Client boundaries?

It's a typical situation where a client offers a sitter to do off Rover deal to save himself few dollars. Then they will push it, try to low ball you, they become difficult and demanding and then they will tell you they'll pay when they pick up the dog instead of paying up front (his reason will be that this is OFF Rover, so he'll pay you at his convenience). Or they stop communicating because they found a sitter who will watch his dog for almost free. This person doesn't care about anyone but himself. You are lucky you blocked him because this scammer would not pay you for the 5 days anyway. I've seen these people before and I myself had one bad experience like this many years ago when I started pet sitting and a regular wanted an off rover deal and then she scammed me. Lesson learnt.

I never want to pet sit for anyone who finds me here, and then offers me off rover deal... it will ALWAYS backfire! Just report the conversation to Rover. You don't need this person, he's shady as hell.

If he found you on Rover and then asked to take the payment off of Rover, that would be reason enough to stop communicating with him and report it to Rover#.

Even if he found you outside of Rover, such as by referral, business cards or other online presence, this person took more than two days during which time tried to negotiate lower rate/longer times, and you very well could have booked someone else who wanted your services without trying to bargain. So your communication that since you had not heard back, you assumed he found another sitter was on point. It’s fine that you blocked his future texts, even though I would not have taken that extra step.

Generally, there are some client patterns worth avoiding. Among these: Someone who found you through Rover that wants to communicate and pay outside of Rover, Someone that tries to negotiate your rates, someone who wants to bargain for things outside your offerings (additional time, services, pets, etc)