A pet owner is expressing her displeasure over a dog sitter who lied about sleeping with her, even though she was hired to stay with her and care for her dog.
Ellen Tift, 54, who describes herself as a musician and writer, said she hired the nanny to stay at her home and look after her dog when she was away.
Tift said her dog, Happy, was rescued from a shelter and struggled with both trauma and separation anxiety, and needed someone to be with him at all times.
To ensure the best care, Tift turned to Rover, hoping that the “vetted and reviewed sitters” she offered would be trustworthy, unlike a previous bad experience she’d had with a friend of a friend.
Ellen Tift, 54, went on a six-minute rampage after a dog sitter she hired to stay at her home to watch her dog pretended to stay the night and then lied to her when confronted with the truth
A girl who seemed sweet and promising was hired and assured Tift that she would love and take good care of her dog, the animal lover said.
Tift says that at first the girl said the dog wasn’t eating much, which worried her, but she tried to remain optimistic.
Tift says she did everything she could to make the sitter comfortable, offering her a nice guest bed and providing her with craft supplies.
However, Tift soon noticed that the nanny was staying away from the house, even though he still claimed to be there.
“She was staying at my house and she lost her full time job and she said I get to spend so much more time with your dog now, I just have a feeling and I checked my security cameras on my porch to see when her car was in my driveway and I realized she wasn’t even staying at my house. Like we pay to have her sleep in our house with our dog,” Tift said in her TikTok.
The dog, named Happy, is a rescue dog who suffers from both trauma and separation anxiety and needs someone to be with him at all times
When Tift reviewed her security camera footage, she noticed that the babysitter’s car was not at her house at night and that she only appeared to stop by during the day.
She arrived at 7:30 in the morning, left shortly after, and returned around 2:30 in the afternoon for a short six-minute walk with the dog, before disappearing again until the next morning.
Concerned, Tift sent her a message asking if the dog woke her up at night.
The dog sitter pretended everything was fine, but when Tift confronted her about her absence…
“I see 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 babysitter.
“Help me understand what’s going on here. We agreed that you would stay with us overnight and my dog needs people around him,” she told her.
When Tift, 54, reviewed the footage captured by her security cameras, she noticed that the nanny’s car was not at her house at night and that she appeared to visit only briefly during the day.
The nanny claimed her Bible study group ran late, then admitted she had fallen asleep on the couch in her own apartment, apologizing for not communicating better.
Tift was not satisfied with her explanation and felt that she had abandoned her dog.
The nanny said it was “out of character” for her to break an appointment.
“I think that’s the textbook example of ‘this is totally my character,’” Tift said in her video. “Yeah, yeah, apologizing, ‘I should have communicated better,’ no, you shouldn’t have abandoned my dog! I don’t trust her!’ she continued.
Tift then gave the sitter some basic tasks, asking her to send a photo of her dog with a certain toy to prove she was there, and to share her location while she was away.
The babysitter did as she asked, but Tift felt her promise to regain her trust was not sincere.
Tift went on to say that her vacation was disrupted by the ordeal, which left her feeling betrayed and concerned for the welfare of her dog.
“I downloaded the photos and looked at the time stamp and it didn’t match when she sent them to me,” Tift explains.
“I said, ‘I want you to share your location until I get back into town.’ She did, but she keeps harassing me.”
Tift spent an hour on the phone with the dog sitting website’s customer service, looking for a replacement for the last two days of her vacation.
In the video, Tift appears to be upset as she expresses her concerns about her dog being alone for so long.
She claimed that her dog looked stressed in the photos the sitter had sent.
“I was so mad I shook my dog. He’s like a rescue dog and he suffers from separation anxiety and trauma. And I love my dog,” Tift said.
She went on to say that her holiday was disrupted by the ordeal, that she felt betrayed and was concerned for the welfare of her dog.