Dog walking app may have played role in home break-in: family

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Houston family is worried that a dog walking app may have played a role in their home being burglarized this weekend.

"I thought our security systems were enough, but I guess not," said Jay Bostick, who lives in a Montrose area townhome with his husband and two sons.

Last Saturday night, the Bosticks were home in their upstairs bedroom when they heard someone walking around their house.

Bostick opened his master bedroom and was confronted by a burglar with a flashlight.

"(I was worried about) my kids at that exact moment. I screamed for my husband, I said 'Joe, grab the kids,'" recalled Bostick, who said the family barricaded themselves in their bedroom and called 911. "I just heard pounding, like she was taking off down the stairs. But I didn't know if there are more people in the house."

After police arrived, the Bosticks were able to review their Ring video. It shows a woman pulling up in a dark-colored car. She then punches in the gate code to their complex, punches in the code to their garage, and does the same for a third door code to get into the house.

Bostick said the woman then ransacked the living room, stole small electronics, and stuffed them in his children's backpacks. She dropped the items when confronted by Bostick, and only took their wallets when she got away.

The question then became, how did she get all their door codes? According to the Bosticks, the only person who would have had all three codes would have been their dog walkers, which they hire using the app "Wag!"

"I think we were maybe too trusting with our dog walking service, which I believe is where she would have gotten the codes from," he said. "I couldn't think of where else it may have come from."

ABC13 reached out to Wag!, and the dog walking service sent us the following statement:

"Every service on the Wag! platform is insured and backed by the full support of our Trust and Safety team, which means in the rare case of an incident we will work directly with the pet parent and the appropriate law enforcement agency. You can learn more about our Trust & Safety measures here: https://wagwalking.com/trust-safety.

In this case, our Trust and Safety team is in contact with the pet parents and will work directly with the police department to assist with this investigation in any way we can."

The Bosticks have now changed all their security systems. They have installed cameras inside their homes and removed the garage number pad. The break-in is under investigation by Houston police, and the family is hoping the suspect is caught soon.

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