Guide · Rover

How to Leave Rover Without Losing Your Clients (a 6-Year Boarder’s Playbook)

By Dave Waggins, 6-year home boarder, founder of Houndtrust

Updated August 20, 2026 · ~7 min read

To leave Rover carefully, finish every booking arranged through Rover on Rover. Set up direct intake, terms, and payment only for clients you found independently. Then switch your Rover profile to repeat-only or Away mode, turn off services, or deactivate it.

I get this question more than any other: “I’m done handing Rover a cut of people I already know, how do I actually leave?” The honest answer is that you don’t have to leave all at once. You can keep Rover-arranged care on Rover while running independently acquired relationships through your own business. My wife and I have boarded dogs out of our home for six years, and this is the exact playbook I’d hand a sitter who wants to run their own book without stepping on a landmine.

One important thing up front: this is about independently acquired clients, including referrals, neighbors, and other self-sourced regulars, not about soliciting clients Rover introduced you to. Section 4.1 of Rover’s current terms bars arranging care on Rover and completing that transaction outside Rover. Read the agreement attached to your own account and stay inside it. This is one operator’s experience, not legal advice, and Houndtrust is not affiliated with Rover.

The one distinction that keeps you out of trouble

Everything in this guide hinges on one line: there is a difference between a client you found and a client Rover found for you. The neighbor who saw your dogs in the yard, the friend-of-a-friend referral, or the regular who first found you outside Rover is self-sourced. You can give those clients your own booking link from the start.

The clients Rover introduced you to are the ones its off-platform transaction rule is about. I’m not going to tell you how to move those off-platform, because that can violate your agreement, and the exact terms can change. If you can’t say for certain which pile a client belongs in, leave them on Rover and read your current terms. Every step below is written for the first pile only.

The playbook, step by step

Six steps, in order. None of them require you to touch a client Rover introduced.

1. 1

   Separate self-sourced clients from Rover-arranged care

   Before you change anything, identify where each relationship began. Referrals, neighbors, and people who first contacted you outside Rover are self-sourced. Clients whose care was first arranged through Rover are a separate category. Section 4.1 of Rover’s current terms bars arranging care on Rover and completing that transaction outside Rover, so read your own current Rover agreement and sort your book into “self-sourced” and “Rover-arranged” before you do anything else. This playbook applies only to the first group.

2. 2

   Get your own waiver and booking terms in writing

   A client who books you directly is booking you, not a platform, so you need your own paperwork: a liability waiver, an emergency-vet authorization, your cancellation terms, and your rates. On Rover those live inside Rover. Off it, they need to be yours, e-signed, and stored where you can find them. This is the piece most sitters skip and later regret, so set it up before the first direct booking, not after.

3. 3

   Stand up direct booking and payments

   Give self-sourced clients a direct way to reach you that has nothing to do with Rover. Start with a Trust Link for their contact information, dog-care profile, veterinary plan, and emergency authorization. Then set the booking, send the separate care agreement, and give them a way to pay you directly (your own Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, or Stripe). The whole point is that the money goes from your client to you without a marketplace booking percentage. Run your real rate and volume through the calculator first so you can compare a percentage fee with the fixed tools you use for your own clients.

4. 4

   Tell your self-sourced clients, simply

   No drama and no bad-mouthing the platform. Send a short, warm note only to clients who first found you independently: “Going forward I’m booking directly, here’s my link, same me, same care.” Keep the note factual and make the next step obvious. Keep this to the clients you sorted into your own pile in step one, and let brand-new discovery keep happening wherever it happens.

5. 5

   Choose repeat-only, Away, or deactivate

   Rover gives you several ways to slow down without deleting everything. You can accept only past and repeat clients, use Away mode, turn off individual services, or deactivate all services. Keep every Rover-arranged booking on Rover. Use your own system only for the relationships you acquired independently.

6. 6

   If you're in a pilot metro, run the math first

   In the tiered-fee pilot metros, a client relationship with $599 or less in completed booking history uses the 30% tier. It moves to 15% at $600 and 10% at $1,200, and there is no opt-out. That makes a direct system more valuable for self-sourced regulars, but it does not change the terms. Keep Rover-arranged care on Rover, use your system only for independently acquired relationships, and read your current agreement first. The tiered-fees guide runs the 30 / 15 / 10 math on a real house.

You don’t have to pick a side

The move most working sitters actually make isn’t “quit Rover.” It’s “use Rover for care arranged there, keep independently acquired relationships in my own system from day one, and let the marketplace keep doing the one thing it’s good at.” Discovery is genuinely worth something, so keep a profile for meeting strangers if you want it.

If you’re weighing where to run your own book, the Rover alternatives for sitters rundown compares the software options on price and fees, and the Rover fees calculator shows you the real annual number you’re handing over today. If you want the full business case, my free Solo Boarder’s Playbook course walks the whole thing end to end.

Common questions

Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Rover. “Rover” is used only for factual reference. This is one operator’s experience, not legal advice; check your own current Rover agreement for the terms in your market.