Is it right to be annoyed when pet owners deliberately don't mention behavior?
WARNING: If you don't want to read (perhaps over the top lol) venting then definitely skip this post ;)
What do you think about owners leaving out information before you housesit that could make the stay very difficult? Do you think it's understandable or rude? Or rather, does anyone want to vent, lol?
The owners emailed me a very detailed, professional and thorough manual that told me lots of things including nighttime behavior: 'they will try to sleep with you'; 'they like to snuggle' whatever; everything framed in a cute and easy way.
When I'm already sitting the pugs at their house, I send a photo of a pug to the owner and he says 'She's cute, she snores; she's just adorable.' So he randomly, casually brings up that she snores for the first time without prompting while I'm already there.
And the pug snored like a freight train (ear plugs did not help)... I have slept with major snorers and this was INSANE. I pulled all-nighters for most of the nights and napped a bit during the day as I was so utterly exhausted that nothing could keep me from sleep. During a moment of desperation during one of the nights, I put them upstairs and they pounded and clawed at the door until I let them in. They did the same right outside my bedroom door.
I mention to the owner that 'wow, stella snores! I need ear plugs ;)' and he responds 'haha yeah she does'
So at the end of the stay I (politely) tell them I couldn't sleep at all and wouldn't be able to take care of them overnight. They were sympathetic but like 'we've never had a problem! we've had many sitters and no problems.' And then said they'd touch base in a week to figure something out with me because we had confirmed another stay before I even sat for the pugs. And of course, she never reaches out and lets me know what's going on. Blegh, if you don't intend to use a sitter again (and they've sacrificed days of sleep for you) the least you can do is let them know that they're going to find someone else (for a stay in over a month) rather than string them along
Oh, also, have any of you actually confronted an owner over withholding important info?
My in-laws have pugs who are exactly the same. We call them "the pigs" because they are just nasty. Their snoring keeps us up, so we crate them on the opposite end of the house, but their owners let them sleep in the bed and don't even notice the snoring!
Yeah, the owners have a 1 year old child so it's possible they're always so exhausted that they don't notice it. Still, this pug is 10 yrs old and I think they know by now that she is quite the snorer. The 'oh, but we've never had problems' implying I'm hyper sensitive/crazy or smthng is annoying