What to do about neighbor/Rover member who boards 15-20 dogs in small, two-bedroom apartment?

Rover has a vested interest in insuring that the dogs booked through them are treated well. I recommend you call Rover so they have the opportunity to look into the mater first.

I would think that 20 dogs in a small apartment would border on abuse I would think. There is no way one could walk and feed 20 days at one with no issues. I also would think that several of them would have to be crated up for a big part of the day at times. If I was paying you even $50 a day for boarding my dog the last thing that should be happening is he is stuck in a crate for very long at all. You never know what some of these dogs have been through. When they are rescue dogs, crating them when they are not used to it could harm the dog. Just my take on it. The Dogs come first in this situation.

The animal control for your city or county if I incorporated could advise you if there is special licensing that applies. For instance, there may be a limit of no more than four dogs, unless someone has a kennel license. Usually those licenses are only given out to people with freestanding single family residential homes with attached private, gated yards that are zoned to be dog kennel daycare facilities. I am aware of one particular street nearby where all the homes on a are zoned that way. Since you mentioned the concern that this is the type of person who would retaliate, discuss that concern with animal control, who will probably be dispatched through the nonemergency police department. They should be able to assure you how they can have your information stay confidential.

It’s true that dog care is not consistent and stable throughout the year, but I can’t imagine how one person gives 20 dogs what they need. A crate is good when used correctly, which means the right size for the dog and dog not kept in crate for an excessive amount of time. In this example, it sounds like the dogs are kept in the crate for 20+ hours a day - that is not acceptable if you’re charging to provide care to other people’s pets. If a dog who is staying there is kept in a crate so small that they can’t turn around, that is neglect (if not abuse). I would think that’s a super stressful situation for a lot of those dogs and may result in other behavioral issues when the dogs go home and the owners will have no idea why. And $90-$114 a night is probably about double what other good sitters would also charge. My guess is that a number of these dogs aren't booked on rover, so they are unaware. Rover customer service can be contacted at [Edit: Rover’s contact options have changed. Visit the Rover Help Center at https://support.rover.com/ to find the phone number, help articles, or chat with the team] to confidentially review his account, but I'm fairly confident they will not get involved further in local jurisdiction matters, such as alerting authorities. At a minimum, if this doesn’t get reported to the authorities, I hope someone shares the information with dog owners/clients or online.

Thank you for writing about this, as it acknowledges that something should be said and done. These are living beings, with furry bodies similar to ours - complete with a beating heart, a brain, and many other things we share. They communicate in a different language, but they still deserve good care. As for the two neighbors who don't want to do anything, that speaks volumes about them. Maybe Karma will pay them a visit.

I agree with others, as a Rover sitter myself, that I don't have complete information regarding this situation. I would want to see for myself and hear from the sitter as to how he handles and cares for 20 dogs at a time. I would contact the appropriate authorities, Rover (for their client's dogs) and animal control regarding the other dogs. But ONLY after I have complete information from BOTH sides.

I agree with the last person. I don't crate the animals during the day they are allowed to get on my furniture and bed. I have had as many as 3 plus mine sleep with me. Though in the summer I usually put them in the dog boarding room that has a baby gate. If they're extremely whiney because they're used to sleeping in the bed I might close the door only because in SC it is so hot here with 4 dogs in the bed with you and I can’t afford to keep my A/C down below 76 and I have 3 fans going in my room too.

I feel although, if this gentleman has such high rating it's for a reason, and if the business, has grown. He may be looking to relocate, and is saving. You shouldn't cast stones if you actually haven't physically seen this, and are going on heresay. Almost seems, like a jealously type situation.

I don't crate any of my guests they have their own beds and rooms to sleep in but they are free range through my 5 bedroom home. I don't treat my clients like animals, I treat them like people, I talk to them as them what they wanna do if they hungry or if they wanna walk around. The guests I have vocal, and easy to read. But, I've been with animals my whole life. So I guess it's just a easy way of communicating.