Short version: Pros- Showed up promptly the first time. Spoke kindly to our animals, even when things went south. Cons- Vapes in the home without prior disclosure or permission, lacks ability to deal with personal crisis while honoring original commitments, and loses professionalism, maturity and composure. Resorts to blame and defensiveness. Long version: We were going out of town for 1 night, leaving our 3 dogs, 2 of whom have just turned 1 and are therefore crated when no one is home. My wife works 60+ hours so I entertained the meet and greet. Kelsey arrived and impressed me with her organized approach and professionalism. I arranged for the "house sitting" hours to be from 5 pm to 10 a.m. the next day. She stated she planned to stay the entire time so the boys wouldn't be cooped up the whole time. On the day we left, at 11 a.m, I reiterated to Kelsey that the boys would be crated from 11a.m. until she arrived at 5. In hindsight, I should have just requested the entire 24 hours, starting at 11 a.m. My wife, who is more detail oriented than I am followed up with Kelsey with "details" as we drove out of town: I.e. Specific commands they all know, things they are good at, things we are working on, suggestions for a smooth stay, where the dishes/silverware were, instructions to use the remote, etc. Nothing dire or a change of plans, just information to make her understanding of them and their behaviors/more clear, less trial and error. Kelsey was encouraged to please let us know if she needed ANYTHING. Our biggest concern was that these 3 rescued, young pups, get to stay in their home and be out of their cage/playpens as much as possible during our 18 hour absence. However, another client of hers had an emergency. As a result, 30 minutes after arriving, she stated she was feeding our pups early and returning them to their cages, leaving and would return 4 hours later at 10 p.m, and would have to leave them alone again in the morning, though the "leave" time was at 10 am. There was no alternate plan presented for making sure these cooped up pups got to move around and play. Just a vague, "Well, I know I said I'd stay the whole time, but, life, so.....". At first we tried to roll with it, but after counting the hours that left the boys caged, my wife asked "what will the morning look like" and "maybe you can help me with this because I am concerned...." Outlining that we had hired a sitter to avoid this exact scenario rather than just hiring for drop in visits. At that point Kelcey's professionalism began to slip, stating if we found the situation intolerable, we were welcome to a full refund and she would not return. She then instructed "please do not speak unkindly to me," that she was commuting and needed time to "gather her thoughts" before she could "offer more detail." My wife had to push for an answer "I cannot decide if the situation is intolerable until I understand the plan." Kelcey then outlined a plan that was not ideal, or as originally agreed upon, but did not require a middle-of-the-night-trek across the state. So, Kelcey was assured that should things change, my wife WOULD drive through the night to get home should Kekcey's needs change and "if there is anything you need to make your stay more comfortable, please let me know" to which there was no response. Morning came, updates were provided. Kelsey then proceeded to send a very long message that started with an apology, then aired her other client's personal business. Then notified us that although we had an agreement, it's "not technically standard" for her to stay the whole time and that she usually leaves. Her responsibilities include making sure "pets get their meals and go potty." She further went down this road by stating the needs of our very young pups to be allowed out of their cages was "not dire, I hope you can appreciate that." The other pets having the emergency belong to one of her oldest clients and took priority bc of their needs and long history with her. My wife asked about Rover's policy on double booking, then stated she would just clarify with Rover and told Kelsey she hoped this had been as educational an experience for her as it had been for us and ended with "Thank you for your time" Kelsey responded that she was glad it had been "educational for you," and that she cannot double book sitting jobs, but she definitely double books sitting jobs with "drop in's, often, through Rover." Her last was the icing on the cake: "When you hire a pet sitter, you are recognizing your temporary inability to care for your pets and are placing trust in someone else to ensure their basic needs are met. While setting realistic expectations is crucial, it's important to recognize that you're ceding complete control over the situation. As a highly experienced pet sitter and animal caretaker, I use my own informed judgments to ensure these basic needs are met and as long as the animals are not neglected, harmed, or subjected to other forms of cruelty, I have the right to do so." Upon review of video (that she was notified existed within our home) AND only after any kind of trust had been completely quashed, it was found that Kelsey used our "ceding of complete control" and her "professional judgement" to then smoke her vape in our home. I am *pretty sure* it was just a nicotine vape, but it was not disclosed or cleared as to whether or not that was something we were comfortable with in our home. Which, I suppose wasn't necessary, as we had "ceded complete control." We will not be using her services again. Of note, she did say that our expectations were "reasonable" and that our "pups are wonderful". Strangest way of acknowledging those things we have EVER seen. This young lady has a nice touch with animals but lacks the professionalism and maturity needed to run her own business or be trusted with someone's pets and/or home unless you are a long time client or just don't care about anything beyond a potty break and food.

Kelsey did a great job with our 2 dogs and senior cat. We are the over the top pet parents and felt very comfortable leaving them with Kelsey. We have a very mischievous Doxie with pancreatitis and we were nervous to leave him with a new sitter, but we received great updates the whole time we were away and came home to happy pets!