like it because I really doubt someone like that would get rave reviews. Indeed there is even provision for a confidential review so that you don't have to go public with your criticism. I've never had to use that but I believe you deal directly with a Rover.com rep. Another thing I look for is lots of repeat customers. IMHO, that's important and it's provided prominently for each sitter.

 

[Ian S]

Our kennel charges $15 a night

Wow! Before we decided to try DogVacay (a Rover predecessor), we got quotes at various boarding kennels and not one was under $40/night base. By the time you add extras in one case, we were looking at close to $50. You are very fortunate to have a great kennel charging only $15.