LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — If you're leaving town this weekend or any time soon, you may need to hire a dog sitter. One of the easiest and fastest ways to do that is through an app, like Rover, that can connect you with those services.
But a warning to locals before you do that.
We have now spoken to three Las Vegas families, all with heartbreaking stories, after leaving their pets in the care of a Rover sitter.
"I thought I did all my research. I thought I checked all the boxes," said Nicole Manson, for whom going on walks these days is a lot lonelier. "My heart is literally broken. I'm like, sick to my stomach all the time."
Instead of exercising with her mini Aussiedoodle, Gunner, she's desperately searching for him.
"He means the world."
Manson, who's Navajo, explains that dogs have long been an important part of Navajo life.
"He's like a child. He literally loves to be held."
The Navajo people believe dogs can absorb negative energy without any harm to themselves and they safeguard the family in that way.
Manson got Gunner as a puppy, a gift from a friend whose dog had a litter.
"My friend knew that I was Navajo, so we do not buy animals--dogs."
That's because they're considered protectors, which are priceless.
"It's always been him and me. We would travel together back and forth between Utah and Arizona, meeting family. He loves my dad and my sister so much."
Manson lives in St. George, Utah. In late October, she came to Las Vegas for a family function at the South Point and didn't want to leave one-year-old Gunner behind.
"I wanted him to be somewhere close because this was gonna be his first place where he was gonna be alone, without me. And so, I picked the nearest place on Rover."
Sitter Irene Moore had her own dog to keep Gunner company and was highly rated on the Rover app.
The two did a Meet & Greet before Manson decided to hire her.
"Her home was very homey and it was very welcoming for my dog."
Everything seemed like it would be great ... until it wasn't.
"Gunner was with her for 10 hours. The first five hours were constant contact of messaging, pictures, videos, and the last five hours were silent."
At around 10:30 p.m., Manson got texts from Moore saying, "Call me... Emergency."
"She was like, 'Gunner got out. We need help looking for him'."
Moore declined to go on camera for this story but spoke with 13 Investigates at length on the phone. She says she helped search for Gunner for days, made and posted flyers, and repeatedly called shelters and vet hospitals. She also communicated with professional tracker Michele Dorais-Hood, who Manson reached out to for help.
"I got a scent article from the owner of Gunner," explains Hood, which she gave to her tracking dog, Smooch.
"And we did track that Gunner left the house, went through the neighborhood and out onto the main street. And then, she lost scent across the street in a neighborhood, which could mean that Gunner was picked up."
The sitter lives in a gated community less than two miles away from the South Point.
She's got a front gate with an opening underneath it that's large enough for a small dog to squeeze through and that wasn't the only problem on the sitter's property.
"She's got these concrete pillars and they have this netting, very light netting, on the front," explained Hood. "And there was a big hole in it, so any dog could have gotten out."
Gunner's escape might have been recorded on the sitter's Ring app. But in a text with Hood, Moore says her Ring device stopped recording a week prior because her drive was full. She wrote, "I was not aware it had stopped since I rarely/never check the clips."
There's another concern. In some of the pictures Moore sent, Nicole noticed that Gunner was wearing a strange collar.
"His collar wasn't his. It was a different collar and it looked like a barking shock collar on him."
Manson doesn't own an e-collar, didn't provide one to the sitter, and says Gunner had never worn one before.
"You don't ever put a bark collar on them for keeping them quiet without the owner's consent," Hood said.
In a text stream, Hood questions the sitter, asking "Is that a bark collar?" Moore answers "Yes it is but please don't tell her (Nicole) that. She will think it's abuse. I told her it was just a collar. He was barking so loud for a long time and my neighbors complain."
"If someone he doesn't know put something on him that hurt him then yeah, he's gonna run away or he's gonna hide or stay away from the house or the area that was hurting him," Manson said.
There's no way to know if the bark collar contributed to Gunner's anxiety. The sitter said she removed it before he escaped.
Rover's Trust and Safety team suspended Moore's account pending investigation but reinstated it a week later, citing her "open communication" and "dedicated efforts to help locate Gunner", writing, "We sincerely believe you've done everything within your means to assist."
Manson feels the sitter was negligent in safeguarding her home and supervising Gunner. And though it's been nearly four months, she still holds out hope of finding him.
"I've been coming out here every weekend. He is a loved dog. I know people find dogs and they think they're being neglected or something. He was not. He was very much loved. He's still loved."
And she just wants her loved one back home.
"I'm not going to ask questions. I literally ... The only thing I want is my dog."
The sitter says she took down her Rover profile after the incident with Gunner and has not done any dog-sitting since then.
Rover declined to participate in an interview, but sent the following statement:
"We were deeply saddened when we learned about Gunner’s disappearance, and we’re hopeful that he will soon be reunited with his family.
To support the search efforts, our team is offering a $500 reward for information leading to finding Gunner. We also purchased hundreds of flyers, posted online in pet forums linked directly to local veterinarians and other care facilities, and issued a full refund. We also reached out to pet sitters on Rover in the area to ask for their help in the search.
In addition to staying in close communication with both Gunner’s family and the pet care provider, our 24/7 Trust and Safety Team conducted a thorough investigation to better understand what led to Gunner’s disappearance. We understand that as an outcome of this investigation, this care provider, who has a long history of successful and safe services, pledged to implement measures to prevent such an incident from happening again.
No one knows the needs and behaviors of their pets better than pet parents, so we encourage pet parents to perform Meet & Greets with a number of potential sitters as well as visit the environment where care will be provided prior to booking a stay. These conversations, in addition to aligning expectations for care, are important in facilitating safe stays.
We recognize choosing a care provider is an important decision and we strive to provide information throughout this process. On the Rover platform, pet parents can read verified reviews from previous clients to help determine if a pet sitter is the right fit for them and their pet. Except in situations where our policies are violated, Rover does not alter these reviews, regardless of the review score or content. This means that if a pet parent has a negative experience, they can leave a publicly available review on the sitter’s profile.
At Rover, we work every day to maintain the trust that millions of pet parents have placed in our community. In the Las Vegas Valley, pet parents have made nearly 200,000 individual bookings, with over 97% of reviewed services rated as 5 stars."
