Bryce and Amanda Horton Victorville dog owners share video of Rover.com pet care worker slamming their puppy to the ground to warn other animal owners.
A couple from Victorville, California have expressed shock after video caught a woman they’d hired through a pet care service provider slamming their 10-week-old puppy to the ground.
According to dog owners, Bryce and Amanda Horton – the couple found the unidentified woman abusing the dog on video back in January through Rover.com and hadn’t previously experienced problems KTLA reported.
But that all changed on Saturday.
The aghast couple told of seeing the woman slamming their puppy to the floor through their home security camera. Video shows (see below) the puppy whimpering and struggling to get up after being thrown to the ground.
The couple said the took the dog to the vet where they found the animal had (thankfully) suffered no broken bones or serious injuries.
Victorville dog abuse: Are there are other instances of animal abuse?
‘I saw it on the camera live, she was still standing there. That’s when I talked to her through the camera told her, ‘Hey, I saw what you did to the dog. You need to get your stuff and get out of the house,” Bryce Horton told KTLA.
The damning video shows the dog struggling to get on all fours, while the sitter stares at it.
Rover have since responded saying they have removed the woman’s profile and prevented her from creating a new one. The dog provider service also offered to help with vet bills and has been cooperating with San Bernardino County authorities.
‘The activity depicted in this video is shocking and appalling. We have permanently deactivated this sitter from our platform and will continue to investigate. Any incident of this nature is extremely rare on our platform, and we take it very seriously,’ said spokesman Dave Rosenbaum in a released statement.
Notes an about page from Rover.com’s Facebook profile: ‘Rover connects pet parents with trusted pet sitters and dog walkers who treat dogs (and cats!) like family.’
Not immediately clear is if there have been other instances of animal abuse and Rover’s hiring vetting process.
Bryce and Amanda Horton say they posted the video online to warn people to be cautious about pet sitters.
Animal Control is now looking into the incident.
