A woman who left her puppy in the care of a trusted pet sitter on the popular app Rover.com is devastated after the dog is now missing.
Jennifer Gallegos’s four-month-old poodle-bichon mix, named Phoebe, reportedly vanished while staying with a highly-rated sitter on the app.
Gallegos, from Queens, New York, dropped Phoebe off at the sitter’s home on December 27 before traveling to Colombia to join her family on vacation.
But on January 2, she received a message from the sitter that there was an emergency.
“She told me, ‘I lost her.’ I started crying. I was like, ‘no, no, no…there’s no way, like, there’s no way you did, what do you mean? You lost her?’” Gallegos told ABC News.
Gallegos told the network that the sitter claimed Phoebe disappeared from the pet stroller while they were in Kissena Park in Queens.
The sitter was highly-rated on Rover.com (Rover)
The sitter had been playing fetch with her own dog while Phoebe was in the stroller, according to Gallegos, and when she turned back, the puppy was gone.
Gallegos immediately contacted Rover and reported her dog missing and now claims the sitter has stopped responding to messages.
Writing on Facebook on January 11, Gallegos said: “I messaged the sitter to please at least return Phoebe’s stuff back and she’s ignoring me. We are so devastated with everything that has been happening. It all feels like a nightmare.”
Rover told ABC that the sitter’s profile has been removed and they have refunded Gallegos. The company said it was “truly an unusual experience on our platform.”
On its website, Rover says every sitter undergoes a criminal background check by a third party.
The Independent has contacted Rover and Gallegos for further information.
Gallegos said that the sitter, who has not been named, had positive reviews on the app. “She has about 28 different reviews from family saying what an excellent pet sitter she is,” Gallegos said.
“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 told Gothamist.
She has consulted with a private investigator and an attorney, according to the outlet.
