We were so excited to have Connie watch our one year old puppy, Kobe, for the weekend. She asked tons of relevant questions before allowing us to book, which made us feel confident in her ability to care for our high maintenance puppy. I have no doubt that the other 5 star reviews are real and accurate as our puppy is pretty high maintenance so I’m sure Connie’s inability to care for our puppy may not reflect her ability to care for older and calmer dogs. In short, Connie was overwhelmed with caring for our puppy. We had to find alternative arrangements while at the airport about to board the plane, and Connie refuses to refund us the $70 she has charged for a 4-hour stay which was supposed to be a weekend stay. Read on for our side of the story. Within an hour of dropping Kobe off, she messaged us that he peed on her floor and asked us what to do. The next time she contacted us, two hours into the stay, she said she was overwhelmed and that our dog was humping her roommate, running around and barking, chewing his toys and blanket, playing tug of war with the blanket in his crate. She attempted to leave Kobe in the crate for a nap shut in another room with the door closed. He barked so she let him out. Kobe is well crate trained at home but we told her in advance of the stay that there were reports from other sitters that he would bark when left alone so I’m not sure why that surprised her. She also asked us before the stay if he would bark at her apartment noises. We told her honestly that we didn’t know, although our only reports of barking with other sitters were when he was left alone. We gave her suggestions to calm Kobe down, as to us it seemed like what she was describing was a mix of playing/over stimulation. We ended up talking over the phone about to board the plane during which call she was whispering and sounded extremely overwhelmed. We asked if we could do anything for her other than give her suggestions and she said no. We heard Kobe bark in the background and she said “Oh there he goes again” to which I asked if she was allowed to have dogs at her apartment since she was complaining about a singular bark. He started barking again late in the call, at which I told her she can use the command “At at” to tell him “No” so that he would learn he cannot bark - or else how would he know? She hesitantly said “okay…” It made us feel entirely uncomfortable. She told us that she tried to play fetch with him, but he just stared and looked at her. We know this is not true because he LOVES fetch, so we’re not entirely sure why she felt the need to lie. She also said he would not sit when she had a treat, which again sounded entirely untrue because Kobe would do anything for a treat. At that point, we decided her feeling overwhelmed and contacting us often made us feel our dog was not safe or welcome in her care. Connie agreed, while whispering and in tears, that she couldn’t keep caring for Kobe. We arranged with a friend to take Kobe at her apartment, and he was dropped off 4 hours after we left him with Connie (it took an hour for Connie to find a friend with a car to transport Kobe to our friend’s house so it also could have been a 3 hour stay). She told us when she was putting his harness on to leave, Kobe bit her. That sounds like he was fearful of her and her lack of confidence. If I was a puppy who was dropped off at some stranger’s house, put in a crate in another room less than 2 hours since arriving, and this stranger was acting unconfident, I’d probably be scared too. We could tell from the phone call and her whispering/the sound of her voice that she was completely unconfident and uncomfortable. Our profile description mentions that Kobe has a habit of nipping us when playing and we’ve had reports from a past sitter that Kobe nipped her when she was picking him up to put him in his crate which is also mentioned in Kobe’s profile. We also mentioned this directly to Connie before booking that he does not like being picked up and to use commands only and treats to get him into his crate. We found a new sitter on Rover to take Kobe from our friend since it was her bridal shower that weekend. We explained the whole situation to the new Rover sitter, all of Connie’s complaints about Kobe, and she said that he sounds like he’s just a puppy and will be no trouble for her. Kobe had an amazing time with this new sitter, and she said he was no trouble at all and so much fun to be around. In the end, Connie has charged us $70 for a 4 hour stay (could have been 3 hours if she had access to a car sooner) with us needing to find alternate arrangements while at the airport about to board the plane. We are working with Rover support to conduct an investigation for a full refund. I really encourage Connie to not accept puppies and to be firm in not accepting dogs if their owners are unsure if they will bark in her apartment. I wish I could have said these things directly to Connie but since she refuses to refund us, Rover support suggested we leave a review on her profile. We know she has the opportunity to respond to our review so please read her response as well.

Connie is an amazing dog sitter. She is very responsive and friendly! Strongly recommend 10/10 ⭐️