August 16, 2024

Rover Sitter Loses Las Vegas, NV Couple’s Chihuahua

KTNV Las Vegas reported that earlier this month a dog sitter on Rover.com lost the Chihuahua that he was sitting for a couple who had left their dog with him while on vacation. The sitter had left the Chihuahua and the coupole’s other dog outside overnight for approximately 6 hours. Many like to point to this as a systematic failure or issue with the Rover.com model but I think the answer is more simple:

Number of Pets lost by Rover sitters.

The rare times a pet is lost on Rover.com, it tends to create buzz in the media but the actual failure rate of pet sitters on Rover.com is pretty low. As Rover reported, over 98% of the stays booked in the Las Vegas Valley were rated 5 stars. To defend Rover, there is no way to screen Rover sitters for their ability to not lose dogs – they dog an enhanced background check and you have to pass a basic dog safety quiz to be listed on the app. If your track record and reviews on the site are consistently good, you probably have good practices in place for dog safety.

Small dogs are harder to keep track of.

The dog in question was a Chihuahua which are supposed to weight between 2-7lbs. There are rats that size so traditional fencing is not going to generally be adequate to keep track of a dog that size. Either they would need to have specialized fencing for miniature breeds or always supervise when they are outside, which non miniature breed owners may not realize. This is part of why I don’t sit for dogs under 40lbs anymore.

What you should remember as a pet parent.

Pet sitters aren’t perfect. If you have specific concerns about your dog’s escape abilities, make sure they know. I specifically ask my dog sitting clients if their dog has ever escaped a sitter before, whether they have ever jumped a 6 foot fence, and whether they have any digging tendencies. You would be surprised at what small dogs in particular can dog and specifically watch out for small huskies since they probably have no recall and are natural escape artists.

Conclusion

The sitter in question was removed from Rover. I kind of do agree with that decision because they left the dogs outside for over 6 hours at night in Las Vegas which is pretty much a desert with coyotes and other wildlife that can get into the backyard. I would’ve been one thing if they had gotten out while under supervision and everyone was alerted timely of the escape but this does seem careless. The dog has not been found as of yet and given the size and the area it was, I am not sure it will be found.