**BEWARE – DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS SITTER** Michael was supposed to stay with our four dogs from the afternoon of Wednesday, 11/23, through the night of Sunday, 11/27. To begin, we have no expectation that a sitter stay with our dogs 24/7. The main request that we always go over is that the sitter is able to stay with our dogs at night (starting around 6:00pm) and through the next morning. We made sure to ask him several times if he was comfortable with three of the dogs sleeping in bed with him, and we gave him a tour of the house, including the bedrooms and location of each of their crates. Two out of four of our rescues have severe separation anxiety and issues from past abuse. SHORT STORY: Despite two meet and greets, written instructions, AND a written text confirmation from Michael that he would be staying with our dogs overnight, Michael left the dogs at 6:50pm on Wednesday, 11/23, and did not return (as seen on our security cameras). After many attempts to contact him, we finally heard from Michael the next morning. He said that his plans had changed and that he had everything under control. Come to find out, he did not even put them in their crates when he left, which had the potential to be fatal to one of our dogs with recurring pancreatitis had he gotten into the kitchen (this still could happen). LONG STORY: On 11/23, our security camera notified us that Michael first arrived at our house at 3:30pm with no overnight bag, and then he left the house at 6:50pm. Around 9:30pm, he was still not home and we had a weird feeling. My husband texted him and asked how the dogs were doing. He said that they were doing great and “just relaxing.” This was a strange response from someone who was not physically with the dogs. I immediately asked him to confirm that he would be staying the night at our house tonight, and he replied “yes.” At 12:15am, he was still not home. My husband asked him to send us a picture of the dogs when he got home. We got no reply. At 1:30am, we started panicking because he was still not at our house. We called and texted him repeatedly with no response, then called Rover (who was no help at all since it was the middle of the night). We were panicked, so I booked an immediate flight home because we were a 9-hour drive away. We were able to get a friend to check on the dogs at 4:45am, and we were mortified to discover that Michael did not even put the dogs in their crates when he left (we went over crate instructions numerous times, wrote them out, and he had to take the dogs out of their crates when he initially came into the house). While they were left out, they 1) tore into the kitchen and ate various human food (one of our dogs has severe pancreas issues) and 2) busted down a doggy gate at the top of two flights of stairs and jumped over the broken gate. One of our dogs is now limping. At 6:34am, Michael finally texted my wife to respond to all of our texts and calls. He sent the following texts: “… I had to run home to be with family last night and it was too late to go back on the road for me by the time we finished with holiday activities…” “No parent has ever had issues with me changing things up before…” “You do realize a boarding place would lock them in a crate shut the lights off and leave from 7pm to 7am.” “Plans changed I wasn’t gonna drive tired at 12am.” “I had everything under control.” By that time, I was already at the airport and headed home on Thanksgiving. After sitting on this for a few days and getting advice from the many people in our lives, we cannot figure out how Michael could ever feel that it was appropriate for his plans to change without ANY communication to us. At 10:30pm, he had even confirmed in writing that he would be staying overnight with the dogs. His text the next morning said that he made the decision that he would not be driving at 12am, but yet he could not respond to our text at 12:15am. What kind of responsible adult would do this (i.e., completely disregard basic instructions for dog care)? The ONLY thing that we can determine is that either he thought that he knew how to care for our dogs better than we do or he knew that he was not coming back. What does it matter whether the dogs destroy the house or die if he is not coming back to care for them? The scariest part of all of this is that he still thinks that there is nothing wrong with what he did. There are no words to express how 1) upset we are knowing that Michael could potentially do this to other families and dogs and 2) unsafe we feel in our home knowing that he has our address and personal knowledge of our home. There should be NO reason why Michael should ever be able to charge to watch a dog for any period of time, and I cannot believe that he would attempt to go into this business when he is clearly not equipped to handle even the simplest of requests (i.e., staying overnight and locking the dogs in their crates when he leaves).

Michael was great as usual. The boys love to see him and they get great care. I will always use Michael when I have to travel.