A pet owner has shared her dismay at a dog sitter who lied about sleeping at her home after being hired to stay at her home and care for her dog.
Ellen Tift, 54, who describes herself as a musician and author, says she hired the nanny to stay at her home and look after her dog while she was out of town.
Tift said her dog, named Happy, is a rescue dog who suffers from trauma and separation anxiety and needed someone to be near him constantly.
To ensure the best care, Tift turned to Rover, hoping that the “vetted and qualified caregivers” she was offered would be trustworthy, unlike a previous bad experience she had with a friend of a friend.
Ellen Tift, 54, went on a six-minute rant after a dog sitter she hired to stay at her home to look after her dog pretended to sleep there and then lied to her when confronted with the truth.
They hired a girl who seemed sweet and promising and assured Tift that she would love his dog and take good care of him, the animal lover said.
At first, Tift says the girl mentioned the dog wasn’t eating much, which was concerning, but she tried to remain optimistic.
Tift says she went out of her way to make the nanny comfortable, offering her a nice guest bed and access to her art supplies.
However, Tift soon realized that the nanny was apparently staying away from the house, although she still claimed to be there.
“She was staying at my house and had lost her full-time job and said she would be able to spend a lot more time with her dog now. I have a feeling and checked my security cameras on my porch to see when her car was in my driveway and realized she wasn’t even staying at my house. It’s like we’re paying for her to sleep at our house with our dog,” Tift said on her TikTok.
The dog, named Happy, is a rescue who suffers from both trauma and separation anxiety and needs someone to be near him constantly.
Reviewing footage captured by her security cameras, Tift realized the nanny’s car was not at her home overnight and that she only appeared to visit briefly during the day.
He would arrive at 7:30 in the morning, leave shortly after, and return around 2:30 in the afternoon for a quick six-minute walk with the dog, before disappearing again until the next morning.
Worried, Tift texted her asking if the dog was waking her up during the night.
The dog sitter pretended everything was fine, but when Tift confronted her about her absence.
“I noticed on my security camera that your car was outside my driveway all night. It looks like you were only there for eight minutes,” Tift told the nanny.
“Help me understand what’s going on here. We agreed that you would stay overnight and my dog needs people around him,” she said.
Reviewing footage captured by her security cameras, Tift, 54, noticed that the nanny’s car was not at her home overnight and that she only appeared to visit briefly during the day.
The nanny claimed her Bible study group had run over and later admitted to falling asleep on the couch in her own apartment and apologized for not communicating better.
Tift was not satisfied with her explanation and felt she had abandoned her dog.
The nanny said it was “not like her” to break an agreement.
“I think it’s textbook to say ‘this is totally my character,'” Tift said in her video. “Yeah, right, apologizing ‘I should have communicated better,’ you shouldn’t have dumped my dog! I don’t trust her!” she continued.
Tift then gave the sitter some basic tasks and asked her to send a photo of her dog with a specific toy to prove she was there and to share her location while she was away.
The nanny complied, but Tift felt that her promises to regain his trust were insincere.
Tift went on to say that her holiday was ruined by the ordeal, leaving her feeling betrayed and anxious for her dog’s well-being.
“I downloaded the photos and looked at the timestamp and it didn’t match when he sent them to me,” Tift explained.
“I said, ‘I’d like you to turn on the location sharing feature with me until I get back to town,’ so he did those things, but he’s still giving me all this shit.”
Tift spent an hour on the phone with the dog-sitting website’s customer service team, looking for a replacement for the last two days of her vacation.
In the video, Tift appears upset as she shares her concerns about her dog being alone for so long.
She claimed her dog appeared distressed in photos the sitter had sent her.
“I was so angry I was shaking my dog and he’s like a rescue dog and he has separation anxiety and trauma and I love my dog,” Tift said.
She went on to say that her holiday was marred by the ordeal, leaving her feeling betrayed and anxious for her dog’s well-being.
(tags to translate)dailymail
