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 July 2026 · ~7 min read

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, and you don’t have to break anyone’s terms to stop paying a fee on the clients who are already yours. 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 the clients who are legitimately yours, your referrals, neighbors, and self-sourced regulars, not about soliciting clients Rover introduced you to. Rover’s terms include a non-circumvention clause, and the wording varies by account and market. Read your own current Rover agreement 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 Roverfound for you. The neighbor who saw your dogs in the yard, the friend-of-a-friend referral, the regular who now texts you directly, those relationships live off the platform and were always yours to run how you like. Moving them onto your own booking link isn’t poaching anyone; it’s just doing business with your own clients.

The clients Rover introduced you to are the ones its non-circumvention clause is about. I’m not going to tell you how to move those off-platform, because that’s the part that can violate your agreement, and the exact terms differ by account and by market. 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

   Decide what's legitimately yours to keep

   Before you move anyone, get honest about which clients are actually yours. The referrals, the neighbors, the people who found you by name, the regulars who would text you directly with or without an app, those relationships exist off the platform and are yours to run how you like. Clients Rover introduced you to are a separate category. Rover’s terms include a non-circumvention clause, and some accounts carry a repeat-clients-only contact setting, so read your own current Rover agreementand sort your book into “mine” and “Rover’s introduction” before you do anything else. This playbook is only ever about the first pile.

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 your own clients a single way to reach you that has nothing to do with Rover: an intake link that books the stay, signs the waiver, and lands the dates in your calendar, plus a way to get paid directly (your own Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, or Stripe). The whole point is that the money goes from your client to you with no cut in the middle. Run your real rate and volume through the calculator first so you know exactly what that 0% is worth to you each year.

4. 4

   Tell your self-sourced clients, simply

   No drama and no bad-mouthing the platform. A short, warm note to the clients who are already yours: “Going forward I’m booking directly, here’s my link, same me, same care.” Most owners are relieved, they’d rather deal with you than an app anyway. 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

   Wind the profile down gracefully, don't torch it

   You rarely need to delete your Rover profile the day you decide to leave. A marketplace is genuinely good at putting your name in front of strangers, and you only pay a fee on bookings that actually go through Rover. Plenty of pros keep a lean profile for brand-new discovery while running their own regulars directly. Ease off the platform as your own book fills; don’t burn the discovery channel on your way out.

6. 6

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

   In the tiered-fee pilot metros the cut on a new client’s first $599 is 30%, stepping down to 15% then 10%, and there’s no opt-out. That makes moving your own regulars off the meter worth more, but it doesn’t change the terms. Keep new discovery on Rover if you want it, move only the clients who are legitimately yours, 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 “stop paying a cut on the clients who are already mine, 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. Just don’t keep paying a percentage for the life of a relationship the platform stopped having anything to do with years ago.

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.