I had such a bad experience with Antonio that not only would I not book him again but I have very serious reservations about ever using Rover again and their process for approving and training/guiding sitters. He absolutely disrespected my home in multiple ways which I will detail below (including bringing a date, bringing/leaving another dog, drinking alcohol multiple times-including some from my fridge, adjusting my thermostat to be over 10 degrees cooler than I left it, using my washer/dryer), and-as far as can tell-traumatized my dog (this was my first time away from my dog for more than a night in the few months I've had him, so I want to be fair and admit that some type of separation anxiety may factor in as well--not that Antonio mentioned him being anxious in his limited responses to me). I am normally not one to leave a bad review or harm someone's ability to make a living, but this experience was legitimately horrible. Every person I have told it to to gut check that I was not being overly dramatic has used some versions of "appalled". Here are the details of my experiences, which will be long but I think all of this context is important to potential future clients: Antonio was extremely responsive when I first reached out to him. This is one of the reasons I decided to book with him. This was my first Rover experience. I booked and paid Antonio for a walk so that my dog and I could meet him and I could ask him some questions-specifically including if he planned to stay at my house, to which he said no but he would stop in frequently. His profile says 1) that he only takes one stay at a time 2) he does potty breaks every 0-2 hours. However his responsiveness stopped almost as soon as the stay began. I asked him at about 11am to come by mid afternoon and let me know if/when he got in. I followed up with him at 8:30pm when I still had not heard anything from him. Once he replied he said he was with my dog but did not send any photos. While I was awaiting his reply I asked a friend to stop in and check on my dog, which he did (leaving his house before but arriving after Antonio’s reply). At the time my friend arrived he found lights all over my house left on and ANOTHER DOG IN MY HOUSE (the dog had a travel type crate that was open so it had free rein) while my dog was in the crate (which he is supposed to be when no one is around), but no Antonio. The couch cushions were off and placed on the dining room table for some strange reason and there was an open/drunk ALCOHOLIC drink FROM MY FRIDGE out on the counter. Given how concerning the situation was my friend hung out for a couple hours to see if Antonio was coming back—which he eventually did between 11pm-12am WITH A DATE who he brought inside my house, which according to my friend Antonio seemed to think was totally normal/reasonable based on his reaction. My friend said Antonio went upstairs and changed his clothes, asked him a couple questions and left again—leaving the extra/unknown dog in my house. According to my friend Antonio questioned whether he was going to be there in the morning (which he interpreted as Antonio essentially asking if he needed to come by in the morning or my friend could walk my/possibly both dogs—though I wasn’t there to confirm the context/inference on this); I am wondering if he had planned to have his date spend the night at my house, but regardless of that the strange dog and person were not mentioned to me by Antonio, nor would I have said either was ok. I contacted Antonio right after getting off the phone with my friend to ask him if he was at my house/how my dog was/etc. and got no reply). I attempt to calm down a bit and contacted Antonio again the next morning (after 10am in order to be respectful of possible sleeping hours). He got back to me again over an hour later with a generic and frankly unprofessional response of “yes and he very very playful in the morning lol” to my very specific questions about how my dog was doing and if he’d eaten/walked that morning. I immediately replied asking him to send photos, to which I received no response at all. 3.5 hours later after still receiving no reply to my request I called and messaged Antonio and called Rover to see if I could transfer the stay based on my gut and very strong urging of the friends I was with (who all thought the situation was an “emergency” when I was trying to rationalize it). I messaged again and asked Antonio to call me, which he finally did several MORE hours later (after I had already canceled the stay with Rover support and found a friend to come by and care for my dog that night and the next morning. The two friends I had come by Saturday afternoon and night both noted that my dog seemed stressed and did not want to go outside on a walk (which is uncharacteristic). The friend who I had take over the care FaceTimed me and I have never seen my (/possibly any) dog as distressed as he was (being honest again here that this MAY have been IN PART due to his first time away from me). Unfortunately I did not have a front door code that could be changed remotely, so Antonio continued to have access to my home—which it appears he used as his personal laundromat and cooling room. When I got home my thermostat was set to 67, OVER TEN DEGREES cooler than I very specifically and intentionally left it at so not to waste energy. He took the laundry I had in the wash out and put it on a shelf AND openly left trash from detergent and dryer sheet sample packs that came with my w/d, which I never use and he apparently rooted around my basement to find. He also left a ton of trash in my recycling bin (which I noticed since it was not recyclable) including a pizza which was delivered to my address and another large to-go alcoholic beverage container. I wanted to give Antonio a chance and hopefully even make him a consistent sitter (despite some now sort of obvious red flags in our initial meet & greet-such as him not showing up at the time we initially agreed to and saying it was because he "wanted to let me sleep in" despite my explanation that I had a very busy work day and that was the time I was available). When I canceled the stay due to his lack of responsiveness and disrespectful use of my house I still paid him for the entirety of the day when he did not complete--and it is very unclear to me that he ever began--the care of my dog on the second day (first full day) I was away. As a result I had to pay someone else for that night, inconvenience my friends and family and go out of my way to pick my dog up when I returned to the area—in addition to spending more much of my first vacation in over a year extremely stressed about my dog and calling/texting friends to arrange care. I quite literally cannot even imagine the gall of thinking it is acceptable to do most of the things Antonio did in my house--the home of a STRANGER WHO IS PAYING YOU—and he didn’t even try to hide it, which honestly makes me really question the other reviews. I had done dozens of pet sit favors for different close friends of mine and never would I even consider adjusting someone’s thermostat (maybe would do laundry or have a platonic guest over WITH THEIR PERMISSION). If this is what he does on a first stay with a diligent pet parent I can’t imagine this could be a one time thing (and what does he do when you aren’t repeatedly trying to check in?). I don’t know what happened, but over a week later my dog continues to be totally freaked out my going outside of our house/fenced patio on his leash and triggered by going in his crate when I leave to run an errand. I am not making any kind specific accusation, because again I was not here to see firsthand, but there is a noticeable change in my dog’s demeanor—especially about walks.

Antonio was absolutely amazing. He went above and beyond for caring for Mojo.