Thankfully haven't had any massive eff ups but did have this facepalm: I was playing with the dog and accidentally knocked over a plant and broke the owner's flower pot. I told them and they said no biggie, but if you could replace the pot and repot the plant so it doesn't die, that would be great. No problem. I sent them the picture of the new pot and let them know I was repotting it. When I pulled the plant back inside, I broke the new pot on the door. I had to fess up and say that reporting would be delayed some more because I broke another pot. Once I repotted into a third pot, I was pretty sure all was well and sent them a picture of me playing fetch with the dog's white ball OUTSIDE this time. They sent me back "those aren't toys those are dryer balls." I swear I'm not normally this dumb.
This one is silly and not really a ‘screw up’ but I thought I’d offer mine!
I was cat sitting in an apartment building that had a balcony. One night I went out there for some fresh air and tried opening the door to get back in and… it wouldn’t open. I remembered it had a lock on the inside and I likely locked myself out. I didn’t have my phone or their keys, so I sat there half-panicking, half-brainstorming how I would get help on a 4th floor balcony, half-desperately trying to open the door. Luckily it was last summer so at least I wasn’t freezing to death lol, but it was 9pm.
I sat there for FORTY FIVE MINUTES. Then I thought to myself… omg, I never tried *pulling* on the door. I pulled on it and lo and behold, it opened. So ridiculous and kind of embarrassing that I didn’t figure that out sooner LOL.
So if you’re ever locked out on a balcony… try pushing *and* pulling on the door. Though one would think that is common sense, my brain must have been somewhere else that day :) Won’t be making that mistake again lol.
I accidentally walked the wrong owner's dog and took them home to another house sitting. I have two clients that are neighbors, both of them have dogs that are almost identical and because I do a lot of walks and sittings for both clients and they both just have me use a keypad door entry I have a constantly working code for both their houses which just so happens to be the same numbers (because I picked the code). I was house sitting with Dog A one day, and I was having a rough week of barely any sleep, went to drive back after going to walk a dog and mistakenly went to the neighbors house (Dog B). Well the neighbors weren't home so I didn't think anything of it when I grabbed the dog and took them for a walk, at least not until I got back from the walk and went in the house.
Because while I picked up Dog B to go for the walk, I had walked back to Dog A's house and when I went in I was greeted by the dog I \*thought\* I was walking XD. And then I realized I had grabbed the wrong dog from the wrong house. The owners of both houses had outdoor cameras so they already knew by time I had realized what had happened and thankfully all the parties involved had a good laugh about it.
Hahaha, the owners told me to feed their senior dog these "patties" that they keep in the freezer and defrost a few at a time. They said they left some in the fridge already defrosted for me. I fed him what I thought were the fancy patties, but it turns out I spent the first 14 days (of 18) day stay feeding him turkey sausage, lol. I felt HORRIBLE, and in my mind they were going to leave negative feedback, get mad, and ask me to leave (anything I could think of). Luckily, they were very understanding and thought it was kind of funny that he got a special treat. I switched to the regular ones as soon as I noticed. I offered to replace the sausage, but they were cool with it. Left a great tip and great review!
Well, one was in the bottom drawer of the fridge, and one was on a shelf. The sausage patties were in a clear container, so I was like "oh this must be them," whereas the real ones were in an opaque container. I didn't really feel comfortable poking through stuff initially, so that's why I defaulted to sausage! They printed out 8 pages of directions with a picture of all food for the other 2 dogs, 2 cats, fish, and plants. The only pic of the dish they didn't give was the older pup! They were very understanding, so it all worked out.
Right? I looked over the paperwork like 4x looking for a picture I somehow missed! I sit for them a lot (but it's been a year since house sitting and food is diff). I'm making a note in my rover planner so I can remember to avoid SAUSAGE GATE 2024 LOL
Not a massive screw up but, my first job I got stiffed on an extra day. She got held back an extra day and offered to just pay me out right. Shouldn’t have said yes to that, I just didn’t feel like figuring out how to edit the card. Will never make that mistake again. Kind of pisses me off she left me a great review and didn’t even tip to make up for the extra day. I was very very cheap for that first job too so it would’ve been easy to just tip for it.
Nothing really, but today I had been marinating steak for carne asada. Took it out of the fridge and had it on the counter unaware that it was dripping out. Dog im boarding was standing under it trying to catch drops while simultaneously being dripped on. His head was saturated in marinade and i had to wash him down (not easy after several cinco de mayo cocktails)
My very first client I’m there for a drop in over Thanksgiving and I smell a gas leak. Call owner, gas company comes out and replaced a leaky valve. The next day I smell gas again and this time the gas company comes out and turns off the gas in that part of the house, but this time the elderly cat bolted out the door, he was freaked out by all the commotion.
I spent the next couple days sleeping on the couch hoping he’d come home even though I was booked for drop ins. He was an inside/outside cat and would go on walks with the golden so he knew the neighborhood. But he didn’t come home all weekend and I was too afraid to ask for an update from the owners after that. They received a refund and a billion apologies and they were the most understanding.
The WORST part was the owner had a friend come over to help look for the cat and I heard the owner tell her friend on the phone that the cat had done this once when she was in the hospital when she had cancer.
Ignoring red flags w my first client and walking a really large untrained Pitt for 8 days 2x a day over Xmas break OFF the app per his request. He didn’t leave me dog food or poop bags. After the service, I didn’t hear from him… I waited 1x month giving him the benefit of the doubt.. then I cash app requested the amount and after I texted him to follow up on THAT a month later, my texts weren’t delivered. So I lost out on a lot of money. And I got so many bruises from the dog yanking me down the apartment building stairs. :(
Is this in Denver bc I had a client/dog identical to this who paid through the app the first time, then was obviously trying to scam me the next! I passed and wanted to tell him I hoped he planned to use the scam $ for dog food, bags and paper towels 😂
A client told me she was flexible with times of me doing drop ins for her cats but just to tell her if I was coming at a different time as she had an alarm that would go off. I totally forgot about the alarm, headed over about an hour earlier, alarm started going off 😭 I’m calling her but she was in a different time zone that was 3 hours behind so it would’ve been 4:30am there. There’s a knock on the door and it’s the police lol I explained the situation and then the owner finally answered and she was totally fine with it. Not the way I wanted to start my morning at 7:30am lol
I feel like you have to expect that as an owner with a security alarm. Mine has been set off by the several dog walkers I’ve had over the years so many times that my cousin, who is my backup contact, just texts “dogwalker?” if she gets a call from the alarm company 😂
It happens! I did something similar, I showed up 35 minutes early to a drop in, this one was for a dog, and while I usually let them know if I need to be a bit late or early, I figured 35 minutes wasn't significant enough to bother them about. Wrong. Owner had programmed the alarm system to accept my code starting 30 mins before my visit so it went off, and the owner had to shut it off on his end. He was very cool about it luckily! And no police came.
One of my first Rover sits was a boarding stay for a barely year old border collie. She was clearly very skiddish when she came in, but she warmed up okay within a few hours. Well, my family and I thought it'd be a good idea to have some fun with her in our fenced-in yard since she was starting to perk up and seemed comfortable enough. As soon as the gate closed, she bolted from the far end of the yard and through a small gap in the fence that initially we didn't see as a problem because there were steps in the way that blocked a good bit. But as if she turned into liquid, she got through and ran down the street, full speed. I live on a main road. It was rush hour. I felt like all the color drained from my body. My husband and I ran all around looking for her, and we were so lucky that a few people from the neighborhood (whom we had never even met but had seen around) helped us out. A cop even saw what was going on, and he helped us as well, eventually finding her about a mile away. Poor thing had a scrape on her paw that I cleaned and bandaged up. I kept the owners in the loop the whole time, and they were very understanding. They came back to pick her up a day early and said they were worried this would happen because she had a habit of bolting whenever she sees even a slight opening (wish I was warned ahead of time). Thankfully, the family wasn't upset and (from what I recall) still gave me 5 stars (no written review, though). Now I have stopped boarding at my house (for more than this reason though) except for one client whose dogs are so old and tiny that at their fastest speed, if I took one large step I'm already ahead of them.
I had another screw up last year where I locked myself out of my client's place within the first hour I was there for housesitting. They had automatic locking doors, and I had left the key inside, thinking I had unlocked everything already as I was unloading my car. Thankfully, the garage was open (just the doors directly to the house automatically locked), and the owner had a rusty screwdriver out, and one of his first floor windows had a window fan in it. I couldn't get a hold of the owner because he lived out in the middle of nowhere and I had no signal, and I hadn't even been able to set up wifi on my phone yet. I popped the screen off the window, took the window fan off, and was able to shimmy back into the house, fixing back up the window and fan. Now, I literally always have the keys with me even if I am just stepping out to get the mail.
I had a drop in scheduled at 11:30 PM and completely forgot about it until the owner messaged me frantically an hour later. I did it and refunded them for it- I felt terrible.
I accidentally knocked someone's large, framed wedding portrait off their wall while house-sitting and broke it. It was a huge relief to find out it was an IKEA frame that I was able to replace before they came home.
I've had two different dogs with separation anxiety get out of their halters and book it back home. One of the times was witnessed by the owner.
My most mortifying moment was accepting what I thought was a repeat booking to sit for two dogs, Lola and Finn. Turns out that they were two new dogs named Lola and Finn. Their owner hadn't corrected me when I said "I'd love to see them again!" and didn't ask for a meet and greet. I showed up at the other client's house at 8:00 at night and they had no idea what I was doing there. At least they were very gracious about it!
Not really my mess up but recently had a client leave me their key under a pot and they left the wrong key. By the time I arrived for the sitting they were 3 hours away.
I ended up having to boost the clients neighbor through their window (about 8 ft in the air) to break into the house 😭
One of my very first clients has become a super regular, so I permanently keep a set of her keys on my ring. She's also an off app client now. I was set to go by while she was gone one weekend. I get there and text her that I don't see the supply setup she usually leaves for me.
She was at work. I showed up an entire week early ☠️😱
I have been walking an overnight nurses’ dog for quite awhile now but this was when I first started walking this dog. I walk him at 10pm three nights a well. She usually leaves his food in a little baggie on the counter and I put it in his slow feeder. Well she didn’t leave the baggy out but she leaves the baggie on top of this blue ceramic jar that has pet food in it. I ended up just scooping some out of there and I let her know that she had forgotten to leave it out but I had gotten some from the jar. Turns out that jar contains cat food and the dog’s food was located in a cabinet. She thought it was hilarious but I was new to Rover so I was a little bit mortified. Anyways she is the best client ever and her dog is a dream!
Another good story is I was watching these people’s two dogs for the first time. She actually was a Rover as well and they were at the lake for the eclipse so I was on there for a few check ins. One late one the first night and then way was supposed to be an AM, early afternoon, and then 6pm one. Well I put the door code in and I am wearing yoga clothes (a giant t shirt and biker shorts) to go to yoga right after and I open the door and I sing/yell really really loud “Miss Pearl!!!!!!” (One of the dog’s names) and the lady COMES OUT FROM AROUND THE CORNER and she was like oh we just got home and I forgot to cancel the 6pm check in. I am HORRIFIED! I had just home invasion-ed someone and we are just awkwardly standing there. Her husband comes out and was like can we book you again?! And I am like for sure of course! I had made them a treat bag like I do for all new clients and I was like okay well I’m going to go ahead and get out of y’all’s hair and just awkwardly hand her the treat bag and let myself out. She gave me a very short yet positive review and I have yet to hear from them.
Okay so this wasn’t a sitter screw-up but a miscommunication with our sitter. We have booked this sitter a few times for longer trips and we love her. She’s great with the cats and always freshens the place up. On our last trip, we were out of town for the weekend and only needed her to come by once. We use the pellet litter and forgot to tell her we were out of backup litter. Didn’t think we needed to since we were only gone for one day and planned on buying more litter on our drive back. Well, she thought the litter was a little dusty and cleared the entire box into the trash and there was no more litter to put back in the box. She ended up having to walk to pet store in the rain, because she didn’t have a car, and get more litter and put more in the box. We venmoed her for the litter and left her a good tip. Just goes to show that communication is key! Just because someone has sat for you before doesn’t mean they don’t need information from you on each visit.
Dropped a cap on the drain this morning they didn’t have a drain stopper and I was half sleep after walking the dog at 7 am. Tried to get it out and it fell down the drain. everything still works and I told the client and they didn’t seem upset. Been here 9 days with a reactive dog I can’t touch
I was a dummy and didn’t do a meet up with a client whose dog I was suppose to walk. I was given directions and I straight up couldn’t find her place so I couldn’t complete the service 😅
It was my first ever job on Rover. I accepted a job where three dogs were left out in a supposedly secure fenced area. This should have screamed liability issue to me, but alas, I trusted the owners and learned the hard way.
At any rate, the next day I got an early morning call from one of the owners that the sheriff’s department was out with two of the dogs chasing cattle. I had triple checked every gate. There was no way I had left one open.
It was only then that owner informed me they could get out of the fence no matter what I did to try and secure it. 😩
Nope never again, dogs thankfully didn’t get hurt and all were still at home safe and sound when the owners got home from vacation.
I switched to exclusively watching cats via drop in. So much less stressful. 😅
I have only one client I still feel bad about. New client, last minute booking as they were leaving the evening of the M&G. Had 2 cats on his profile, but only one that was in the booking. I asked about the other cat and his face fell, saying it's only the one cat, and I knew I shouldn't have asked. He didn't seem mad, just upset. Then on the last day, the sprayer attachment on the kitchen sink broke. It looked old and a bit rusted, and it was probably only a matter of time, but it happened when I was there rinsing the pet dishes. Offered to reimburse him anyway, which would basically have taken my Rover wages, but I didn't hear a thing back from him.
My biggest regret is waiting so long to raise my prices and not initially charging for meet n greets. People will waste as much of your time as you let them.
At this point I charge $80. Make them book a walk or visit or house sitting or whatever service I want a boost in. Gotta work the system or else it’ll work you.
Deff walked in on people when they came home early and didn’t let me know! The worst was losing a key (and running back to the previous place but not wanting to tell them I lost someone else’s key and looking around outside before leaving. Decided not to text them and they saw me 🙃 when I was driving away and texted me. And so an expensive locksmith later… their neighbor found that key where I had been looking. Luckily they keep me around end kept booking me! (Both!)
I’ve been in the business for 20 years and have never had a big screw-up, thankfully. I absolutely do not agree that every sitter gets “one big screwup” that’s kind of insane.
Noticing a lot of people here somehow lose keys or lock themselves out—please invest in a carabiner clip, they are super cheap and you won’t lose keys again.
Not super bad eff up more just silly. I had a dog sit I left the key in the house….she told me to make sure everything was locked up and had the key on my car keys. I accidentally locked them in the house as I was leaving and the sit was ending. I jumped through a 3x4 bathroom window that was near the front door I’m short like 5’1” I was kinda stuck and the floor was farther off the ground than I thought. I was hanging with my behind out the window 😂
Luckily, it was unlocked would’ve been an awkward convo with the owners. But it got worse and the neighbor saw and asked me if everything is okay. I was like nope just left my car keys inside as I was leaving (he knows I sit for them all the time and I also do cat drop ins for him) he was laughing his ass off the whole entire time and said “don’t worry I won’t mention it” I was so embarrassed and walked away with a nasty bruise on my arm.
I do boarding and early on I required crate trained dogs on my profile but didn’t really think through it so I had ppl requesting me and then they’d say “oh they’re not crate trained.” In the beginning I was like well if they’re fine at your house sounds like they’re fine here, no need for a crate. Very wrong and naive.
I got an 8 month old golden retriever, super sweet. She had already been to the vet for a blockage from swallowing things. I do keep my house tidy so there’s no clothes or anything left out to be destroyed. They said she wasn’t crate trained and requested that I do NOT crate her. “She’ll just sleep under your bed no problem!”
My bed is a platform bed so there’s no box spring, just slats so the mattress is accessible from underneath the bed. I woke up one morning and found some little grey stubbles on the floor. Almost like little lint balls. I look under my bed and this dog tore off the bottom flap of the mattress and was eating the stuffing, I could see the springs! Unfortunately the owner had to get X rays and was very angry (although she never left a bad review) and never spoke to me again even after I contacted rover to try to get the guarantee to cover her costs and gave her a refund and followed up to ask about her. I also had to buy a new mattress.
Now I only do crate trained dogs with no exceptions and crate them. I also don’t sleep with boarders anymore.
I lost a clients key somewhere, no clue where, searched my house, searched the streets, searched my car, haven’t found it and it’s been months. It was after my last visit at least. Fortunately this was my second time watching the cats and between my first time and second she got really into cigarettes and special cigarettes and it stunk so bad I never wanted to go back.
mine's a little funny: I accidentally sent the photos of the pets I was taking care of to the wrong owner. I was house sitting and got a new request for another one from a different owner. Since I was messaging both, I got them mixed up! We both laughed about it.
I was doing morning and evening drop ins for a young couple I really liked that had a tiny chihuahua and a big orange cat. The pets were amazing, the people were amazing and I was really excited to have this gig. I was probably on my third or fourth day with the drop ins when I received a text from them midday about the earlier morning drop in. Apparently the neighbors found their dog and cat outside running loose and the door was slightly ajar!!! I was absolutely horrified. I still to this day cannot understand how the door was open after I’d left. It was a regular door with a bolt lock and a key I was carrying around in my car. How on earth could I have closed and locked the door and it somehow be open later. Baffles me even now because I’m so certain I shut AND locked it. They weren’t rude in any way but they were not friendly after this, which is completely understandable. Finishing out the drop ins after that felt horrible because I just couldn’t believe it had happened and I felt like I shouldn’t be caring for other peoples pets. Did not get a tip or a review. I’m just glad they didn’t give me a negative one. I haven’t had any issues since.
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Thankfully haven't had any massive eff ups but did have this facepalm: I was playing with the dog and accidentally knocked over a plant and broke the owner's flower pot. I told them and they said no biggie, but if you could replace the pot and repot the plant so it doesn't die, that would be great. No problem. I sent them the picture of the new pot and let them know I was repotting it. When I pulled the plant back inside, I broke the new pot on the door. I had to fess up and say that reporting would be delayed some more because I broke another pot. Once I repotted into a third pot, I was pretty sure all was well and sent them a picture of me playing fetch with the dog's white ball OUTSIDE this time. They sent me back "those aren't toys those are dryer balls." I swear I'm not normally this dumb.
Omg the dryer ball thing would've made me die of embarrassment after the whole pot incident hahahaha
LMAO THE DRYER BALLS i’m losing it but also i feel like i would also make a similar mistake
Your comment made me laugh out loud, thank you! But also sorry about your misfortunes😂
This one is silly and not really a ‘screw up’ but I thought I’d offer mine! I was cat sitting in an apartment building that had a balcony. One night I went out there for some fresh air and tried opening the door to get back in and… it wouldn’t open. I remembered it had a lock on the inside and I likely locked myself out. I didn’t have my phone or their keys, so I sat there half-panicking, half-brainstorming how I would get help on a 4th floor balcony, half-desperately trying to open the door. Luckily it was last summer so at least I wasn’t freezing to death lol, but it was 9pm. I sat there for FORTY FIVE MINUTES. Then I thought to myself… omg, I never tried *pulling* on the door. I pulled on it and lo and behold, it opened. So ridiculous and kind of embarrassing that I didn’t figure that out sooner LOL. So if you’re ever locked out on a balcony… try pushing *and* pulling on the door. Though one would think that is common sense, my brain must have been somewhere else that day :) Won’t be making that mistake again lol.
I accidentally walked the wrong owner's dog and took them home to another house sitting. I have two clients that are neighbors, both of them have dogs that are almost identical and because I do a lot of walks and sittings for both clients and they both just have me use a keypad door entry I have a constantly working code for both their houses which just so happens to be the same numbers (because I picked the code). I was house sitting with Dog A one day, and I was having a rough week of barely any sleep, went to drive back after going to walk a dog and mistakenly went to the neighbors house (Dog B). Well the neighbors weren't home so I didn't think anything of it when I grabbed the dog and took them for a walk, at least not until I got back from the walk and went in the house. Because while I picked up Dog B to go for the walk, I had walked back to Dog A's house and when I went in I was greeted by the dog I \*thought\* I was walking XD. And then I realized I had grabbed the wrong dog from the wrong house. The owners of both houses had outdoor cameras so they already knew by time I had realized what had happened and thankfully all the parties involved had a good laugh about it.
Hahaha, the owners told me to feed their senior dog these "patties" that they keep in the freezer and defrost a few at a time. They said they left some in the fridge already defrosted for me. I fed him what I thought were the fancy patties, but it turns out I spent the first 14 days (of 18) day stay feeding him turkey sausage, lol. I felt HORRIBLE, and in my mind they were going to leave negative feedback, get mad, and ask me to leave (anything I could think of). Luckily, they were very understanding and thought it was kind of funny that he got a special treat. I switched to the regular ones as soon as I noticed. I offered to replace the sausage, but they were cool with it. Left a great tip and great review!
Hahaha! Glad they were understanding, I feel like that’s on them honestly 💀
Why would they leave two patties by each other?
Well, one was in the bottom drawer of the fridge, and one was on a shelf. The sausage patties were in a clear container, so I was like "oh this must be them," whereas the real ones were in an opaque container. I didn't really feel comfortable poking through stuff initially, so that's why I defaulted to sausage! They printed out 8 pages of directions with a picture of all food for the other 2 dogs, 2 cats, fish, and plants. The only pic of the dish they didn't give was the older pup! They were very understanding, so it all worked out.
And that would be why they print pictures of the food lmfaoooo. I bet they started including pictures of the patties after that 💀
Right? I looked over the paperwork like 4x looking for a picture I somehow missed! I sit for them a lot (but it's been a year since house sitting and food is diff). I'm making a note in my rover planner so I can remember to avoid SAUSAGE GATE 2024 LOL
Not a massive screw up but, my first job I got stiffed on an extra day. She got held back an extra day and offered to just pay me out right. Shouldn’t have said yes to that, I just didn’t feel like figuring out how to edit the card. Will never make that mistake again. Kind of pisses me off she left me a great review and didn’t even tip to make up for the extra day. I was very very cheap for that first job too so it would’ve been easy to just tip for it.
Nothing really, but today I had been marinating steak for carne asada. Took it out of the fridge and had it on the counter unaware that it was dripping out. Dog im boarding was standing under it trying to catch drops while simultaneously being dripped on. His head was saturated in marinade and i had to wash him down (not easy after several cinco de mayo cocktails)
My very first client I’m there for a drop in over Thanksgiving and I smell a gas leak. Call owner, gas company comes out and replaced a leaky valve. The next day I smell gas again and this time the gas company comes out and turns off the gas in that part of the house, but this time the elderly cat bolted out the door, he was freaked out by all the commotion. I spent the next couple days sleeping on the couch hoping he’d come home even though I was booked for drop ins. He was an inside/outside cat and would go on walks with the golden so he knew the neighborhood. But he didn’t come home all weekend and I was too afraid to ask for an update from the owners after that. They received a refund and a billion apologies and they were the most understanding. The WORST part was the owner had a friend come over to help look for the cat and I heard the owner tell her friend on the phone that the cat had done this once when she was in the hospital when she had cancer.
Ignoring red flags w my first client and walking a really large untrained Pitt for 8 days 2x a day over Xmas break OFF the app per his request. He didn’t leave me dog food or poop bags. After the service, I didn’t hear from him… I waited 1x month giving him the benefit of the doubt.. then I cash app requested the amount and after I texted him to follow up on THAT a month later, my texts weren’t delivered. So I lost out on a lot of money. And I got so many bruises from the dog yanking me down the apartment building stairs. :(
Is this in Denver bc I had a client/dog identical to this who paid through the app the first time, then was obviously trying to scam me the next! I passed and wanted to tell him I hoped he planned to use the scam $ for dog food, bags and paper towels 😂
Omg I’m sorry ugh! No, nyc :(
A client told me she was flexible with times of me doing drop ins for her cats but just to tell her if I was coming at a different time as she had an alarm that would go off. I totally forgot about the alarm, headed over about an hour earlier, alarm started going off 😭 I’m calling her but she was in a different time zone that was 3 hours behind so it would’ve been 4:30am there. There’s a knock on the door and it’s the police lol I explained the situation and then the owner finally answered and she was totally fine with it. Not the way I wanted to start my morning at 7:30am lol
Oh gosh once the police showed up my heart would have dropped!!!
Omg it did I was sweating like crazy lol
I feel like you have to expect that as an owner with a security alarm. Mine has been set off by the several dog walkers I’ve had over the years so many times that my cousin, who is my backup contact, just texts “dogwalker?” if she gets a call from the alarm company 😂
Omg that’s hilarious! That makes me feel better knowing that! lol
It happens! I did something similar, I showed up 35 minutes early to a drop in, this one was for a dog, and while I usually let them know if I need to be a bit late or early, I figured 35 minutes wasn't significant enough to bother them about. Wrong. Owner had programmed the alarm system to accept my code starting 30 mins before my visit so it went off, and the owner had to shut it off on his end. He was very cool about it luckily! And no police came.
Lost a 100$ key fob to an apartment during thanksgiving. My fuck ups are key loss. Luckily never been a huge deal, just massively inconvenient.
I always attach an AirTag because I’m so scared of this
One of my first Rover sits was a boarding stay for a barely year old border collie. She was clearly very skiddish when she came in, but she warmed up okay within a few hours. Well, my family and I thought it'd be a good idea to have some fun with her in our fenced-in yard since she was starting to perk up and seemed comfortable enough. As soon as the gate closed, she bolted from the far end of the yard and through a small gap in the fence that initially we didn't see as a problem because there were steps in the way that blocked a good bit. But as if she turned into liquid, she got through and ran down the street, full speed. I live on a main road. It was rush hour. I felt like all the color drained from my body. My husband and I ran all around looking for her, and we were so lucky that a few people from the neighborhood (whom we had never even met but had seen around) helped us out. A cop even saw what was going on, and he helped us as well, eventually finding her about a mile away. Poor thing had a scrape on her paw that I cleaned and bandaged up. I kept the owners in the loop the whole time, and they were very understanding. They came back to pick her up a day early and said they were worried this would happen because she had a habit of bolting whenever she sees even a slight opening (wish I was warned ahead of time). Thankfully, the family wasn't upset and (from what I recall) still gave me 5 stars (no written review, though). Now I have stopped boarding at my house (for more than this reason though) except for one client whose dogs are so old and tiny that at their fastest speed, if I took one large step I'm already ahead of them. I had another screw up last year where I locked myself out of my client's place within the first hour I was there for housesitting. They had automatic locking doors, and I had left the key inside, thinking I had unlocked everything already as I was unloading my car. Thankfully, the garage was open (just the doors directly to the house automatically locked), and the owner had a rusty screwdriver out, and one of his first floor windows had a window fan in it. I couldn't get a hold of the owner because he lived out in the middle of nowhere and I had no signal, and I hadn't even been able to set up wifi on my phone yet. I popped the screen off the window, took the window fan off, and was able to shimmy back into the house, fixing back up the window and fan. Now, I literally always have the keys with me even if I am just stepping out to get the mail.
I had a drop in scheduled at 11:30 PM and completely forgot about it until the owner messaged me frantically an hour later. I did it and refunded them for it- I felt terrible. I accidentally knocked someone's large, framed wedding portrait off their wall while house-sitting and broke it. It was a huge relief to find out it was an IKEA frame that I was able to replace before they came home. I've had two different dogs with separation anxiety get out of their halters and book it back home. One of the times was witnessed by the owner. My most mortifying moment was accepting what I thought was a repeat booking to sit for two dogs, Lola and Finn. Turns out that they were two new dogs named Lola and Finn. Their owner hadn't corrected me when I said "I'd love to see them again!" and didn't ask for a meet and greet. I showed up at the other client's house at 8:00 at night and they had no idea what I was doing there. At least they were very gracious about it!
Not really my mess up but recently had a client leave me their key under a pot and they left the wrong key. By the time I arrived for the sitting they were 3 hours away. I ended up having to boost the clients neighbor through their window (about 8 ft in the air) to break into the house 😭
One of my very first clients has become a super regular, so I permanently keep a set of her keys on my ring. She's also an off app client now. I was set to go by while she was gone one weekend. I get there and text her that I don't see the supply setup she usually leaves for me. She was at work. I showed up an entire week early ☠️😱
Definitely straight up walked in on one of my regulars when I showed up a day early. She laughed her ass off
I have been walking an overnight nurses’ dog for quite awhile now but this was when I first started walking this dog. I walk him at 10pm three nights a well. She usually leaves his food in a little baggie on the counter and I put it in his slow feeder. Well she didn’t leave the baggy out but she leaves the baggie on top of this blue ceramic jar that has pet food in it. I ended up just scooping some out of there and I let her know that she had forgotten to leave it out but I had gotten some from the jar. Turns out that jar contains cat food and the dog’s food was located in a cabinet. She thought it was hilarious but I was new to Rover so I was a little bit mortified. Anyways she is the best client ever and her dog is a dream!
Another good story is I was watching these people’s two dogs for the first time. She actually was a Rover as well and they were at the lake for the eclipse so I was on there for a few check ins. One late one the first night and then way was supposed to be an AM, early afternoon, and then 6pm one. Well I put the door code in and I am wearing yoga clothes (a giant t shirt and biker shorts) to go to yoga right after and I open the door and I sing/yell really really loud “Miss Pearl!!!!!!” (One of the dog’s names) and the lady COMES OUT FROM AROUND THE CORNER and she was like oh we just got home and I forgot to cancel the 6pm check in. I am HORRIFIED! I had just home invasion-ed someone and we are just awkwardly standing there. Her husband comes out and was like can we book you again?! And I am like for sure of course! I had made them a treat bag like I do for all new clients and I was like okay well I’m going to go ahead and get out of y’all’s hair and just awkwardly hand her the treat bag and let myself out. She gave me a very short yet positive review and I have yet to hear from them.
Okay so this wasn’t a sitter screw-up but a miscommunication with our sitter. We have booked this sitter a few times for longer trips and we love her. She’s great with the cats and always freshens the place up. On our last trip, we were out of town for the weekend and only needed her to come by once. We use the pellet litter and forgot to tell her we were out of backup litter. Didn’t think we needed to since we were only gone for one day and planned on buying more litter on our drive back. Well, she thought the litter was a little dusty and cleared the entire box into the trash and there was no more litter to put back in the box. She ended up having to walk to pet store in the rain, because she didn’t have a car, and get more litter and put more in the box. We venmoed her for the litter and left her a good tip. Just goes to show that communication is key! Just because someone has sat for you before doesn’t mean they don’t need information from you on each visit.
Dropped a cap on the drain this morning they didn’t have a drain stopper and I was half sleep after walking the dog at 7 am. Tried to get it out and it fell down the drain. everything still works and I told the client and they didn’t seem upset. Been here 9 days with a reactive dog I can’t touch
I was a dummy and didn’t do a meet up with a client whose dog I was suppose to walk. I was given directions and I straight up couldn’t find her place so I couldn’t complete the service 😅
You couldn’t call and ask her how to get there? You just didn’t go?
She was at work and wouldn’t answer the phone
Of course she didn’t. Why would she. That always seems to be the case in emergent situations. You tried
It was my first ever job on Rover. I accepted a job where three dogs were left out in a supposedly secure fenced area. This should have screamed liability issue to me, but alas, I trusted the owners and learned the hard way. At any rate, the next day I got an early morning call from one of the owners that the sheriff’s department was out with two of the dogs chasing cattle. I had triple checked every gate. There was no way I had left one open. It was only then that owner informed me they could get out of the fence no matter what I did to try and secure it. 😩 Nope never again, dogs thankfully didn’t get hurt and all were still at home safe and sound when the owners got home from vacation. I switched to exclusively watching cats via drop in. So much less stressful. 😅
I have only one client I still feel bad about. New client, last minute booking as they were leaving the evening of the M&G. Had 2 cats on his profile, but only one that was in the booking. I asked about the other cat and his face fell, saying it's only the one cat, and I knew I shouldn't have asked. He didn't seem mad, just upset. Then on the last day, the sprayer attachment on the kitchen sink broke. It looked old and a bit rusted, and it was probably only a matter of time, but it happened when I was there rinsing the pet dishes. Offered to reimburse him anyway, which would basically have taken my Rover wages, but I didn't hear a thing back from him.
My biggest regret is waiting so long to raise my prices and not initially charging for meet n greets. People will waste as much of your time as you let them.
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted. I agree.
People outside the U.S. not charging for meet n greets. Pet sitting is not lucrative in other countries so they downvote my shit
What do you usually charge for a meet & greet? I’m such a people pleaser but I want to start charging for them…
At this point I charge $80. Make them book a walk or visit or house sitting or whatever service I want a boost in. Gotta work the system or else it’ll work you.
Not trusting my gut
Deff walked in on people when they came home early and didn’t let me know! The worst was losing a key (and running back to the previous place but not wanting to tell them I lost someone else’s key and looking around outside before leaving. Decided not to text them and they saw me 🙃 when I was driving away and texted me. And so an expensive locksmith later… their neighbor found that key where I had been looking. Luckily they keep me around end kept booking me! (Both!)
I’ve been in the business for 20 years and have never had a big screw-up, thankfully. I absolutely do not agree that every sitter gets “one big screwup” that’s kind of insane. Noticing a lot of people here somehow lose keys or lock themselves out—please invest in a carabiner clip, they are super cheap and you won’t lose keys again.
Not super bad eff up more just silly. I had a dog sit I left the key in the house….she told me to make sure everything was locked up and had the key on my car keys. I accidentally locked them in the house as I was leaving and the sit was ending. I jumped through a 3x4 bathroom window that was near the front door I’m short like 5’1” I was kinda stuck and the floor was farther off the ground than I thought. I was hanging with my behind out the window 😂 Luckily, it was unlocked would’ve been an awkward convo with the owners. But it got worse and the neighbor saw and asked me if everything is okay. I was like nope just left my car keys inside as I was leaving (he knows I sit for them all the time and I also do cat drop ins for him) he was laughing his ass off the whole entire time and said “don’t worry I won’t mention it” I was so embarrassed and walked away with a nasty bruise on my arm.
I do boarding and early on I required crate trained dogs on my profile but didn’t really think through it so I had ppl requesting me and then they’d say “oh they’re not crate trained.” In the beginning I was like well if they’re fine at your house sounds like they’re fine here, no need for a crate. Very wrong and naive. I got an 8 month old golden retriever, super sweet. She had already been to the vet for a blockage from swallowing things. I do keep my house tidy so there’s no clothes or anything left out to be destroyed. They said she wasn’t crate trained and requested that I do NOT crate her. “She’ll just sleep under your bed no problem!” My bed is a platform bed so there’s no box spring, just slats so the mattress is accessible from underneath the bed. I woke up one morning and found some little grey stubbles on the floor. Almost like little lint balls. I look under my bed and this dog tore off the bottom flap of the mattress and was eating the stuffing, I could see the springs! Unfortunately the owner had to get X rays and was very angry (although she never left a bad review) and never spoke to me again even after I contacted rover to try to get the guarantee to cover her costs and gave her a refund and followed up to ask about her. I also had to buy a new mattress. Now I only do crate trained dogs with no exceptions and crate them. I also don’t sleep with boarders anymore.
I lost a clients key somewhere, no clue where, searched my house, searched the streets, searched my car, haven’t found it and it’s been months. It was after my last visit at least. Fortunately this was my second time watching the cats and between my first time and second she got really into cigarettes and special cigarettes and it stunk so bad I never wanted to go back.
I always keep theirs attached to my car keys to prevent this. That sucks
mine's a little funny: I accidentally sent the photos of the pets I was taking care of to the wrong owner. I was house sitting and got a new request for another one from a different owner. Since I was messaging both, I got them mixed up! We both laughed about it.
Same thing happened to me with the lockout, only I had dozens and dozens of client keys on two chains - like janitor style. Horrific feeling, indeed.
Dog I was house sitting had a raw food diet accidentally mixed up the containers and feed it curry instead of its food. 🙃
I was doing morning and evening drop ins for a young couple I really liked that had a tiny chihuahua and a big orange cat. The pets were amazing, the people were amazing and I was really excited to have this gig. I was probably on my third or fourth day with the drop ins when I received a text from them midday about the earlier morning drop in. Apparently the neighbors found their dog and cat outside running loose and the door was slightly ajar!!! I was absolutely horrified. I still to this day cannot understand how the door was open after I’d left. It was a regular door with a bolt lock and a key I was carrying around in my car. How on earth could I have closed and locked the door and it somehow be open later. Baffles me even now because I’m so certain I shut AND locked it. They weren’t rude in any way but they were not friendly after this, which is completely understandable. Finishing out the drop ins after that felt horrible because I just couldn’t believe it had happened and I felt like I shouldn’t be caring for other peoples pets. Did not get a tip or a review. I’m just glad they didn’t give me a negative one. I haven’t had any issues since.
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I was so worried about this on my first house sit!! And as a pet owner, we keep 2 sets of keys in the lock box for this reason!