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Wag killed our dog — and tried to buy our silence

Wag, the beleaguered dog-walking service that’s accused of losing or killing eight Big Apple pooches, has stepped in it once again.

The celebrity-endorsed “Uber for dog walking,” recently valued at $650 million, tried to buy the silence of a grieving couple whose beloved pet was killed while in the care of a novice walker.

Sara and Nick Moore, of Houston, said they regularly used Wag and on Dec. 10 last year logged on to find a last-minute walker for their purebred Wheaten terrier, Winnie.

When the 60-minute walk should have been over, Sara Moore didn’t get the usual notification, so she called the walker to check in.

“My app seems to be acting up, is Winnie home safe?” Sara Moore asked the walker, who assured the dog mom Winnie was home safe and sound.

But then a company representative called five minutes later to tell her Winnie had been hit by a car and died. The couple was hysterical.

“The Wag people called back and told us where to find Winnie at the animal hospital. We don’t know how she got there or who took her there,” Nick Moore explained, choking up at the memory.

“We went in and said goodbye. We asked them to cremate her and the whole time, Wag is saying they’d cover any and all costs” related to the death. But when the couple submitted receipts for the $188.71 they spent on Winnie’s cremation, they were sent a non-disclosure agreement that stated the couple would get their cash, as long as they promised to not make any “negative or disparaging” comments, both orally and in text, about the company, including on social media or online reviews. The couple declined to sign.

“There was a complete lack of care and compassion … it feels like everyone gets to go on living their life without any consequences and we don’t,” Nick Moore said. Worse, the couple was never told the exact details of Winnie’s death, leaving them to imagine the worst about their dearest family member.

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An non-disclosure agreement that Wag attempted to force the Winnie's owners to sign.
An non-disclosure agreement that Wag gave to the Winnie's owners to sign.Courtesy
Courtesy
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“We were driving around the neighborhood saying what if it was here? … it was traumatizing,” Sara Moore said.

“It’s this gut-wrenching feeling constantly and when you don’t know what happened, your imagination starts to run wild a little bit and that’s really hard,” Nick Moore added.

“To get over something you have to have the information … the only reason we know [she died] is because we saw her body. For something to happen so abruptly and so violently and then have zero information is indescribable.”

The couple shared their heart-wrenching story on social media, prompting a response from Wag’s CEO on its blog who called the NDA “a common practice in the business world” but something it will be “updating” moving forward.

A spokesman for the company said the walker had “very high ratings” and no safety incidents but has since been suspended.

In New York City, Wag has a long history of losing dogs in its care, including at least four in a 30-day period last March. A Brooklyn dog named Duckie faced the same fate as Winnie in 2015 when it ran away from a Wag walker and was fatally struck by a car near Prospect Park.

Of the seven other dogs that Wag has lost, a Chihuahua named Norman from the Upper East Side remains missing.