Owner not picking up their dog?

That's very disappointing to read about Rover's lack of support. From their Terms of Service:

2.8 Left Dogs. Pet Owners who arrange for pet care services via Rover.com and fail to retrieve their dog within seven (7) days after the end date of their reservation (or the time period set forth in the applicable jurisdiction's animal abandonment or cruelty laws, if earlier), agree that Rover.com may, in its sole discretion, place such dog in foster care and/or notify animal control authorities. Pet Owner agrees that Pet Owner will reimburse Rover for all costs and expenses associated with such action, and Pet Owner may become liable and subject to laws relating to Pet Owner’s failure to retrieve Pet Owner’s dog, including abandonment or animal cruelty laws.

As you can see, it is Rover's responsibility to place the dog, after the applicable period of time, and to go after compensation for the time spent in your home.

Do you know where the owners live? If not, then Rover should know. I would go check out their home and, if they are there, then I'd give them their dog.

I had this happen to me with a dog on another dog Boarding site. Owner was a last minute booking, didn't provide food or even a leash. I sent updates and never heard back. He was late by 4 hours to pick up, and when I eventually got ahold of him, he asked to extend the stay and he paid immediately. He was "late" picking up his dog the following night, and texted him multiple times with no answer. Called the company, and they said to wait it out and call if he didn't pick up by the morning. Didn't hear from the owner for two days, and eventually found out he was in a car accident from girlfriend. I sent my request for pay for the additional days and she flipped out, saying all I thought about was money. I assured her that was not the case, and it turned into a crazy scene with her threatening me. Eventually they sent someone else to pick up dog, and they accused me of not feeding him, and abusing him. I guarantee he didn't ever have as much attention or love as he did with me, and even gave him a bath free of charge, because he smelled so bad when they dropped him off. It was not a great experience, but I really just feel bad for the pup. I now require meet and greets.

I'd suggest contacting Rover support. Hopefully, tragedy hasn't befallen the dog owner. I hoped Rover would assist and have another emergency contact. As a fellow Californian, I looked this up, Civil Code 1834.5.a seems to address the legal aspect. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/dis...

This excerpt is from there: ...[if] the owner of the animal does not pick up the animal within 14 calendar days after the day the animal was initially due to be picked up, the animal shall be deemed to be abandoned. The person into whose custody the animal was placed for care shall first try for a period of not less than 10 days to find a new owner for the animal ..."

It seems like you or Rover Support ought to be able to use the Extend A Stay function to provide you some compensation for the additional time the dog is in your care.

I have the same situation, Owner is not picking up the dog, Owner gave several excuses which didn't match the sequence, she just texted once saying she will send her friend to pick up and didn't bother after that, her phone line through rover is not reachable, Rover didn't help much, they told me as you are small business owner you have to take care of it? since the local law varies... I asked them what do Rover has to offer as help in such scenarios, they don't have an answer other than pointing finger at me, all rover cares is for their commission? they don't even know the local law consolidated at their end to help facilitate the sitter need, who as a small owner help pipe in the money for Rover to be a big business.... Rover doesn't even have a proper department to handle such case... SHAME on them. I feel when the owners have the right to know our address, we as a sitter should know their address too... in this case, ROver should make a policy yo share the address to return the pets. Rover cant leaves us in a limbo by creating favorable law for them. How will we find them? ROVER BUSINESS MODEL IS NOT GOOD.

Wow that's odd. Definitely let Rover know as they may have different ways of contacting them. Let us know what happened.

I have had this happen to me. I had a client visiting a friend from out of state and he booked a daycare with me on christmas eve. Then that evening he hadn't picked up his dog and asked me to pick him up and take him to a hotel. I told him I wasn't comfortable doing that and then the next day he was on a bus from Texas to Indiana because he had an argument with his friend! I ended up having his dog for 30 more days and another friend of his ended up picking up his bill. We even had to take the dog to the vet, twice during the month because she was in such poor health. Finally after a month he drove back to Texas from Indiana and picked up his dog

Hi Rover Community, During my last booking the dog's owner wasn't there when I brought the dog back to his apartment. I could not get in touch with him. After few days i finally got his full name from his vet as Rover did not want to share this information. I found the person was evicted the day after I got the dog and is now in jail. I did everything to get in touch with the family and take the best decision for the dog. Meanwhile, I had to keep the dog for an extra 12 days!! Sure I could have brought the dog to a shelter but I have consideration for animal. Rover initially said they will cover the necessities for the dog (bed, food, ...) but after I submitted my receipts they said they can do a "gesture of $xx" which was 25% of the total amount. They failed to honor their commitment.

The story is too long to be told here but I want to warn everyone about the "Trust" Department of Rover who is not taking responsibilities when it comes to a challenging situation like mine. They are not giving consideration nor to the sitter and nor to the animal!!

This is outrageous!

I just had to deal with a neglectful owner, myself. So I went to my local pound and talked to 2 dog wardens and they told me that legally the dogs were mine now. She also kept making excuses about why she couldn't pick up the dogs. So I found an owner for them and now she claims that she wants them back 2 weeks later. She only bought food once and worst of all she bread one of them under a year old. She just wanted them to make money. I warned her too, over and over again that I couldn't keep her dogs. Now all of sudden she wants to come get them and it's been 2 weeks since the original pick up date. She's got another thing coming. They were 2 beautiful pit bulls too, mother and daughter. Some people just don't have a heart.

At this point I would start looking for other homes for the dog, honestly