What to do next? I’ve been mourning the horrific loss of Jazzy.  She was killed running down an interstate median while in the care of the Rover.com pet sitter.   Rover.com hid negative reviews about their sitter.  Their sitter had two pets escape previously and never disclosed the information.  I would have never used a sitter that cannot care for pets properly, neither should a multi-million dollar company like Rover.  It’s all about money and definitely not about your pet.  My review is also hidden from the Rover.com site and so I made my own review website.  Find a true professional pet sitter.  Anyone can claim to be a pet sitter on Rover.com.  Again, I repeat, the info I will share with you is based on my experience and not for you to be swayed by my personal opinion….

Before leaving Jazzy with the pet sitter I did a meet and greet. The sitter seemed competent enough. Since Jazzy is a rescue I gave the sitter an abundance of information on her issues and a two page outline that gave details about Jazzy and her routines.  When Jazzy is around someone new she is very skittish, will cower down, try to hide and will run from you if she gets loose.  The sitter did not have her backyard fence secured and Jazzy found the small area of the fence where it was curled back and ran away.  When the sitter notified me I was three hours away from home.  I immediately speed back to the sitters house and my mom drove an hour to get to the sitters house to help me and my best friend search for her.  I knew the sitter had two or three other small dogs in her care at the time she took Jazzy. While I was rushing to the sitters home she told me before Jazzy got out that she had been cowered down under a table and wouldn’t come out.  I had told the sitter during the meet and greet that if Jazz is scared please place her in another room that is calm and let her sit on her blanket with her food and water.  If that doesn’t work then call me, I’ll come get her.

When I finally arrived at the sitter house I ran in and started calling for Jazzy as I was praying to God she was hidden and wedged up in a secure spot inside the house waiting on me.  I called her name and whistled for her frantically while I searched the house.  I kept calling, pleading for Jazzy to come out.  I started crying. I then ran out into the backyard which was a small area and was fenced.  I saw where the fence was supposed to have been attached to the house and it was rolled back.  Jazzy had escaped thru the opening.  The fence should have been attached to a pole or the side of the house, but the fence was just rolled up to the house and could easily have been moved by a small animal.  I had no idea the Rover.com sitters fence was not secure in any areas and didn’t realize I needed to inspect the sitters home and fence.  I trusted that the sitter would have a secure home and fence since it was advertised she had both on the Rover site.

The sitter was apologetic and made an effort to help look for Jazzy with us.  She stated that the back door was open and she did not see Jazzy run out and she had no idea when Jazzy had left.  By this time it was after 8 P.M. and Jazz fled the sitters home approximately around 4 P.M.  I desperately went from neighborhood to neighborhood putting flyers on stops signs and asking neighbors if they had seen her. One person said they had seen Jazzy around 5 P.M. on one of the major roads running.  Another said he saw someone stop traffic on the major road trying to catch her and she sprinted away scared.  I’m in shock and praying to Jesus that someone has picked her up safely and since she has a chip the person will take her to a vet’s office first thing in the morming or call the local 27/7 emergency vet and notify them.  One sweet lady took my info and posted ‘Jazzy’s Lost‘ on the Facebook community garage sale pages to get the distress call out.  Once it got dark I sped home and started making bright colored flyers to put out.  I then posted the Jazzy distress post on my page to see if anyone could please help me.  I went back out and placed roughly 100 flyers on almost every stop sign and telephone pole within a 360 / 5 mile span.  I did that until approximately 7 A.M. and I was praying that if someone was able to pick her up that they would see one of my flyers I posted while on their way to work and call me or a local veterinarian.

I was so exhausted from weeping that I laid down and set my alarm for 7:30 A.M. so I could start calling the local vets when they opened to notify them she was missing and please call me if someone brings her in. At 8 A.M. and 8:10 A.M. I received two Facebook messages from two ladies letting me know they had seen a little dog on the inside median on Georgia Interstate 75.  I rushed to the location on the interstate where they told me they saw a little dog and there was Jazzy lifeless on the inside median.  I saw her little white hair blowing from the cars passing and at that time I unfortunately knew it was definitely her. I was uncontrollably screaming and sobbing as I parked my truck and sprinted to her. I tried not to look at her beat up body as I scooped her tiny soulless body up in a towel.  Her little feet were hanging out of the towel and I wept.  I will never be able to remove those terrifying visuals.  I sat in the truck on the inside median screaming and sobbing telling her I am so so sorry.

I couldn’t think straight as I was exhausted and still on search and find mode that my right leg was shaking uncontrollably.  I couldn’t press the gas pedal. I don’t recall how I managed to get to my house. I drove home holding her dead body. I sat at home alone for about 4 hours weeping, holding her, praying to God that if I hold her long enough I could warm her body.  After family came to help me and hold her one last time, I took Jazzy to the vet where she was cremated.

So sweet tiny Jazzy is gone. I will never get to run with her, hug her, comb the white fluffy hair on her head, bathe her and put lotion on her black and white spotted body, take her with me everywhere, take naps with her, make her feel safe or kiss her or put my ear next to her soft chest and hear her heart beat. She is gone.
I wish I would have never taken her to the Rover.com pet sitter.  I wish I would have check the sitter’s fence.  I wish the sitter would have separated her away from the other dogs in another room like I requested while she was watching her since she knew Jazzy wasn’t adjusting to the other dogs.  Why couldn’t the pet sitter have double check her backyard fence every day? Why didn’t she call me before Jazzy escaped and tell me how scared she was?  Why didn’t the Rover.com sitter call all three of the emergency contacts when she knew Jazzy was gone?  Why did the sitter leave her back door open and not watch Jazzy’s whereabouts in the home?  Why did the sitter wait to tell me after Jazzy was missing that two other dogs had escaped her care?  I failed Jazzy.  I didn’t protect her enough.  I should have never trusted the Rover.com site.

Rover.com refunded my monies for the one night stay since Jazzy never made it the entire night with the Rover.com sitter.  So in the Rover.com system it shows that Jazzy was never in the care of the Rover.com sitter, thus I cannot leave a review about my experience on the Rover.com site or the sitters page.   You will never know what happened to my Jazzy and her horrific last 12 hours of her precious life while in Rover’s care.   The other two pets that escaped out of the sitter’s care, those reviews are missing.  My review is missing on the Rover.com site.  I would have NEVER left Jazzy with that sitter had I known what happened to the others pets in her care.  Never!

Since I cannot post my review on the Rover.com site I have created my own review with my video and this website.  I pray other pet owners will see this information so the next time they book with Rover.com they will know they may not see all the reviews and if your pet dies while in the care of Rover they return your baby with no heartbeat or let you go terrified and frantically searching for your pet that you may never find.  They will not help you search for your pet, they will send you a “copy and paste” condolence letter and refund the cost of your stay and cremation fee.  No one from Rover.com helped.  You can still book your stay with the Rover.com sitter Jazzy had because her Rover page is active and Rover.com allows this sitter to take your pet.  Click here.   If your pet dies while in the care of a Rover.com sitter you are left with nothing.  The Rover.com policy is basically ….  If your pet dies, it’s ‘Not Our Fault’.  I left Jazzy in the care of the Rover.com sitter and her heart was beating, it was my job to find her and when I did she didn’t have a heartbeat.

Having shared with you the worst day of my entire life with a horrific ending for the little heartbeat at my feet and how Rover.com handles pets that die within their sitter’s care, I pray that any of you that have fur babies never ever experience an event like mine.  Rover.com, I don’t want you to pay for my baby to be cremated, I want my precious Jazzy’s heart beat back.  

I’m still in a daze and devastated.  I want to make the proper decisions on what I should do next without making the decisions out of grieving anger.  I definitely want to take action as to hopefully protect another fur baby from this type of tragedy.

I feel the basic facts are… I trusted the Rover.com site to put me in contact with a competent pet sitter. The sitter was negligent and as a result my dog was killed on an interstate median miles from the sitter’s home and I will never ever see my Jazzy again.  I have now experienced along with my tiny hairless rescue dog the worst 24 hours of our entire lives.  Not that there is an answer, but the Rover.com site or the pet sitter offered anything for my little dog dying while in their care.  They lose nothing. I lose my world.  I’m so grief-stricken.

Please share!  Together, we can save a pet’s life.  🙁

If you have a review that you cannot post on Rover.com and would like it posted on this site.  Please send HERE.