{"id":1245,"date":"2026-04-16T01:28:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T01:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/walkiesandwhiskers.ca\/?p=1245"},"modified":"2026-04-16T01:28:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T01:28:59","slug":"fake-review-bombing-montreal-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/walkiesandwhiskers.ca\/fr\/fake-review-bombing-montreal-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Something Strange Is Happening to Women-Owned Pet Care Businesses in Montreal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something Strange Is Happening to Women-Owned Pet Care Businesses in Montreal<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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A closer look at suspicious reviews in Montreal\u2019s dog walking industry<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

R\u00e9dig\u00e9 par Charlotte Smith | Lecture de 5 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you run a small business \u2014 especially in pet care \u2014 you know how much trust matters. We rely on trust every single day to sell our services, pay our team and put food on our own tables. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because at the end of the day, people aren\u2019t just booking a service when they fill out the form and pay their invoices.
They\u2019re trusting you with their dog. Their fur baby. The very thing that brings them joy and endless laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when we started receiving one-star reviews from people we\u2019ve never worked with\u2026 and honestly, never even heard<\/strong> of! Well let’s just say, we were confused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No messages anywhere.
No emails in the clean inbox .
No calls on the phone that lives in my hand.
No bookings on our apps.
No record of ever meeting them or their dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, we brushed it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then we looked a little closer…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udea9 A Pattern That Doesn\u2019t Feel Random<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\ud83e\udde0 When You Look a Little Closer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We started clicking into reviewer profiles. I mean, you can’t help it. When you run your business, you spend your mornings obsessing over your emails, your lunches concerned with scheduling and your evenings looking over every click on your wbesite. It literally becomes your life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean, a lot of small business owners make the joke that we quit our 9-5 jobs to start working 24\/7 – and that involves checking our Google reviews religiously, like we are a school kid hungry for praise. But when I looked in on a Tuesday morning, and I saw not the scrumptious fill of positive accolades, I will admit I dug deeper. Because I refused to swallow undeserved criticism with my morning cornflakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s where things got even more interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These accounts looked real:<\/p>\n\n\n\n