Above and Beyond Award Winners | May 2021

When it comes to loving pet care, sitters on Rover deliver. To celebrate the many beloved sitters on the platform, we are honoring five people whose stories of exceptional pet care stood out to us. These sitters are the first to win Rover’s Above and Beyond Award, as recognition of the ways they make their clients, both human and pet, feel truly cared for.

The last year will undoubtedly go down as one of the toughest for so many people, including many pet parents and sitters on Rover. Sitters Clint and Heidi received a dog sitting request in the height of the pandemic and stepped in to help the pet parent. Despite living in Salt Lake City, Clint and Heidi noticed the request was coming from a family in Georgia. After speaking with the family, Clint and Heidi learned the request was for their son, a long haul truck driver who travels with his little dog, Teddy. While on a run to Salt Lake City, he became very ill and was admitted to the emergency room with COVID-19 symptoms. Clint and Heidi went to the local hospital and picked the dog up. They watched Teddy for nearly two weeks and sent extra photos and messages to the client so he knew his dog was in good hands.

Clint and Heidi’s story isn’t the only example of sitters on Rover stepping in to support other families during the pandemic. We received several submissions similar to this, including one from sitter on Rover, Georgina, who set up a socially-distant way to help other pet parents.

“With the pandemic hitting folks hard financially, I set up a pet pantry at the end of my neighborhood driveway for my community,” she said. “My Rover customers enjoy it, and I love helping pets I’ll never meet.” 

Like Georgina, so many sitters’ love for pets motivates them to go above and beyond. This is certainly true for sitter on Rover, Janelle, who received a request during a brutal snowstorm in Portland last winter. The pet parents’ other cat care fell through, so they reached out to Janelle as a first-time client. The city largely shut down and many houses lost power, but she was determined to make sure the cat was taken care of.

“I would never want my own cats without a sitter and wouldn’t let this client’s be without one either,” Janelle said. “I take pride in providing the care I know I want for my own pets.” 

Accepting the request was just the start for Janelle. When she arrived at the neighborhood, the snow was so deep she couldn’t turn onto the client’s street, so she parked her car on the main road and hiked in to get to the house.

We’ve heard many stories at Rover of sitters navigating challenging storms as part of the care they provide their clients, and we are so inspired by the way they love these pets as their own.

Extreme weather is just one unknown that can sometimes make pet care tricky. Sitters often support dogs and cats experiencing separation anxiety, difficulty adjusting to a new setting and sometimes just the unspecified factors that pet parents might not have anticipated. 

Sitter on Rover, William, told us a story like this. During a stay, he unexpectedly needed to find a solution for two senior dogs he was caring for. The chocolate Labs were 13 years old with limited mobility. Prior to the stay, William spoke with the Labs’ owner about having wall-to-wall hardwood floors in his house. The owners said it shouldn’t be an issue, but when the dogs arrived, they struggled to maintain their grip while walking around. To help them move more comfortably and safely, William brought out all of his spare comforters and made fabric walkways throughout his entire house so that the dogs could move freely. To make the Labs more comfortable during their stay at this house, he also purchased doggy CBD tincture—with the owners permission—and would give them two drops on their favorite bones to help them sleep. 

Sitters like William are what make pet care on Rover special: there is a sitter for every pet, willing to go above and beyond to meet their individual needs. These are just four of the many amazing stories we received, and we can’t wait to share. Congratulations to the winners of our first Above and Beyond Award: Clint and Heidi, Georgina, Janelle, and William.