Puppy dies after sitter leaves him in glass conservatory during heatwave

A 21-month-old puppy died after he was allegedly left in a glass conservatory by a sitter during the UK’s record-breaking heatwave.

Bulldog Teddie had been left with the sitter in Barry, South Wales, by his owners Nikki and Glenn Morton on 17 July.

The couple, from Caerphilly, in South Wales, had booked their pet in to stay there for a couple of nights so he could get used to it before they went on a two-week holiday to Jamaica later this year.

Nikki Morton told the Daily Mail: “I searched on Google and Rover came up. It seemed really legit and we found a sitter who sounded like a really nice lady with five-star reviews and everyone raving about her.”

Morton wrote on Facebook: “We left him with a full wet coat, wet collar, and instructions on not to walk him as he had been to the toilet before we dropped him off. We went out the garden for five minutes before we left and he was fine, she text me a little later to say that they had done three laps around the (bloody huge) garden, WTAF! She commented that she thought he didn’t look impressed, i text back to say haha he will be fine, meaning fine with her. How wrong was I?”

The local council’s licensing team has since told Morton that the sitter does not hold a dog boarding licence.

A Rover spokesman told The Daily Mail: “Our 24/7 trust and safety team is currently investigating the situation. We are removing the sitter from our platform, preventing them from offering further pet care services through Rover.

“Pet safety and the wellbeing of our community is our top priority at Rover. During this unprecedented heatwave in the UK we are proactively providing safety information to members of our community to help protect pets.”

South Wales Police said it has received a report concerning the death of a dog and inquiries are ongoing.