We spontaneously adopted a puppy [two-month old at the time] a month ago; three weeks before a scheduled flight during Thanksgiving. We had limited time to find a sitter, but found one that seemed like she’d be great. We went to her house a couple of weeks prior to dropping him off so they could meet, and nothing seemed off.

When I was about to schedule his stay at her home, I get a text from her asking if I’d be OK skipping Rover and paying her cash/check since she’d be getting half due to all the fees. I didn’t like the idea, but this was less than two weeks before Thanksgiving and there were no sitters left in my area, so I said yes and paid her a check of $130 for four days. I drop him off Thanksgiving Day, and it seemed like she was rushing to get me out of the house (understandably), but I was trying to explain how to feed him since we were changing brands and she’d have to mix the new and old together. I tried to be quick and left 5-ish mins later. We had a late flight coming in and she was accommodating letting us pick him up at 10:30 pm, but when I get home I noticed she didn’t at all mix the food; she just gave him the old one. I also noticed his indoor leash (I use it so he won’t run off unsupervised, and I told her she could do the same), two of his toys, the training clicker and snacks were all missing. When I message her about the food and missing items, she says I hadn’t mentioned anything about the food and that she was a “minimalist” and couldn’t find the items I said I’d left. I remember packing all these things because I thought she’d want her furniture not to be chewed on, and her wooden floors not peed on. I was also under the impression that she would do as I’d asked her: take him out every 1.5 to avoid accidents and to continue the training we’d been working on. He hadn’t progressed much, but we could trust he wouldn’t pee inside within an hour of taking him outside. After coming back from vacation, we’re back to square one because she didn’t follow through. I also believe she might have left her kids (three below the ages of 14) and/or one of the many people she has coming in and out, in charge of the dog.

I’m especially mad because I could have left him at a friend’s house for free, but because he is so high-maintenance (potty-training, biting, high-energy) I decided to pay someone to do it so they would follow instructions to the T. I’m trying to get her to at least pay for the missing items ... (more)