No creature is more innocent than a dog but even they are not exempt from experiencing the worst of humanity. One TikTokker recounted every pet owner’s nightmare when enlisting a dog sitter on Rover.
The app is commonplace for pet owners seeking assistance for dog walking and pet sitting. Normally, these apps should have some checks and balances in place, but in a video on TikTok, McKenzie Leigh told a terrifying story that would put most owners off the internet forever. The content creator gave context to her situation, saying that she typically used to app to take her German shepherds, Titan and Chester, out for walks.
In the recent encounter, she described that her two-year-old just had brain surgery and they wanted to go on a brief vacation away from the family dogs for three weeks. The first couple of weeks seemed to be normal, but then she quickly became concerned. The dog sitters became reluctant to show the owners pictures from the past week. When the owners finally arrived home, they tried coordinating a time when Titan and Chester could be dropped off.
“Friday morning we get the most insane text message from from this individual from the Rover app that says something like this: ‘Congratulations. I just dropped your dogs off at their new home. It’s a seven-acre property. The owner’s a 55-year-old cancer survivor. They’re going to be so happy. You guys are making the right decision.'”
Naturally, the owners went into a tailspin with this news. The pet sitter that they had been working with for weeks abducted their dogs and gave them away. The following story is one full of twists and turns, as the owners fight to get their beloved pets back home.
One pet owner warns everyone off of Rover
The dog owners then reached out to the dog sitter, demanding to know where their dogs were. The sitter doubled down on the story, saying that they took the dogs to this alleged property to visit but once they walked around, Titan and Chester wouldn’t get back in the car. The sitter then claimed that was cause enough to leave them at a new home. The further the owners pressed, however, the more the sitter changed their story. They then claimed that they rehome dogs on the side, and said that Titan and Chester must have gotten confused in the shuffle.
With the trust already broken, the owners did not believe any claims that the sitter would return their dogs to them. They reported the incident to Rover, which had apparently already banned this sitter. The company also informed the owners that previous incidents led to police involvement, and that they would have a file on this individual. As the owners got the authorities involved, McKenzie Leigh joined any lost pet groups she could, only to find that someone had found Chester. The TikTokker reported that the dog had been wandering around in the Arizona heat until a woman took him in. Though she had tried to capture Titan, he escaped.
This essentially confirms the theory that the dog sitter had simply lost the dogs, and instead of being forthright, wove a convoluted tale. Luckily for them, they later found Titan at a shelter, safe and sound. McKenzie made sure to inform the online groups about the situation. She was later made aware that this sitter was known for behavior such as losing dogs, but was still permitted to work with animals. The TikTokker urged viewers to not use apps like Rover and Wag, because this egregious behavior was allowed to transpire.
Because of the sitter’s negligence, Titan was one of the 3.1 million dogs per year that enter a shelter. ASPCA reports that 6.3 million animals enter the shelter every year, about half of that being dogs. This statistic is especially risky considering the reality of kill-shelters. Luckily, both Titan and Chester are finally home safe.
Published: Sep 26, 2024 12:18 pm