u/Ann_georgia-

I’m so happy that business has been booming lately and I’ve been getting multiple requests some days, but I swear none of them actually work out. It’s either “Oops, I sent this to you by accident,” or they did mean to send it to me but then tell me they need basically constant care even though my profile clearly states that I don’t offer constant care while I’m in school. Not even on weekends! But what is going on with all the one night bookings lately?! I swear I’ve gotten like 8 requests in the past 3 weeks and almost all of them have been for only 1–2 nights. A lot of them are also somewhat close to holidays, so I hate committing to one random night and potentially having to turn down a longer holiday booking if one comes along. And somehow a lot of these 1 night requests also have the highest care expectations…constant care, potty breaks every 2 hours, or only being able to leave for 2–3 hours max. I normally don’t mind short bookings, but lately I’ve been declining/archiveing them like crazy. I just declined a constant care request for a specific date in September yesterday and someone else just requested the exact same date today and also wants constant care. I’m glad my profile is being seen and I’m getting requests, but I also don’t want all these requests that aren’t a good fit messing with my metrics. At this point I would LOVE for someone to send me a nice, straightforward 5–7 day house sitting request. I even offer a discount for longer bookings and apparently the Rover universe does not care. Anyone else getting a weird amount of 1 night house sitting requests lately?

When repeat clients tell you multiple times both in person and over text that they are extremely happy with how the previous sit went and they want to move forward with a long holiday booking, and then just… disappear!! You follow up, they reiterate that they’re happy and want to move forward, and then they stop responding AGAIN without ever actually booking. Meanwhile, you’re sitting there trying to plan your schedule around a lengthy stay during a busy time of year. Then, after you finally reach out one last time because you need an answer, you find out they went with someone else. I completely understand shopping around, comparing prices, changing your mind, or finding someone who fits your budget better. That’s part of the business! But PLEASE just communicate that. Don’t repeatedly tell your sitter you want to move forward and then leave them hanging while you make other arrangements. A simple “Hey, we decided to go another direction” takes 30 seconds and lets everyone move on with their schedule. Communication is a two-way street. Clients expect excellent communication and professionalism from their sitters, and sitters deserve that same courtesy in return. Leaving someone hanging after repeatedly saying you want to move forward is just frustrating.

I’m trying to figure out how to recreate a medium Iced Campfire Espresso Shaker at home, and I feel like I should have everything I need, but I cannot get it to taste the same.
I have a Breville Barista espresso machine and use Caribou’s Cross Fox espresso beans. I also buy Caribou’s actual private label chocolate syrup directly from my local store since it isn’t sold retail. For the flavor syrup, I have Monin Toasted Marshmallow, and I use 2% milk instead of oat milk because that’s how I order mine at Caribou.
So I’m using:
• Cross Fox espresso beans
• Caribou’s actual private label chocolate syrup
• Monin Toasted Marshmallow syrup
• 2% milk
• Ice
I’ve tried weighing the beans, changing the grind size, timing my shots, and playing around with the extraction, but I still can’t get it to taste like the one I order. I also had this problem when I tried recreating the regular Iced Campfire Mocha at home before the shaker came out, so I’m wondering if the biggest difference is actually how I’m pulling the espresso.
If anyone works or has worked at Caribou, what are the exact amounts and steps for a MEDIUM Iced Campfire Espresso Shaker? Specifically how many shots of espresso, how much chocolate syrup and toasted marshmallow syrup, how much milk and ice, the order everything is added, and how it’s shaken.
I’m also curious what espresso machines Caribou uses and whether the commercial machines make a significant difference with Cross Fox compared to a Breville Barista. My machine is getting older, and I’ve considered eventually upgrading to a really nice automatic or even a commercial grade machine (after I graduate and save a bit in the next year). But if my Breville should be perfectly capable of producing similar espresso and I’m just dialing it in wrong, I’d rather figure out what I’m doing wrong before spending that kind of money.
I feel like I’m so close because I have the actual ingredients. I’m just missing something in either the recipe, the technique, or the espresso extraction.

Rover used to explicitly say the owner service fee was capped at $50 per booking. Their current U.S. Help Center now only says owners pay an 11% booking fee and doesn’t mention a cap. The Canadian Help Center still explicitly lists its $65 cap, which makes me wonder if the US cap was removed. Has anyone in the US had a recent booking over $500 and can check what the actual owner booking fee was? It’s good to know as a sitter and also if I need someone to watch my pets then at least I know what the fee would be. Thanks!

I’m genuinely curious how sitters in higher cost of living areas handle this. Say your regular house sitting rate is already around $200/night for one dog. When a major holiday comes around, do you just set your holiday rate at the $250 maximum, or do you manually adjust the price after someone sends a request? The manual adjustment part feels a little awkward to me because the client is requesting you based on the rate they see, and then you’d essentially be telling them the actual price is higher. Holidays are generally pretty important to me and my family. For context, housing/cost of living in my area is nowhere near some of the really expensive markets, but I’ve generally been one of the higher priced sitters in my area. I’m also going into my last and most demanding semester of school, so my availability is going to be pretty limited. I recently raised my holiday house sitting rate to the $250 maximum, figuring I’d rather have fewer bookings and only give up a major holiday if it’s really worth it. To my surprise, just within the past week I’ve gotten 3–4 requests at my new rates, including 3 specifically for overnight holiday house sitting. It got me wondering what sitters who already charge $175–$200+ normally do. Does the $250 cap basically eliminate your ability to have a meaningful holiday premium? Do you manually adjust above $250, keep it capped, or just not take holiday bookings?

I’m heading into my last semester of nursing school, and it’s going to be by far my busiest. I’ll have many 8 hour clinicals, 4 hour simulations, exams, labs, volunteer work, mentoring, classes, and studying.
Over the summer I took as many bookings as I could, but now my goal is actually the opposite: fewer bookings, but higher paying ones. The average house sitting rate in my area is around $55/night (very low), and drop ins are around $25–30. I’ve always been one of the highest priced sitters in my area, have built a strong client base and review history, and recently raised my prices even more. I also raised my holiday rate to nearly Rover’s maximum (like 3X the average holiday rate near me) while keeping my additional dog rate relatively low. Surprisingly, I’ve already gotten multiple large holiday requests at those higher rates. My schedule changes day by day or week by week. Sometimes I’ll have multiple things every day of the week. Other times I might have 2 free days during the week. My dilemma is that I know I’ll be gone for school during the day, so part of me wonders if raising my prices further is the wrong move. On the other hand, with how demanding my schedule will be, I honestly don’t think I’d want to take overnight bookings unless they’re worth giving up my own time, studying away from home, and working around clinicals and exams. My goal isn’t to get more bookings, it’s to take fewer bookings that are actually worth fitting into my schedule. I’m also debating whether my additional dog rate is too low compared to my overnight and holiday rates. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Did you intentionally raise your prices to reduce demand and take fewer, but higher value bookings? Did it work, or did you regret it? I’d especially love to hear from anyone who balanced Rover with nursing school or another demanding program.

Has anyone else had this experience with Brixadi? I switched from 24 mg/day Suboxone films to the 128 mg monthly injection and was really excited after hearing so many good things. Unfortunately, I’ve started having mild withdrawal around day 13–16 after every injection!! I’m now on day 15 after my third shot and still dealing with restlessness, sweating, hot/cold flashes, and just feeling awful. My provider gave me Suboxone films to supplement if needed, but I’ve been trying not to use them because I keep hoping the injections will eventually stabilize. I’m starting my final semester of nursing school in a few weeks, so I’m getting anxious. Did anyone else continue having this after three injections? Did it eventually get better, or did you end up needing to supplement with films or switch back to something else? Idk what to do I’m honestly at a loss. :(

Is this just my area?? In my area, the average 30 minute drop in visit is around $30-$35, but the average overnight house sitting rate is only about $50. I don’t understand the pricing logic. House sitting means leaving your own home, bed, family, and pets, packing clothes and food, driving to and from the client’s house, and being responsible for their pet overnight. It seems like a much bigger commitment than a single 30 minute visit imo. Also, I don’t live in a college town where there’s a bunch of people in dorms who would hope to have a house to themselves.

Curious how other sitters would handle this.
A client booked a one night house sit, but a few days before the booking a family member ended up staying at the house, so they asked if we could switch to a couple of 1 hour drop in visits instead. They are new to Rover and said the overnight sit price can stay the same and even said I could keep the difference as a tip and told me to let them know if that wasn’t fair because they wanted to be fair. The thing is, with my pricing, a couple of 1 hour drop ins for multiple pets actually add up to a little more than the overnight house sit. I’m completely fine honoring the original price, but would you explain how your pricing works for future bookings, or just leave it alone? They told me they rarely travel so I’m not sure it would make a difference.

I just got the heartbreaking news that one of my clients pets unfortunately passed over the rainbow bridge this weekend. My heart goes out to them. I actually have a weeklong of drop ins for them scheduled in a couple days and we were supposed to go over everything tomorrow. I saw a couple people post over the past few months about this and I really didn’t know how it would feel if it ever happened to me and it’s honestly heartbreaking. It just makes me want to hold my pets even closer to me tonight. I really want to do something special for her, but I’m not sure what. This is such a sad situation. :(

I genuinely love animals, and I started Rover about a year ago because it was something I enjoyed. It eventually became my full time income while I'm in school full time, and I'm incredibly grateful for it. Lately, though, I've been feeling more burned out than I ever expected. I think a huge part of it is sleep!!!
I'm an extremely light sleeper, and several of my recent housesitting bookings have involved multiple large dogs that are expected to sleep in bed with me. I'm talking 50–150 lb dogs on a full size bed. I don't even sleep with my own 60 lb dog at home because I know I won't sleep well. She doesn’t sit still. The dogs aren't doing anything wrong, they're just being dogs. They bark or whine throughout the night, get up, reposition themselves, pace around, jump on and off the bed, and every little movement or noise wakes me up. I already sleep with a fan, a white noise machine, and sometimes even earplugs, but it doesn't make much difference. After several bookings in a row with poor sleep, I've noticed my patience is starting to disappear, and I hate feeling that way because it's not the dogs fault. I love taking care of animals, and I want every pet to receive the best care possible. But I've realized that if I'm running on very little sleep for days at a time, I'm not enjoying the work the way I used to. Anyone go through similar situations? It’s not going to slow down anytime soon because I’m booked out through mid August. Any tips or advice?