Dog sitters sued for $1M after pet dies

A New York City couple is suing a dog sitting service for $1 million, claiming the sitter let their pet, Percy the French bulldog, overheat in a van and then dropped him off to die alone in their Manhattan apartment.

Bankers Robert Hardon and Laura Garner left 5-year-old Percy with Doggie Love of Queens for one night in July 2009. The lawsuit says a sitter drove the pooch from Astoria to the West End apartment in the back of an enclosed Econoline van and dropped him off in the empty apartment. Percy was found dead hours later in front of an air conditioner. When vets examined Percy that night they found that his body temperature was high and that he had suffered seizures.

The pet sitters told the New York Post that the company expects to be cleared in the case and that the worker no longer is employed at the agency.