Woman Praised for How She 'Accidentally Kidnapped Dog'

You wouldn't usually expect a dog kidnapping to be a feel-good story, but in this case, a woman has been praised for doing everything necessary to help a pup in need. Sasha Casey, 21, a college student living in Virginia, dog-sits to make some extra cash, with strangers hiring her services on the dog-sitting app Wag. One woman asked her to check in on her pet, Bear, at her home while she was away with the Navy, but things didn't exactly go smoothly. On June 24, Casey shared a video to her TikTok account @saltyandspiteful12. She said, "I have accidentally kidnapped somebody's dog," and turned the camera to a happy-looking pup sitting on the bed with her. Casey told Newsweek when she arrived at the house, she noticed "a leak on the floor." And after returning with Bear from their walk, she noticed it was "hotter than when I came in, and there's a huge puddle on the floor." Casey jumped to clean up the mess, and rang around to try to get the now-broken air conditioning fixed, but it was no use. So she called the owner's friend and told her she had to take Bear home with her. As she put it in her TikTok video: "I am not leaving this dog in an un-airconditioned house when it's 104 outside. That's not OK."

Casey told Newsweek that she had been hired to look after Bear for around three hours, but he spent 24 hours at her home. She and her boyfriend took him for walks, to the beach, and simply "hung around the house," "He tried to play with my cats, but the cats were not happy with him," she added. However, Casey said she would happily look after Bear again if his owner ever needed her. And when Casey missed a college test due to having to look after Bear, his owner emailed the professor to explain what had happened, and he accepted the "best excuse ever." Pet owners often make use of dog-sitters or dog day cares when they are away from home, either overnight or just for a few hours. Newsweek previously spoke to an expert who reminded owners that "leaving a dog alone at any age risks accidents in the house or urinary tract infections from holding urine in for too long." Jennifer Fryer, a veterinarian at Chewy, said there is no specific time for how long dogs can be left alone, as it depends on a number of factors. But, as a ballpark figure, Fryer said that healthy adult dogs should not be home alone for longer than six hours. TikTok users loved Casey's clip, which has garnered almost 13,000 likes and more than 180,000 views, with one commenter joking: "Bear said 'mama's on a business trip and so am I!'" Another wrote: "Bear is happy he finally gets a vacation too. Also it was so nice of you to care for the floors as well as the dog." One added that they hope Casey gets "good karma points and Bear gets a nose boop!" And one even called Casey "SUCH a good friend." The poster then said again that she doesn't know the owner and has never met her, but added: "But I agree." Casey told Newsweek: "I would want somebody to do the same for my cats. I feel like it's just a decent human thing." She added: "I mean, she's literally serving our country." Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.