Hounding sitters
Ire at law against watching dogs for pay
PET LOVERS are barking-mad over a little-known city rule that makes dog-sitting illegal in New York.
Health Department rules ban anyone from taking money to care for an animal outside a licensed kennel — and the department has warned a popular pet-sitting app that its users are breaking the law.
“The laws are antiquated,” said Chad Bacon, 29, a dog-sitter in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, with the app Rover. “If you’re qualified and able to provide a service, I don’t think you should be penalized.”
Bacon, a former zookeeper and wildlife researcher, signed up for the app to help make ends meet while he was between jobs, but did enough business that he now makes his living from it full time.
“I was looking at it as a way to pay bills in the meantime,” he said. “It’s become a full-time job.”
The health code bans boarding, feeding and grooming animals for a fee without a kennel license — and says those licenses can’t be issued for private homes.
Health Department general counsel Thomas Merrill sent a letter last October to DogVacay.com, which has since been bought by Rover, warning that its users were breaking the law and asking the company to require sitters to confirm they have a license before joining up. The app has not done so.
No full-scale crackdown followed, but at least two apartment residents were slapped with violations in November and December for caring for pets without a permit. Fines start at $1,000.
“If you’ve got a 14-year-old getting paid to feed your cats, that’s against the law right now,” said Rover general counsel John Lapham. “Most places right now continue to make it easier to watch children than animals, and that doesn’t make any sense.”
Health Department spokesman Julien Martinez countered the ban is necessary “to ensure the health and safety of pets and reduce risks to public health.”
City Council Health Committee Chairman Corey Johnson said he was shocked to find out pet-sitting was illegal, and plans to draft legislation to allow it.
“It’s so crazy,” said Johnson (D-Manhattan).