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Should I have told the owners of a dog we watched about a $250.00 ticket?

Nick K.'s profile image

We watched two dogs a few weeks ago and the male barked during the day while we were at work. The owner said that he does not bark when left alone in his crate witch they provided for him and one for his sister. I knew he was barking via our webcam. Well later that night the police came by with a 250.00 ticket for a barking dog. I texted the owner and they said sorry about that and suggested that we put the two of them in the same crate the next day. I texted back and stated we would take off of work to avoid another situation like that. I took 2 days and my wife took one day off. I took vacation but my wife did not get paid for her day off. When they picked up the babies they asked if there were any problems, I said no not since the first day.

My problem here is that they did not say anything about the ticket but, sorry to hear that. I did not tell them how much it was nor did I say anything else about it. The stay was a total of 200.00 so we lost 50 on the stay. I am going to go to court to contest it and explain what happened.

My question is... Should I have said something again when they picked them up or told them the amount of the Ticket?

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Laura R.'s profile image

That's a difficult situation, and I think you handled it well. It's unfortunate the owners didn't offer to reimburse you, but the chance of nuisance barking (and its consequences) is just one of the many risks we take as pet sitters. Dogs often don't come to us exactly as advertised. Sometimes the owners are completely unaware of problem behaviors because they don't occur in their own home, sometimes they don't think to mention behaviors that they don't personally find distasteful, and sometimes they sugar-coat bad habits because they don't want you think their dog is a Bad Dog. Occasionally owners will lie (though this is not common!). Whatever the case, it's on us to prepare ourselves for unforeseen circumstances and use our mistakes as learning experiences.

Unless barking has been an issue before, I'd honestly be much more concerned that you apparently have a neighbor willing to escalate the situation to police involvement after just one day of barking. And now that it's happened once, you can bet it will happen again if another guest barks while you're away. Since barking is a very common behavior (and even normally quiet dogs can become barkers in a new, stressful situation), maybe the lesson to learn here is that you shouldn't accept dogs you don't know well for stays that overlap with days you and your wife will both be out of the house.

Best of luck in court! I hope they are understanding of your situation.

Comments

Over the past 2 years, we have stocked up on certain supplies for “surprises” that the owners don’t tell us about, like diapers for dogs with incontinence or who mark, etc. Maybe some citronella collars would be a good item to have on hand? Use with owners consent, of course.

Debs & Paul G.'s profile image Debs & Paul G.
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