This lady left her blind canine with a Rover sitter, then observed out it fell two stories off a balcony

Wag and Rover, nicknamed the “Uber for puppies” and “canine BnB,” offer on-call for canine on foot and dog sitting offerings through your cellphone. The favorite apps have made it less complicated than ever to locate someone to walk and watch your pets, but a growing number of stories of dogs being mistreated are raising new questions about how well these apps screen their walkers and sitters.

Colleen Nolan blames Rover for the death of her dog. Nolan informed CBS News’ Chip Reid that she built her lifestyle around her 12-year-old Japanese Chin named Mooshu, adopted at eight weeks old. When a work trip came up in the closing year, Nolan stated she became involved about leaving him; Mooshu changed into not just old, he became blind.

“He becomes the only dog that changed into intended for me,” Nolan stated. “I desired to ensure that he was cozy in his surroundings. That he stayed inside the domestic. So I reached out to Rover to try to find a sitter.”

Rover and Wag advertise “rigorous screening” and “historical past checks.” Nolan says she chose a Rover sitter who had badges on her profile for operating with senior and special needs dogs. Nolan stated she gave the particular sitter instructions: Mooshu was to be taken out of the house for brief walks. Those commands, she later found out, while she was given an emergency text from the sitter, were not noted.

“I referred to her and I said, What passed off?’ And she stated Moosh fell off my porch,” Nolan said. “I stated, ‘What do you mean ‘your porch?'”

According to Nolan, the sitter then informed her that Mooshu had fallen memories. Rover, she stated, supplied to cover half of the prices following Mooshu’s loss of life, including vet bills, burial, and the value of a brand new canine, totaling $2,600, however with one circumstance: sign a strict confidentiality agreement. Nolan says she “by no means called them to lower back.”

Rover advertises that fewer than 20 percent of sitters who observe are accepted. They say all must pass a background check and be approved by a group of experts.

“I thought that with Rover announcing that they honlychoose a small few and they hand-assess every one of these sitters, those badges needed to mean that they vetted them,” Nolan stated.

Nolan’s isn’t the handiest case. CBS News spoke to 14 households who say their dogs died simultaneously while in the care of Rover or Wag sitters. Twelve of those incidents worried RRover ‘sitters. One person said she observed her Rover sitter had a crooked document, and customers of each app instructed us they had also been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements following incidents.

In December, a Wag walker was caught on surveillance video kicking and intimidating a dog. The Better Business Bureau is currently investigating Wag over claims made in their advertisements,which h statstatet walkers are “vetted through a rigorous screening system.”