Apologies in advance for a very long review with several grammatical and spelling errors, also a full disclosure with the star rating, the default is 1 out of 5 stars. Our review of our recent Rover experience with Maria W. is not really a review but to get out in the open out many questions we have had of the type of care, or lack there of, that Macho was under. We would like to preface with who Macho is. Macho as of 02/05/2024 is 14 months old Coton du Tuleur, and brought home from a reputable breeder when he was 8 weeks old. My husband and I have owned dogs most of our lives (over a combined 50 years) and from the start, we knew Macho would be a handful and have always been very transparent of Macho's personality. Both of us have never had a dog with all of Macho's "unique" traits all combined into 1 dog. Macho is very active (has endless energy), a picky eater (will pick at his food and has an unpredictable schedule of when he wants to eat and what he wants to eat), has social anxiety (barks at new people, gets very excited in new surroundings), has dog anxiety (barks at other of all sizes dogs and is very timid if approached with larger dogs), a "dasher/zoomer" (he will run away and not return if not leashed), Macho is "wee-wee" pad trained, and has seperation anxiety (will whine and bark once he is separated from either of us, especially away my husband). Macho might have more unique, some say annoying, traits that we might be forgetting to include but please know that we have always been transparent with any potential or hired sitters we come across either at our initial contact via messaging, at our meet/greet, each day that we drop off Macho for daycare, and on the phone when we are checking in each day he is under the care of a sitter. This is why we prefer daytime care only, sitters with no other pets/dogs, and a a sitter that is always home while Macho is there. But after a few hours, or sometimes a day or two, of being with Macho, when he becomes fully comfortable with someone, most of the traits will significantly lessen in severity. This full disclosure was done with Maria W. but we have many questions with the type of "sitting" that Macho experienced. At our meet/greet with Maria, the day before Macho would start daycare with her, Maria listened to what we had to say but did not have many questions (which was fine since she might not have any) but a slight detail she mentioned that would come back to give us doubts of Macho's care was that she had started a new temporary part-time job that would require her to be driven to her work by her boyfriend every morning and then picked up at noon. She mentioned that Macho would be going with her boyfriend in the car with her every day. We were internally reluctant to have Macho join in on this, but agreed because we needed a sitter starting the next day. On the day of dropping Macho off with any sitter (Maria included) we would include: several "wee-wee pads", dry food, a unopened new bottle of water, toys, blankets, bags of doggie treats an bones, and a handheld dog carrier. We dropped off Macho and during the first day, we had to check in with Maria to get updates meaning, her and her boyfriend did not provide updates in the form of pictures or videos until we requested it. So for an example, if Macho would be joining the boyfriend to drive Maria to work, we would not get a picture all morning until the afternoon when Macho is home. When seeing the pictures, it is always in a setting when Macho is "lounging" around with Maria either in bed or with the boyfriend, but our motherly and fatherly instincts when we look in the eyes of Macho thru those pictures, we see that he might not be enjoying the environment he is in. Those of you that have children or dogs, know what we mean. After the 1st day of care, we picked up Macho and asked how things went, we were told that Macho was great, that he ate all his food, that he didn't pee on his wee-wee pad (he would also pee and poo on his "walks", and no mention of any of his unique personality traits. We found this unusual. Before driving him home, he would take a very long pee. In the car ride home, we noticed that Macho was very tired, to the point of closing his eyes for most of the 20 minute ride home. Please keep in mind that we would drop off Macho at 8:30AM-9AM and pick him up at 6:30PM-7PM, not an extremely long day for a happy go lucky puppy. But regardless, he was very tired when he got home. We would feed him and he would eat all of his food. Quite unusual for a very picky eater who we tried every trick in our book to make him eat (exercise before meals, taking food away after 10-15 minutes, etc.). Macho then drank A LOT of water. The next day, the same questions would pop up for my husband and I but we also noticed that he was very reluctant to go over to Maria's house. He would whine. He has never done this... ever. He was running towards our last sitter in Miami and was so happy to see her each morning, but not this time. Hindsight is always 100% clear, but at that time, we did not really piece things together. The same routine happened where we would have to text Maria (or in the morning her boyfriend for updates/pictures). In the morning, after our text, there would be a delay, then a text without a picture, then a picture of Macho at their apartment "lounging" on the sofa or bed, with the boyfriend. In the afternoon, when Maria returns from her work, she would send another picture of Macho "lounging" on the sofa or in bed. Same questions would arise after we picked Macho up, he was extremely tired and drinking a lot of water when he got home. Same thing happened the third day. On the fourth and final day, the same thing happened in the morning and afternoon, the difference that pieced everything together was the moment we picked Macho up. That afternoon, my husband and I were both running ahead of schedule. We had told Maria that we would pick up Macho at around our usual time of 6:30-7:30PM, but as we were ahead of schedule, we thought we would grab a quick early dinner around the corner from where Maria lives. We found parking in front of Maria's apartment and as we walked past the front of her building, we saw her (and she saw us and Macho was not with her) walk out of her building with her boyfriend following her out of her building. She was quite surprised to see us but her facial expression was quite different. Again, our instincts took over from seeing their faces and we knew that everything was not all that it seemed. We continued with our plan with a quick early dinner. After the dinner (we both lost our appetite and didn't eat much), we went over to Maria's place, and found that her two children just arrived (looked like they were from out of town as they had their luggage there). Macho was the same tired but excited to go home self. We picked up all of Macho's personal stuff that we had left with Maria from Day 1 and we were shocked with what we got back: 2 bottles of water, one unopened, less than a quarter empty. a full bag of treats/bones, and all the wee wee pads back (not 1 wee wee pad used). We didn't say much to Maria or the boyfriend as our instincts and questions took over our thinking, we thanked them and went on our way. Macho was the same that ride home, tired and sleeping, and when he got home drank a lot of water and slept. What I forgot to mention is that we would give Macho's "mini grooming sessions" (combing, wet nap eye and pee areas, etc) every night. I did not have to clean his eye areas much because it was pretty clean. Very strange. My husband and I love Macho very much. Macho is 14 months old, he did not choose to have a combination of unique personality traits, but we are 100% transparent of how he is. Some people say these traits are because he is still young and a puppy, we certainly hope so! Regardless, we seek out sitters who are caring, have a good heart, sees that each dog is different and treats each dog uniquely with patience and love. So this "public feedback" serves not as a review of Maria's services, but rather a "public service announcement" to trust your instincts and be observant of every detail, that not everyone on Rover is what they seem, and that there are two sides (the sitters side and the pet owners side) to every story. We are extremely upset and heartbroken that Macho might have gone thru a terrible few days of "care". We hope and pray that we are just loving parents who overacted to certain signs that built up over those days. We met many fantastic sitters (whether we went with them or not) but the bad experiences definitely stick out and hurts far more. Our belief is that sitters do not need to be professional "dog whispers" but rather they just need to love dogs and know, from experience, that each dog is different (some dogs easier to take care of then others), but to treat each dog the same, with love and care. For those are sitting for the money, we say that the money will definitely come if there is love for these dogs. The love comes thru, the dog will show it, and the owner will see it. For sitters who are in it for money and are not honest, all it takes is just one, or two, or three bad experiences...

I wanted to pass along an AMAZING experience I had with Maria. We are actually repeat clients- once for a 4 days stay at our place and also for a drop in visit. I have NEVER met or seen someone that truly cares about my babies (two dachshunds) the way she did! And I truly mean that- I've used several sitters in the past and Maria is unparalleled. She is truly a pure soul and those are rare now days! It was nice having her and her boyfriend at our place while we were gone so the pups got MAX affection and attention. I think that's what makes her stay more enjoyable as well because 4 hands are always better than 2 for petting They both work from home so they are very flexible. She is extremely prompt, responsive and followed ever ask with enthusiasm and love. Updates with pictures throughout the day made me feel so at ease- like I could truly relax.She is also passionate about farm animals as well so if you have some barnyard friends that need some loving she is your girl! I know my babies are surely going to miss their time! Lucy and Chester insist we go with Maria for all future adventures! 10/10 highly recommend!