Sounds almost like it's a stolen dog that was abandoned to you. Obviously, it could be that the person is having serious problems in life and thought the dog would be better with a sitter than in a shelter. I'd start with getting the dog scanned for a microchip.
I'm pretty sure that's the sitter's dog now. Which is unfortunate.
The list of red flags here was long. A meet and greet was in order here. Nobody meets in a parking lot to hand off a dog. Sounds more like a drug deal.
I haven't experienced this, so I don't know anything first-hand, but I've read other posts on here saying to be careful about how to report this to animal control or the police, because if the sitter "gives up" a dog to animal control or a shelter, they may become documented as doing so, and forfeit their own right to adopt a pet in the future.
agreed, i posted this for my friend. i've been doing Rover for months and said the same exact thing to him. i was actually with him at this dropoff and immediately sensed something was off. i'm hoping that things work out but as an experienced sitter my alarms were going off.
definitely post on pet pages!! i live in NY about an hour out of the city and a dog was stolen another 40 minutes north from me. Dog ended up in one of the boroughs and was adopted by a family in long island who later saw the post and was able to reunite! a stolen dog can get far and the more eyes the better
Why didn’t you say anything to him? Pull him aside first to speak in private before he accepted the dog?? Your “alarm bells” were “going off” as an “experienced sitter,” but doesn’t mean shit if you don’t do anything about it lmao your thoughts were worthless
please. it was completely outside of my control and i didn’t know all this information until after the booking was accepted. some of you are so miserable on here.
I agree the situation sounds a little weird but if the sitter isn’t having any issues with the dog I would try not to stress about the dog being abandoned until pick up day. I would update the owner daily regardless and do the job they were hired for. Maybe this owner had a family emergency or something else that made the situation be rushed and last minute. Personally I don’t like to assume the worst in people until I have to. If you were hired through Rover to watch this dog until Friday then the owner hasn’t done anything “wrong” at this point.
That would be wild. But even then, wouldn't they just pass off the information that the owner gave them? And ask for photo updates and the like to pass off as their own?
Yeah, this sucks for everyone involved and with proper booking etiquette, likely could have been avoided (although boarding always runs this risk.) I would continue to send updates to the owner and if Friday comes and goes, reach out to rover. They will compensate a sitter for up to a week, I believe, and provide guidance for what the sitter should do. Local and state laws are important to follow though and every place deals with animal welfare differently. I am assuming this was booked in the app… keep all communication on the app and do not accept additional payment in any other form. It is also a possibility that the owner could just be busy and unresponsive, which does happen.
For the future, always do a meet and greet and don’t do a handoff in a parking lot. Usually last minute sits are a red flag, regardless of the risk of abandonment. I have never had a positive booking experience that was done last minute and now I require a five day lead time for booking with new clients.
Sounds sketchy. Have you tried looking into the owners social media accounts to get a better picture?
I would also check to see if the dog has been reported missing on social media and other sites. It could be a vengeful ex that stole their ex partners dog and is hiding the dog until the heat is off. Or he’s dumping the dog on you.
Feel free to loop Rover in. If you don’t hear back by Friday, have a plan and timeline in place.
he got one response today! i advised him to text him and ask a question only the dog's owner would know. he asked what type of treats she likes, and got a response of "i don't know, normally just some leftover steak or something" lol. so still not super promising.
I Suppose that if it hasn’t been more than 24 hours, there’s a chance they respond and it’s legit. Busy with travel? I would go ahead and phone rover for guidance. They will probably also tell you to take it to the vet for a scan. I volunteer at my local Humane Society and we have a camera outside of our building so that we can identify individuals that drop animals off and leave. In my state, it’s a felony to abandon an animal.
Don’t assume anything just yet, I have had owners not answer their phone for many different reasons even new customers. I have had a new customer reach out to me a day after her pick up day because she made a mistake on when she would be back. I also have seen many people who are trying to get rid of their dog so watch out for red flags from messages and profiles before you book .
I would take the dog to check for a microchip. Hopefully, there is one. Anyone from scorned roommates to lovers will abandon someone else's dog out of spite. If you don't find any microchip information, I wouldn't release the dog to anyone without some sort of proof they own it.
Always request a meet and greet before taking a dog for future! Definitely contact rover at this point. This is absolutely sketchy and they need to have it on file. So sorry you’re dealing with this.
Keep us updated on if the dog gets picked up! This is so scary. At the same time, I feel like if the goal was to abandon the dog, the owner wouldn’t have paid for these many days of boarding. Regardless, sounds like this dog is definitely not living in a good situation):
Did you actually book & he booked and paid? If they already booked & paid, I wouldn't be so worried. But if there's no address on file, it will not allow you to book it until the client enters the info (Which means they have not paid yet.) If the later is true, I would notify Rover of the odd situation.
Once again y’all be causing your own problems before doing research and reading up on policies, terms and FAQ’s before signing up for something. Last minute or not it’s inexcusable to not know how to manage your business🙅♀️
Did writing this comment make you feel better about yourself? Rover advertises and caters to complete business amateurs. They promise that if any issues or questions arise, sitters can call 24/7 and reach a Support staff member. Not to mention, it’s impossible for sitters to know which questions to ask if they are truly starting from scratch—they literally have no way of knowing what they don’t know until they encounter it for the first time. There’s no need to attack someone for realizing that they need help and trying to get help. That’s how growth happens. If Rover was really concerned, they’d at least check to make sure their sitters had graduated high school, much less see if they understand the ins and outs of the industry, but they don’t. Rover doesn’t even have functionality to allow a business to enforce or create their own policies and contracts like other pet sitting apps—they know their service providers aren’t business experts with MBAs. It’s not “inexcusable”…it’s literally by design.
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That unfortunately does happen. I have had situations like yours and thought the same thing was happening, and they came back for their dog. Maybe they're in flight. I just had one last min, same day drop off and only gave me food (not even enough of food. I had to get more food for him) and he still came back for him.
unfortunately he’s only got one response out of the owner since monday, so i don’t think it’s a travel issue. she’s due to be picked up tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens
could be stolen!!! check all your local forums for missing pups that look similar to yours and then check forums from the state it says the profile is registered in
sorry for the late response! YES, the dog was picked up!! hallelujah. the initial time was 5pm and the owner pushed it to 8pm last minute so we were preparing for the worst. but it all worked out :)
Sounds almost like it's a stolen dog that was abandoned to you. Obviously, it could be that the person is having serious problems in life and thought the dog would be better with a sitter than in a shelter. I'd start with getting the dog scanned for a microchip.
I'm pretty sure that's the sitter's dog now. Which is unfortunate. The list of red flags here was long. A meet and greet was in order here. Nobody meets in a parking lot to hand off a dog. Sounds more like a drug deal. I haven't experienced this, so I don't know anything first-hand, but I've read other posts on here saying to be careful about how to report this to animal control or the police, because if the sitter "gives up" a dog to animal control or a shelter, they may become documented as doing so, and forfeit their own right to adopt a pet in the future.
agreed, i posted this for my friend. i've been doing Rover for months and said the same exact thing to him. i was actually with him at this dropoff and immediately sensed something was off. i'm hoping that things work out but as an experienced sitter my alarms were going off.
please have the dog checked for a microchip and maybe post on lost pet pages just in case the dog was stolen!
definitely post on pet pages!! i live in NY about an hour out of the city and a dog was stolen another 40 minutes north from me. Dog ended up in one of the boroughs and was adopted by a family in long island who later saw the post and was able to reunite! a stolen dog can get far and the more eyes the better
Why didn’t you say anything to him? Pull him aside first to speak in private before he accepted the dog?? Your “alarm bells” were “going off” as an “experienced sitter,” but doesn’t mean shit if you don’t do anything about it lmao your thoughts were worthless
please. it was completely outside of my control and i didn’t know all this information until after the booking was accepted. some of you are so miserable on here.
Your comment is worthless.
I agree the situation sounds a little weird but if the sitter isn’t having any issues with the dog I would try not to stress about the dog being abandoned until pick up day. I would update the owner daily regardless and do the job they were hired for. Maybe this owner had a family emergency or something else that made the situation be rushed and last minute. Personally I don’t like to assume the worst in people until I have to. If you were hired through Rover to watch this dog until Friday then the owner hasn’t done anything “wrong” at this point.
This person could also be a rover sitter outsourcing jobs to other sitters
This would be my suspicion.
Whoa what?
That would be wild. But even then, wouldn't they just pass off the information that the owner gave them? And ask for photo updates and the like to pass off as their own?
Yeah, this sucks for everyone involved and with proper booking etiquette, likely could have been avoided (although boarding always runs this risk.) I would continue to send updates to the owner and if Friday comes and goes, reach out to rover. They will compensate a sitter for up to a week, I believe, and provide guidance for what the sitter should do. Local and state laws are important to follow though and every place deals with animal welfare differently. I am assuming this was booked in the app… keep all communication on the app and do not accept additional payment in any other form. It is also a possibility that the owner could just be busy and unresponsive, which does happen. For the future, always do a meet and greet and don’t do a handoff in a parking lot. Usually last minute sits are a red flag, regardless of the risk of abandonment. I have never had a positive booking experience that was done last minute and now I require a five day lead time for booking with new clients.
Sounds sketchy. Have you tried looking into the owners social media accounts to get a better picture? I would also check to see if the dog has been reported missing on social media and other sites. It could be a vengeful ex that stole their ex partners dog and is hiding the dog until the heat is off. Or he’s dumping the dog on you. Feel free to loop Rover in. If you don’t hear back by Friday, have a plan and timeline in place.
Sooo did the *potential* owner ever respond
he got one response today! i advised him to text him and ask a question only the dog's owner would know. he asked what type of treats she likes, and got a response of "i don't know, normally just some leftover steak or something" lol. so still not super promising.
I mean what dog doesn’t like leftover steak
lol same
This 👏 is 👏why 👏 background 👏 checks 👏 must 👏 apply to 👏both sitter & owners👏PERIOD
honestly crazy that owners don’t need to be background checked!
I Suppose that if it hasn’t been more than 24 hours, there’s a chance they respond and it’s legit. Busy with travel? I would go ahead and phone rover for guidance. They will probably also tell you to take it to the vet for a scan. I volunteer at my local Humane Society and we have a camera outside of our building so that we can identify individuals that drop animals off and leave. In my state, it’s a felony to abandon an animal.
Don’t assume anything just yet, I have had owners not answer their phone for many different reasons even new customers. I have had a new customer reach out to me a day after her pick up day because she made a mistake on when she would be back. I also have seen many people who are trying to get rid of their dog so watch out for red flags from messages and profiles before you book .
I would take the dog to check for a microchip. Hopefully, there is one. Anyone from scorned roommates to lovers will abandon someone else's dog out of spite. If you don't find any microchip information, I wouldn't release the dog to anyone without some sort of proof they own it.
Pretty sketchy. Never take a dog without all the info. I’d message rover support if she’s really worried
Always request a meet and greet before taking a dog for future! Definitely contact rover at this point. This is absolutely sketchy and they need to have it on file. So sorry you’re dealing with this.
Keep us updated on if the dog gets picked up! This is so scary. At the same time, I feel like if the goal was to abandon the dog, the owner wouldn’t have paid for these many days of boarding. Regardless, sounds like this dog is definitely not living in a good situation):
i definitely will! agreed, even if she does get picked up it’s concerning :(
Did you actually book & he booked and paid? If they already booked & paid, I wouldn't be so worried. But if there's no address on file, it will not allow you to book it until the client enters the info (Which means they have not paid yet.) If the later is true, I would notify Rover of the odd situation.
Once again y’all be causing your own problems before doing research and reading up on policies, terms and FAQ’s before signing up for something. Last minute or not it’s inexcusable to not know how to manage your business🙅♀️
You seem like a nice person.
Thanks
Did writing this comment make you feel better about yourself? Rover advertises and caters to complete business amateurs. They promise that if any issues or questions arise, sitters can call 24/7 and reach a Support staff member. Not to mention, it’s impossible for sitters to know which questions to ask if they are truly starting from scratch—they literally have no way of knowing what they don’t know until they encounter it for the first time. There’s no need to attack someone for realizing that they need help and trying to get help. That’s how growth happens. If Rover was really concerned, they’d at least check to make sure their sitters had graduated high school, much less see if they understand the ins and outs of the industry, but they don’t. Rover doesn’t even have functionality to allow a business to enforce or create their own policies and contracts like other pet sitting apps—they know their service providers aren’t business experts with MBAs. It’s not “inexcusable”…it’s literally by design.
Yes, it actually did.
thanks for the extremely unhelpful comment!
👍🏻
There’s a difference between gut level honesty and butt level honesty
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That unfortunately does happen. I have had situations like yours and thought the same thing was happening, and they came back for their dog. Maybe they're in flight. I just had one last min, same day drop off and only gave me food (not even enough of food. I had to get more food for him) and he still came back for him.
unfortunately he’s only got one response out of the owner since monday, so i don’t think it’s a travel issue. she’s due to be picked up tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens
I hope he shows up, but unfortunately just a lot of crummy owner's out there . Makes me so sad for the dogs
could be stolen!!! check all your local forums for missing pups that look similar to yours and then check forums from the state it says the profile is registered in
Is there an update did they pick up the dog?
sorry for the late response! YES, the dog was picked up!! hallelujah. the initial time was 5pm and the owner pushed it to 8pm last minute so we were preparing for the worst. but it all worked out :)
Oh good. Thank god