If you're not comfortable with it, don't do it. Trust your gut.

Personally, I don't like the odd, disjointed way the messages come across.

So the thing is, while each breed/mix has a set of characteristics that are typical for them, every dog is an individual, and not every dog follows the "rules" for the breed. They're more like guidelines, things to know and expect.

Every single doodle of any kind I have cared for over the last eleven years has been batshit crazy. You, my friend, hit the doodle lottery. Unless this sweet girl is using that smile to mask the depths of her psychopathy, lol.

This is beautiful. I can't tell you how often I wish I could visit my clients who have moved away.

Enjoy this to the fullest and shower that pup with love.

Set hard boundaries. Do Not answer all of those texts. As for the last text you shared here, respond, "Ella has had two walks in the Florida heat, played outside five times, and had a bath. She is tired and needs rest, and I have school work to do. I will be setting my phone on Do Not Disturb until I finish my schoolwork."

As for the walks, be firm and tell her you will only walk the dog when the weather is safe to do so, and will not risk giving a dog heat stroke or burnt paws.

Tell the owner you will be covering cameras while you are in the room, as they are a violation of your privacy. There aren't any in the bathroom or where you are sleeping, are there?

As for leaving the house, tell the owner that she is not abiding by the original terms of your agreement, and you will be leaving as necessary and will get back to the dog as soon as you can.

In the future, if a client pulls a bait and switch like this, cancel the sit immediately. You don't have to put up with this shit.

I get clients telling me all the time, "If you have any free time some day, feel free to come and visit Fluffy for a while!" By this they mean take my down time and come play with their pet for free, while they are home.

I get it, they think it's a sweet gesture, a compliment. Which it is. But they don't realize that I spend all day taking care of other people's animals, and my down time is my time. My time to get my own shit done. My time to rest and relax. My time to spend with my own pets. I appreciate the thought, but no, I am not sacrificing my down time to literally do my job for no compensation, thank you.

People like this...it's just crazy and irresponsible, both to the dog and the sitter, to expect someone else to deal with a hyper-aggressive animal like this. If the dog is so stressed in its normal environment that it's acting out like this, imagine how stressed and anxious it would be with a stranger, or worse yet, in a strange environment!

I have a cat with aggression issues, and I've had cats in the past with similar issues. My current princess cannot be around any animal except human beings. She loses her mind entirely and will attempt to murder any other living being unless and until you can intervene, in which case she then turns that fury on you because you've taken away her outlet for that violent, irrational rage. And depending on her mood, she can be unpredictable with humans too, so we always warn people not to touch her (they don't listen and learn the hard way, because "she's so cute, she can't be aggressive!") She's simply not right in the head, wired wrong, something. Even the local old farm vet asked me not to bring her back unless it's an emergency.

And you know what? I would never ask anyone else to attempt to care for her. When you choose to have an aggressive pet, you take that responsibility onto yourself and deal with the consequences. I knew that when I decided to keep her despite her issues. I understood that meant I would have to make sure either I or one of my parents was home with her at all times. No vacations (not that we go anywhere anyway). But she was and is worth that sacrifice.

The bottom line is, if you choose to have an aggressive pet, you also choose to stay home with it and not put anyone else in an unsafe situation caring for it.

Pinhead? Is that you?

Hmm. It could be the heat and sun. Or it could be overwatering.

Do the leaves look crispy and dry? Or do they look yellowish with brown edges? If crispy, that's probably the heat. If yellowish, that's probably too much water.

Before watering any plant, stick your finger in the dirt as far as you can. If it's dry, they probably need a drink. If it's still damp, they're good.

Don't worry too much about it. You gave them the heads up that plants aren't your forte. And for the record, I can't keep a single succulent alive either. They are touted as easy beginner's plants, but really they are anything but. Moody little things.

Ignore the troll.

They should have asked. What if you'd had dogs there who weren't child-friendly?

I do in-home sitting instead of boarding, but I get the frustration. Sometimes the kids are very active in the meet and greet. Which is fine, if they're well behaved and helpful with information. But it sucks when they're just jumping in your face and shouting for attention, or dragging every toy they own out to show to you, when you're trying to get vital information about the animals and the house, and the parents won't step in and instill some order to the situation. Or my personal least-favorite, when the kid starts talking down to you like you're an inferior employee who answers to them.

Perhaps put a clause in your profile that you need to be notified if children will be joining the meet and greet, and verbally remind them before the meeting.

That poor dog...I will say, I have taken care of disabled dogs without the use of their legs, and that is not a fair way to judge the quality of a dog's life. But the rest of it...that dog is declining, and will continue to decline, and cannot be comfortable living like that.

Unfortunately, far too many owners simply cannot see the truth of their dog's condition. They wear blinders, and keep making up reasons why their dog is still okay and it's not time yet. They can't bring themselves to do the right thing. Watching this is one of the hardest things a sitter can do, because no matter what you say to them, they simply will not hear it. Often not even a vet can talk sense into them.

I lost one like this last year. A Great Dane I cared for five days a week for four years. She developed cancer, but her owner kept saying the tumors were only subcutaneous and fatty. They weren't, and she knew it, but she couldn't admit it until they became too numerous and large to ignore. The dog lost the use of her back legs gradually, so that we had to use a specialized harness to help her walk. And then her front legs gave out as well. I wasn't able to move her at all any more, so my stepdad/business partner had to take over, and he could barely lift her. I have no idea how the owner did it, as she was a petite woman too. And then the dog went incontinent as well, and we would often find her laying in her own mess. And STILL the owner made excuses: she was still eating and drinking, she still had her mind, she still enjoyed car rides. Even when the vet told her it was time, she twisted that to hear what she wanted to hear: the vet told her to take the dog home for the weekend and call him the next week. She interpreted that to "just take the dog home" and totally erased the second part in her own mind. I tried to talk to her, but she shut me down. All of this lasted until the dog started actively passing at home, the owner panicked and rushed her to the vet, and finally did the right thing and gave her peace.

I don't understand how anyone can watch an animal they love suffer. I don't see the benefit of being in denial. As an owner, it is your responsibility to see to the well being of your pet, even if it's not what you want to do. No one wants to say goodbye, but we all have to one day. I've seen it again and again, but I will never understand it.

I have two clients who live side by side and are in-laws. The houses look very similar. More than once, I've pulled in to the wrong drive-way only to realize the wrong dogs were barking in the window, lol.

People are wild, man. The chocolate request was for a German Shepherd. He already had a football-sized tumor on his liver which had to be removed later. Wonder how he got that...

The request to babysit her autistic son came from a neighbor of mine. I'd known the family since I was little and the "child" was actually a man by then. Severely autistic and violent because she never got him proper help. The mother, who called me, was an alcoholic, but I was still floored when she argued that "it's basically the same thing as taking care of a dog."

She no longer has custody of him, thank god. He has proper help, and his siblings take good care of him.

• I must have a key or keycode to access your house, even if you routinely leave the door unlocked. Inspired by a client who went out of the country for a wedding and refused to give me a key because she never locked her door (good 'ol country living). But the auto dealer nearby had a spare key for her (?). Fine and dandy until the neighbor stopped by so her dog could play with the client's dog, and they locked the damn door. And it was a holiday weekend, so no one was working at the car dealer.
• There will be an additional fee if I show up to the sit and find a friend's/ neighbor's/ family member's dog also there for me to sit. Also inspired by above client, and unfortunately enforced many times since. People think they can get away with free services...and the worst part is, all they have to do is tell me in advance because I charge per visit and by distance from my house, not per animal, and I'm often happy to include the daughter's or mother's dog too while the whole family is on vacation. But if you try to pull one over on me, you're going to pay extra for it. (Side note: all of my current clients voluntarily pay me extra if someone else's dog is staying at their house)
• No, I will not feed your dog any amount of chocolate every day. I don't care if it's just a fun-sized snickers bar. I don't care if your dad did it for years. I will not poison your dog, even if the risk is small. (Also inspired by above client.)
• You will provide a leash for your own dog. I don't care if you let it outside without a leash regularly. No, I will not provide the leash (even though I have a selection of leashes of my own, just in case.)
• No outside dogs means no outside dogs. I am not okay with you suddenly deciding that you want to leave your dog in the fenced yard the entire time you're gone. Especially if the dog has already escaped that fenced yard before. I will not be responsible if something happens to that dog outside while I'm not there.
• I will not schedule your vet appointment for you and take your pet to their check up. Emergencies are one thing. I am not a personal assistant. Same goes for grooming appointments (I will transport to and from the groomer, but I am not making the appointment for you.)
• If you don't pay me, there will be no "next time". I will not book you again. I don't work for free.
• No, I will not babysit your kid or your elderly relative. That goes double for autistic children. I am not qualified for that by any means.
• No, I will not deep-clean your house, including blinds, curtains, and walls.
• I will not do meet and greets after dark. Getting bit in the face once was enough for me. We do this during the daylight, or not at all.
• If you accuse me of something, we're done. I will not book you again. (Inspired by the lady who accused me and my stepdad of leaving a burner on and almost burning down her house. We don't cook at clients' homes, and we never touched that stove. And she still wanted to book with us again. No thanks.) (Also inspired by the old lady who asked me what would happen if I stole from her, before we even got to the meet and greet. No meet and greet, and she still called back to book again.)
• No, I will not bath your dog (with some exceptions). Inspired by a client I took on when I was young and dumb, who insisted her Shih Tzu be bathed every day, including shampoo, conditioner, and blow drying, along with ears, eyes, paws, claws, and bum. Had to be perfectly white and fluffy, and not smell like a dog. No tear stains, or any marks of any kind anywhere on him. This spawned a few more rules:
  • No, I will not bleach your dog to make him whiter
  • No, I will not put hydrogen peroxide in your dog's eyes to make them whiter and clearer
  • No, I will not put a Q-tip in your dog's eye to get the mucus out
  • No, I will not use your fancy hair product on your dog
  • No, I will not use your perfume on your dog. We use products created specifically for dogs or nothing
  • No, I will not braid the short hairs at the base of your dog's tail so it looks woven
  • (I'm quite sure there was more that I'm mentally blocking out for my own sanity)

Now here is a person who has seen some shit.

I swear, those systems are more trouble than they're worth.

I too am a small woman. Four foot nine and often mistaken for a child. The cop that responded to the alarm call for me saw me outside with four dogs (min pin/chi mix, golden retriever, and two english bulldogs), fighting not to be knocked off my feet by easily 200 pounds of jumping dog, and decided to just keep on driving, lol! He wanted no part of it.

Great! Then you have two options. Report them as abandoned, and take the necessary steps to rehome them. Or keep them as your own. Either way, she shouldn't have a claim on them any longer.

To hit the point home, I would text her a copy of that law and reiterate the above to her. Make sure she understands that you are not playing around.

And then you need to be done with this person. She is no one's friend. She's a user. You deserve to be compensated for everything (your time and effort, and the expenses), but I wouldn't count on seeing a dime.

Just think if this guy and his fiance have children. She can never trust him to take care of them alone. If he can't make sure a few ducks have water for two days, how is he supposed to take care of a human being?

And I'm sorry, if he was actually checking on those ducks at all, there's no way he couldn't have seen them physically dehydrating and the water bowl empty. He would have seen them suffering. So he's a monster, whether he never checked on them, or he did check on them and ignored their needs.

I'm trying to be, but I'm not really okay.

I constantly question my choices in life, and my future. I'm trying to take care of myself and my aging parents, but they're not making it easy. They're stubborn, they don't listen, they constantly disregard their own safety and well being and ignore me and their doctors. They drive me mad.

I have my own business, but this year has been very slow. In fact, we never recovered from Covid. My scant savings are completely gone. I'm living week to week, and instead of supporting my parents, my mom is supporting me. My stepdad is barely working. Money is tighter than it has ever been. But I don't want to just throw away eleven years of hard work by giving up my business, and I have never had any other job. I wouldn't know where to begin. I love what I do, the prospect of giving it up depresses me, and the idea of trying to find another, traditional job terrifies me, even though I really need to start saving and preparing for my own future.

Something is wrong with my stepdad. He is not the man my mom married, the man who raised me. I think it's some form of early dementia, but the professionals say there's nothing wrong with him and we just need to "pay him to do his chores." His responsibilities at home are the yard, the vehicle, and taking out the trash. He only does the last one now, and only with a lot of nagging. He does nothing else. He has one elderly client through his senior care job that he takes care of twice a day, and he helps me with pet sitting. That totals a few hours a day most days. And then he either sleeps or plays on his phone. That's it. He won't help with Anything anymore. The mower "broke" a few months ago, and he's paid a neighbor to mow maybe two or three times since. He won't shower more than once a month. He re-wears the same clothes for days. He cares about nothing and no one, not even himself. He doesn't acknowledge birthdays or holidays at all for anyone. He gave up on having a relationship with his own kids or grandkids or even his siblings. He now has the mentality of a child, he lies, he throws tantrums and pouts. I'm at my wits' end.

We bought our house last year after 32 years of living here. It was grueling, through a government agency, but it was either that or move, since the landlords were selling it. It has not been a relief. We have repairs to make required by the agency, and we got a hard-won loan for that, but I can't get my parents to organize to do any of it. I can't do it by myself either. My stepdad is a hoarder, and a lot of cleaning out has to happen before anything else. But he won't help, and he goes off the deep end if anyone else tries to go through things. I can't sleep at night worrying about if our timeline is running out.

My dad lives out of state, his wife has disappeared into the rest home system (another long story), and he's alone now. He's an alcoholic, and tends to ignore problems and brush things under the rug until they come crashing down on him. I'm so worried he'll become homeless again, but I cannot help him.

And to top it all off, our stray and feral cat situation is out of control. I can't keep up with feeding them all, I can't afford to get them vet care, and one of them had kittens a month ago and I can't find them. I need to get her spayed, but I don't know if the kittens are weened because I can't find them and she won't bring them or lead me to them. I can't find homes for any of the cats despite being a pet sitter. No one wants to adopt a stray, they want an easy cat from a shelter that already has all the necessary vet care.

I just need a break. Just one thing to go right, once less problem to deal with.

Seriously though, you can't continue to operate without sleep. The owners will understand. And if they don't, you don't want to work for them anyway.

Nope, I've confirmed that it's the same code they use, and it has been programmed for years. I really do think they just forget to change the batteries: I tend to only really work for them during the summer when they go camping, so the timing is right for the batteries to run out. The owner did confirm once that they needed to change the batteries, but has simply refrained from telling me why the system went haywire since then, lol. I think they're embarrassed that they forgot.

On the upside, they haven't had me set that alarm since it went berserk last month! One less hassle. I really hate alarm systems, they are such a pain.

And yes, people are being really harsh here today. This kid made a mistake that had no serious repercussions and one that any one of us could replicate ourselves. But because he's young, it's the end of the world. Such drama.

Don't work for her again. She is trying to get out of paying you as it is. If you do any more sits for her, you won't see a penny for it.

There's the problem.

I fear there really is not much to be done until he gets neutered. That urge is too strong for him to resist. Nor does he understand what he's doing, so it's pretty much impossible to train out of him.

The only thing you can really do is let him get it out of his system with the objects instead of you. Poor dog. This is a perfect example of why dogs need to be fixed.

Listen. I am a 35 year old woman. A grown ass adult. And I did exactly this about a month ago.

Things happen. It might not even have been his fault. The alarm could have malfunctioned. That's what happened to me; I pressed the code more than once and that damn alarm never responded. The security company called, but the cops still drove by. This stupid system acts up for me at least once a year. Me specifically even though I follow all instructions: I'm convinced it hates me. Or the owners forget to change the batteries in the keypad at the same time every year.

All your son needs to do is apologize for the mishap. He deserves to be paid for his time and effort. No harm was done. Nothing was damaged. The animals are fine. There is nothing to make right.

And please ignore all the rude people here telling you your son shouldn't be petsitting. You know you are responsible for him. You are being responsible for him. He seems to know what he is doing, and does it well. And clearly your neighbors are happy with his services or they wouldn't be repeat customers. Maturity and experience matter. Age does not.

First, you have a responsibility to make sure those animals are cared for. As much as you have the right to be entirely pissed off (I am for you just reading this), that is the first and most important responsibility of a pet sitter. Unless the owner can provide someone else to take your place, you have to tough this out.

Second, never accept outdoor dogs. (see my other comment, which is harsh I know but is meant to be tough love). It's irresponsible and a liability to you.

Third, don't accept caring for animals you don't have experience with unless the owner can take the time to teach you how to care for them.

Fourth, when an owner says they will leave enough food and water for an animal and you don't have to check on them, don't believe them. And insist on checking on every single animal in that house because it is under your care whether the owner wants to admit it or not, and that owner will damn sure hold you responsible if something happens to that animal despite what they said.

Fifth, if you have to pay out of pocket for any supplies (you have to feed those animals even if the owner doesn't end up sending food or money for it) keep all receipts and insist to be repaid for it.

Sixth, putting water bowls in kennels usually just results in spilled water. More mess to clean up, and the dogs don't get to drink it anyway.

Seventh, this person is not your friend. Friends don't do this to friends. Nor is she a good person or a good pet owner. Cut ties once you get paid.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. It's absolute bullshit. I really wish you the best of luck with it.