A Queens woman who turned to an app-based pet-sitting company to care for her 3-month-old dog said she is growing increasingly desperate after the puppy went missing nearly two weeks ago in a sitter’s care.
Jennifer Gallegos, who lives in College Point, said she was on vacation with her family in Colombia when the pet sitter told her that on Jan. 2, Phoebe disappeared from a stroller in Kissena Corridor Park.
The company, called Rover, said such incidents are exceedingly rare and that it’s already taking steps to help Gallegos find her missing dog. The service has offered a $1,000 reward and provided Gallegos with flyers to aid in the search. But Gallegos said she felt a false sense of security going through the site, which advertises that its sitters and dogwalkers are subject to background checks, and includes user ratings for the sitters who advertise their services through it. Their response so far has been insufficient, Gallegos said.
She said she’d never used the sitter before, but said she thought her dog was in good hands.
“ I didn't think too much about it because, you know, I thought this app was to be trusted,” Gallegos said.
Jennifer Gallegos said her missing puppy, Phoebe, is just three months old.
Gallegos said she dropped Phoebe off with the pet sitter on Dec. 27 before heading to Colombia.
Screenshots Gallegos provided to Gothamist showed the sitter had a 5.0 rating and “Star Sitter” status, which Rover says on its site highlights “responsive sitters who deliver highly rated care.” Gallegos said that when she met the sitter, she seemed like a “genuine person” and that she “didn't get any iffy feelings about her.”
The screenshots also show texts from the sitter to Gallegos: “My friends and I already love her so much.” Another: “Imma be so sad when she goes home.” The sitter talked about expecting to miss Phoebe once the stay was over: “Yalls want to extend your vacay? Phoebe loves it here.”
Then, Gallegos said, six days after the handoff, she got a call. She was still in Colombia, she said.
The sitter told her she’d been playing fetch with her own dog at the park when she lost track of the other dog in her care, according to Gallegos.
“She realized 30 minutes later after playing fetch with her dog that Phoebe went missing,” Gallegos said.
Gallegos said the sitter claimed that though Phoebe didn’t have a leash securing her to the stroller, the stroller was zipped up, and she found Phoebe's sweater a few feet away from the stroller.
The missing poster for Phoebe Gallegos, a puppy who's gone missing.
Courtesy of Jennifer Gallegos
“I was just crying, I've just been crying, I've been worried, just thinking like, ‘Where can she be? Is she OK? Where is she?’” Gallegos said.
Gallegos said she immediately contacted Rover to report Phoebe missing.
Rover told Gothamist it has taken down sitter’s profile and is continuing to investigate the incident. The sitter did not return messages from Gothamist left at a phone number Gallegos provided for her.
In a statement provided by spokesperson Dave Rosenbaum, Rover said it had refunded Gallegos. The company said all pet sitter profiles are reviewed by employees, and sitters are subject to safety quizzes as well as the background checks.
“This is truly an unusual experience on our platform,” Rosenbaum said. He didn’t provide a specific figure for how often dogs are lost but said such incidents are “extremely infrequent.”
When Gallegos, still in Colombia, began posting in online groups and forums, several people shared their skepticism about the sitter’s account of events – and about the safety of using Rover overall. Gallegos said she came to agree with those comments. She said she’s spoken to a private investigator who reached out after seeing her posts as well as an attorney, and said she’s reviewing her options going forward.
Other incidents involving sitters obtained through Rover have drawn attention before. In August of last year, police charged a Readington Township, New Jersey man with animal cruelty after he allegedly shot a pitbull under his care. The dog’s owners told ABC News at the time the man was a sitter they’d found through Rover before heading to a vacation at the Jersey Shore. Rover told ABC it removed the man and his wife from the platform, cancelled their future bookings and was working with law enforcement.
Rover, on its site, describes two levels of background checks — a “basic” check that includes searches of a federal sex offender database and national criminal database, and an “enhanced” check that also includes searches of county criminal court records. Rosenbaum said the sitter in Gallegos' case passed the enhanced check.
I don't think any dog walker goes into this profession thinking, waking up saying, ‘Hey, I'm going to lose a dog today.’
A public records search by Gothamist of the name Gallegos provided for the sitter didn’t turn up any criminal record.
The company also advertises its “Rover Guarantee” of up to $25,000 in vet care if a dog is injured on a sitter’s watch, but it has several stipulations and warns the guarantee is meant to fill the gap when insurance isn’t available. Rosenbaum said that would also cover vet expenses “for care related to injuries sustained in the rare instance a dog is lost.”
The company's website says that guarantee doesn’t provide coverage for “stolen property.” Rosenbaum said the company isn’t aware of any incidents in which a theft of a dog was confirmed by police, but “in the rare event that concern is raised, we work closely with law enforcement to the fullest extent possible.”
Allie Taylor, an organizer with the New York-based Voters For Animal Rights advocacy group, is a former dog walker who used Rover and another site, Wag, to connect with pet owners. She said though she felt confident in her own experience, she remembers being surprised at what she described as a lack of training for dog walkers who use the apps.
“I don't think any dog walker goes into this profession thinking, waking up saying, ‘Hey, I'm going to lose a dog today,’” she said. “That said, it is inexcusable and it's absolutely heartbreaking for the pet parents who put their trust into another person's hands and take care of their beloved family member.”
Taylor recommends pet owners who need sitters use ones that are popular in the neighborhoods they live in.
“Make sure that you're talking to neighbors about who their dog walkers are, because you need someone that's experienced,” she said.
