Dear Lincoln, I’m writing this email to share a very bad experience with a pet sitter, Michelle Rowland. My wife and I left our dog Pilou with this person because she had a very “good” review on Lincoln Talk. When we left, Pilou was in perfect health and very active.
>From what we can tell from Pilou's GPS, he was not walked regularly - never before 1130a when I'd specifically asked for morning (between 7-8a) and afternoon for walks (at least 25min and I left maps as examples of where we usually go) then quick pees at dinner and before bed. The GPS shows one day that he didn't even leave the "home zone". Another day, it appears he was left outside on his own in the cold for up to 5 hours. Pilou resorted to going to the bathroom in the house, which is incredibly stressful for a dog. After we'd been gone a week, our house cleaner contacted us because she found pee in numerous places in our house (at least 7 and they were very obvious). Our dog was literally in distress. Michelle never mentioned anything about this to us, and when asked, said she didn't see the pee (the locations were in the main room and very obvious). We immediately asked Michelle to leave and had friends come get him. He was in a condition where they felt they had to bring him to the vet that night. He had developed a head tilt and was unstable on his feel/"wobbly". Michelle hadn't mentioned anything to us about his change in condition (after we'd asked her to leave she mentioned he was having hindlimb weakness). We can't say definitively that his condition was stress-induced, but vestibular disease can be aggravated in stressful situations. Regardless, Michelle not realizing there were issues and letting us know is unacceptable. When we came home, there was pee and poop everywhere and Pilou had vomited in our bed. I strongly believe Michelle Rowland should not be involved with pets. Thanks, Marc We have pictures, GPS tracking data, vet reports and witnesses.
-- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.
