In 2019, Albemarle County rolled out restrictions on homestays, limiting which properties are eligible to be listed on sites like Airbnb. Home child care centers also merit their own county code section. Now, the owner of a dog who disappeared after being left with an Albemarle-based pet-sitter says the county should regulate in-home animal care services offered through sites like Rover.com and Wag.com.
“I think that there definitely has to be some kind of accountability for any animal care inside of a residential home,” says Michael Juers, whose 2-year-old Chihuahua, Rosie, vanished last April after he and his wife dropped their two dogs off with Adrienne Skaggs on Fray’s Mill Road.
The current county code has stringent requirements for commercial pet-boarding operations: Animals must be kept in a sound-proofed building, for instance, and dogs must be contained in outdoor areas by an external solid fence with a minimum height of six feet. All animals must be indoors between 10pm and 6am.
Those conditions were apparently not met at the Fray’s Mill Road property, where Juers dropped his dogs off as he and his wife prepared to move from Charlottesville to Florida. After Rosie disappeared, the Juers soon learned they weren’t the only ones to suffer such devastation after trusting Skaggs with the care of their animals.
Multiple other dog owners reported similar experiences with Skaggs, including one whose dog reportedly escaped within an hour of arrival at Skaggs’ home and was promptly hit and killed by a car.
Another dog was also hit by a car after escaping Skaggs’ property, but survived.
“Our number-one goal is really just to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” said that dog’s owner, Ben Combs, in a February C-VILLE article.
Albemarle County Supervisor Ann Mallek says supervisors haven’t discussed restricting pet-sitting services, but she expressed an interest in exploring the possibility.
“I’ve asked staff to provide me with more information,” Mallek says.
A county resident who lives near Skaggs says Albemarle County Animal Control has been aware of issues with Skaggs’ pet-sitting operation since long before the Juers or others dropped their dogs off.
“We’ve been sounding the alarm for years,” says the resident, who requested anonymity due to fear of retribution from Skaggs.
The resident provided a document listing complaints called in about Skaggs since 2020. Among the incidents listed are multiple occasions of dogs running loose, loud barking, dogs behaving aggressively, and the sounds of semi-automatic gunfire coming from the property. The resident says both animal control and Skaggs’ landlord have been repeatedly notified of the issues.
Through a county spokesperson, Albemarle County Animal Control declined comment, citing an ongoing investigation. Online court records show Skaggs has been found guilty of misdemeanors relating to the care of dogs since January 1: two counts of running at large and inadequate animal care. In addition, Juers has filed a civil claim against Skaggs that is still pending.
According to Albemarle County property records, the property Skaggs is renting at 2641 Fray’s Mill Rd. is owned and managed by Veliky Commercial Properties. An online sample lease available through the Veliky Rentals requires tenants to “conduct themselves in a manner that will not disturb his neighbors peaceful enjoyment of the premises” and “not to use the property for any purposes other than residential.”
There was no response to an email sent to Veliky requesting comment on the complaints, and a woman who answered C-VILLE’s follow-up call declined comment.
“We aren’t going to entertain that,” she said.
Skaggs did not respond to an online message requesting comment, and a woman answering a previous call to a number listed for her online claimed it was the wrong number.
Juers says he hopes the pain and loss he and others have experienced will prompt a change in the county code.
“Inspections even, just like the county health inspector would,” he says. “Maybe they’re allowed two citations and then have to be shut down.”