Trusting someone else to take care of your beloved pet can be difficult, especially when you don’t know them. Apps like Rover attempt to make it easier and provide a trustworthy system that dog owners can rely on. Yet, sometimes, despite their best efforts, they still fail. That’s what happened to Elaine Conoly. Her 10-month-old Dachshund Wally was killed while in care of a dog sitter hired through the Rover app.
Conoly went on a vacation for a couple of days, but now she finds herself mourning her beloved pet and fighting to inform people about the risks of pet sitters.
“He got along with cats and dogs and people and just wanted nothing more than to sit in your lap,” Conoly said. “I mean, he was supposed to turn 10 next month. I don’t get those years now.”
Conoly was just two days into her vacation when she got a message from the dog’s sitter:
“Sorry, a mastiff completely mauled your dog and killed him instantly,’
As it turned out, that was just a half-truth because the mastiff was actually also in the care of the same dog sitter.
“He didn’t need to be outside, near a 150-pound dog,” Conoly said.
What’s more, Conoly hasn’t heard from the dog sitter since and she still has no access to her pet’s remains. She even had to pay for the services through Rover. All she received was an apology email from the app.
A bit later, Rover’s public relations spokesperson Dave Rosenbaum gave the following statement:
“As dog owners ourselves, we are distraught by Wally’s passing and join his family in their grief during this heart-wrenching time. Upon learning of the incident, our trust and safety team immediately opened an investigation and we remain committed to providing support to the Conoly family. We have deactivated this particular sitter from our platform.”
Of course, that doesn’t do anything for Conoly. She plans to hire an attorney and press charges in an effort to inform more people about what she went through.
“Truly, it was like having my heart ripped out of my chest. You can’t replace 10 years of memories,” Conoly said. “I just want them to be held liable for their actions. They are falsely advertising to people.”
