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Dog chewed up clothes.

I have 2 dogs at the moment, one has stayed with me before and no problem, the other is it's first stay with me. Today they were left alone for, maybe 2 hours 2 & half max and tore up some of my clothes that I had lying on my bed. Giving one dog has stayed with me twice before with no such issue, I'm leaning towards the newer dog being the culprit. How do I go about telling either owner what happened? I don't want to make one owner feel responsible for it, if it was not at the fault of her dog. Do I ask for reimbursement for my clothes? Not sure how to go about this.

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You may want to phrase the question to both owners as "I don't remember you telling me that [dog's name] might get into mischief with clothes left lying around or have I forgotten? That way, you might learn which dog was the culprit without it seeming accusatory.

I had been sitting for a dog who marked in the house for nearly three years off and on before finding out that he always did it at her parents house as well. Every time I mentioned that he'd marked, I would get an "oh no" type response. Finally I asked point blank and found out the truth.

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Without proof it was one dog or the other (and you may still find out for sure who it was if someone starts pooping shredded fabric), I wouldn't accuse either owner; however, I'd mention it to both. Just because one dog hasn't done this in the past doesn't mean they didn't this time. My own dogs usually leave the laundry alone, but every so often one of them drags my underwear out into the living room while I'm in the shower. A dog who stayed with me before with no chewing issues tore apart a book while my boyfriend was in the bathroom on his latest visit. (In regard to that, I made a dog shaming pic for him, which I sent to his owner to show we found it funny, especially since the book he ate was "I Could Chew on This - And Other Poems by Dogs.") By mentioning it to both owners, you may get one to mention that their dog has done this or something similar in the past, and if they are reasonably sure it was their dog, they may offer some reimbursement. However, if you can't prove it, I wouldn't ask for any money. You may just have to chalk this one up to poor judgement leaving the clothes out and in the future be more careful what the dogs staying with you have access to. image description

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Thank you for the advice! I don't really care to be reimbursed for it, as it was just 2 pairs if underwear, and not couch cushions or anything more major! I am mostly curious as to the protocol for these things. I will just mention it to them both, and just make sure I don't leave it up to my boyfriend to put away laundry while I'm at work!

That photo is a riot!

PC is a total sweetie, and we knew he chewed (he's still a baby and hasn't quite gotten over that phase yet), but we had been warned he destroyed soft things, so we'd been careful to put away all the soft toys and hide our dogs' beds before he came. I kinda figure that occasionally I'll lose SOMETHING, whether it be at the teeth of my own dogs' or a guest's, and most of the time I'll know that I didn't take proper precautions. Live and learn, and dog shame. :)

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Tough but certainly a valid question. You don't want to possibly alienate your guests parents. Chalk up to a learning curve. I had two guests last week. One of them ripped a hole in our couch cushion. But we don't know which one. It happened within 5 minutes while we were in another room. It's an old couch so we just flipped the cushion. hahahaha. I also hate confrontation.