What can I do with a dog who is not house or crate trained? The owners told me he was and now that I am sitting him, he is peeing all over my house and crying and barking nonstop if I put him in a crate. I don’t know what to do with him because I can’t just stay awake the next two nights following him around my house making sure he’s not peeing on everything.
Belly bands are the way to go. I keep a supply of disposable ones on hand just in case. I was never able to find the ones for male dogs at the major pet supply chains--they only had diapers which work for female dogs and not male because they just don't cover the problem area if you know what I mean--so I get them from amazon.
Deb has given you lots of suggestions for making one out of various things, but essentially it is an absorbent pad inside something going around the dog's midsection. Since I have no desire to be washing those things, that's why I use disposables.
Good luck!
Ah yes,, the behaviors you've described falls under the much discussed topics of Separation Anxiety and Marking. You may want to search each of those terms to see all the contributions. Even a dog who is house / potty trained may lose it's ability to act the same way the dog would at home. Same goes for anxiety behaviors of being crated away from home. This is fairly common because the dog has left the comfort of its' home, its' family, and is in a stranger's home with strangers and possibly other pets. Unless the pet parent has had another pet sitter in the past, who told them how the stay went (many times sitters will not be 100% forthcoming of the issues out of legitimate concern that the pet parent may get defensive and leave an unfair negative review score/comments), the pet parents very likely have no idea how their pet does away. On a side note, I wish Rover suggested the following to everyone before first booking.
To solve the peeing and marking indoors, there are a few options.Some retail pet stores sell belly bands (for males) and diapers (unisex). Of course, they're also online if you want to stock up in the future. You can also make a belly band or pet diaper on your own. For a diaper, you could go to a drug store, buy baby diapers for weight of the dog, figure out where the tail would go through and mark the diaper, take diaper off and cut a hole where you marked, place diaper on and thread tail through the hole. Alternatively, you could get some child size or stitch some panties smaller to fit the dog, place a panti-liner inside (change as needed), and put the underwear on the dog while in the house. A belly band id basically a strip of fabric which has absorbent pad or gets lined with a panti-liner, with velcro closure. To create belly band, you may be able to use knee high sock, panti-liner, and then find a way to keep closed that won't injure dog. The other way to handle it is to get either a baby gate or pet gate or pet playpen fencing (tall enough that the dogs you'll book wont be able to jump over) and place it on a more easily cleaned floor such as tile).
BTW, for future stays you may want to consider discussing a shorter stay (as in 1 overnight or even 1 daycare) with the pet parents at the meet&greet for the benefit of all (the pet, them, and you) to allow you to get to know each other better.
I have the exact same thing right now. Owners said he was crate trained and he howls & barks any time i put him in there and I’ve gotten noise complaints from my neighbors and if i leave him out he chews everything & uses the bathroom in the house. I told the owner & she became very offended when i said he dog was not behaving & was not crate trained. She accused me of not taking him out as the reason he was going to the bathroom in the house.
She also did not send any toys or anything with him and he’s still a puppy. I’ve bought him toys and bones to try to make him more comfortable which I’m sure she will not reimburse me for.
When you leave a review on the dog, do other sitters get to see that so they know not to accept?
Poor Brittany! That stinks! I empathize with you, it's happened to me before. Shorter stay next time or only house sit for those little ones you are not familiar with.
I think the idea of a baby gated area is a great one. Pee pads in that room will also help. Diapers work with suspenders or a belly band.
What is really important is for you to communicate with the owner so they are aware of what is happening when they board their dog. If you don't tell them, they are likely to board them again and when you say "no", they will go to someone else with the same issues...dog owners are looking to us for coaching/advice. I always ask "May I give you some feedback about (name of dog) because I think what I am going to tell you will help him/her be a happier dog in the future?" i wait for them to say "yes!" And then I tell them what happened and my solutions.
If they act surprised or shocked "Little rascal would never do that!" - that is when I let them know, many dog sitters are afraid to tell owners the truth because they don't want a bad review. "I'm different. I'm telling you the truth so you can help future sitters and rascal." and then I provide them with all of the options I have thought of. I usually will write these ideas down and give it to them as they might be embarrassed or not hearing you.
I wish you the best!
Bite the bullet, say nothing, wait until they have left a review, and if you're fortunate you can just turn down future requests.
Had the EXACT same thing happen. Owner lied about peeing/crating. I transferred the dog to another sitter (with owner consultation). Even refunded the one night w/me. THREE WEEKS after booking ended she wrote a nasty review. Rover of course would do nothing even though it goes against TOS for owners to post deliberately misleading reviews.
Side note, maybe it's because I'm a single client sitter, but have never had a dog "forget" housetraining. I've had males do a one time mark on something, but are fine the whole stay otherwise. The dog stated above started marking everything within 10 minutes of arrival, and was not stressed in the least. Just untrained.