A pet owner has shared her dismay over a dog sitter who lied about sleeping at her house after being hired to stay in her house and look after her pooch.
Ellen Tift, 54, who describes herself as a musician and author, claims she hired the sitter to stay at her home and care for her dog while she was out of town.
Tift said her dog, named Happy, is a rescue that suffers from both trauma and separation anxiety, needed someone to be around him constantly.
To ensure the best care, Tift turned to dog sitting website, Rover, hoping that the ‘vetted and rated sitters’ on offer would be reliable, unlike a previous bad experience she’d had with the friend of a friend.
Ellen Tift, 54, unleashed a six minute rant after a dog sitter she hired to stay in her house to look after her dog pretended to sleep over and then lied to her when confronted with the truth
A girl who seemed sweet and promising was hired and reassured Tift that she would love her dog and take good care of him, the animal lover said.
In the beginning, Tift says the girl mentioned the dog wasn’t eating much, which was worrying, but she tried to remain optimistic.
Tift says she went out of her way to make the sitter comfortable, offering her a nice guest bed and access to her art supplies.
However, Tift soon noticed the sitter seemingly staying away from the home, while still claiming to be there.
‘She stayed in my house and she had lost her full-time job and she said I’m gonna be able to spend so much more time with your dog now I just have a feeling and I checked my security cameras on my porch to see when her car was in my driveway and I realized that she didn’t even stay at my house. Like we’re paying for her to sleep in our house with our dog,’ Tift said in her TikTok.
The dog, named Happy, is a rescue that suffers from both trauma and separation anxiety and needs someone to be around him constantly
Upon examining footage shot by her security cameras, Tift noticed how the sitter’s car wasn’t at her house overnight, and how she only seemed to visit briefly during the day.
She would arrive at 7:30 in the morning, leaving shortly afterwards and return around 2:30 in the afternoon for a quick six-minute walk with the dog, before then disappearing once again until the next morning.
Concerned, Tift texted her, asking if the dog was waking her up during the night.
The dog sitter pretended everything was fine, but when Tift confronted her about her absence.
‘I’m noticing on my security camera that your car was out of my driveway all night long. It looks like you were only there for eight minutes,’ Tift said to the sitter.
‘Help me understand what’s going on here we had agreed that you would stay overnight and my dog needs people to be around him,’ she told her.
Upon examining footage shot by her security cameras, Tift, 54, noticed how the sitter’s car wasn’t at her house overnight, and how she only seemed to visit briefly during the day
The sitter claimed her Bible Studies group overran and then admitted to falling asleep on her couch at her own apartment and apologized for not communicating better.
Tift was not satisfied with her explanation and felt she had abandoned her dog.
The sitter said that it was ‘out of character for her’ to not keep an agreement.
‘I’m like that’s textbook for “this is totally my character”‘, Tift said on her video. ‘Yeah, right, apologizing “I should’ve communicated better”, no you shouldn’t have abandoned my dog! I don’t trust her!’ she went on.
Tift then set the sitter some basic tasks and asked her to send a photo of her dog with a specific toy to prove that she was there, and to share her location while she was away.
The sitter complied, but Tift felt her promises to regain her trust were insincere.
Tift went on to say that her vacation was marred by the ordeal, leaving her feeling betrayed and anxious for her dog’s well-being
‘I downloaded the photos and I looked at the timestamp and it didn’t lineup with when she was sending it to me,’ Tift explained.
‘I said “I would like for you to turn on your location sharing with me until I’m back in town”, so she did those things but she’s laying all this lip on me.’
Tift spent an hour on the phone with the dog sitting website’s customer service, seeking a replacement for the final two days of her vacation.
In the video, Tift appears upset as she shares her worries about her dog being on his own for so long.
She claimed her pooch looked distressed in the photos the sitter had sent.
‘I was so mad I was shaking my dog and he’s like a rescue and he has separation anxiety and trauma and I love my dog,’ Tift said.
She went on to say that her vacation was marred by the ordeal, leaving her feeling betrayed and anxious for her dog’s well-being.
Following the end of her vacation, Tift contacted Rover’s customer service once again and demanded the dog sitter be removed from their site.
After a back-and-forth over a period of days, the sitter was eventually removed but Tift has vowed to never use Rover ever again.
Rover released a statement to DailyMail.com about the incident.
‘We are deeply sorry that the care provided by a sitter on our platform failed to meet this pet parent’s expectations.
‘Our 24/7 Trust and Safety Team worked with Happy’s family to quickly find a different sitter to provide care, and we understand Happy was well cared for over the remainder of the pet parent’s trip.’
