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Dog living in very unsanitary living conditions. What should I do?

I booked my first client to walk his dog 8 times over the course of a few days while he is away. I've completed two of the walks so far and I'm very disturbed by the living conditions for this dog. I've never seen so many bugs in my life. There are roaches and every other kind of bug imaginable running all over the house (floor, walls, every surface). There are probably hundreds of them. Including running all around in this dogs food and water every time I come in. The entire apartment in dilapidated and falling apart. It smells really moldy and unclean. The dog herself doesn't seem unhealthy or unfed from what I've seen. I'm not sure if this is just me overreacting because I'm personally so freaked out by how gross the house is, or if this is something that maybe should be reported. I would really appreciate some feedback from you guys. Thank you!

2 Answers

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I would take plenty of photos and contact rover and the local animal police in your area. No dog should be living in those conditions and they are lucky you came into the situation.

Maybe even on the last visit leave a note expressing your concern. I understand you may not want to do this to avoid a negative review but personally I would have to talk to or meet with that owner.

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IDK if she should leave a note because the owner could tidy up specifically for the police, possibly ruining the case

Definitely true I didn't think about it from that standpoint!

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I'm guessing you didn't do a meet-n-greet beforehand or you would have noticed the bad living conditions.. this situation would be a lot simpler if you did, so definitely do meet-n-greets in the future! Not trying to be negative, it's just that already doing the stay makes extricating yourself or doing something about bad situations more complicated.

First of all, I would photograph the living conditions to document them and call Rover about this, explaining the situation and so hopefully they could protect you against retaliation. Unsanitary living conditions are definitely sufficient grounds for reporting someone to animal control or your local shelter. And I definitely would report if it were me.

But I'd be interested to hear what others have to say about this.