By Sara Ashley O'Brien, CNN Business
Like many new pandemic pet owners, Nia Morgan knew her puppy, Zorro, had grown very attached to her due to all the time she spent at home with him. So she was understandably hesitant about leaving him for the first time with a sitter she'd hired through Rover, a popular platform for booking dog and cat sitters.
Morgan took what she thought were adequate steps to ensure her timid then-9-month-old poodle mix would be in good hands during an upcoming trip. She interviewed a Rover sitter and did a trial run, dropping Zorro and a friend's dog off together with the sitter for the day. Zorro's "temperament was good," said Morgan, after picking up her dog, which made her feel comfortable enough to book the same sitter for a five-day trip.