How do you deal with bad experiences with pets and owners?
Hi all - I just had a terrible experience trying to communicate with an owner about her dogs and now I feel like I shouldn't dog-sit anymore. I'll try not to make the story too long. I was watching these two younger dogs while the lady and her husband were on vacation. The dogs were very sweet and loving and we liked them! It was just clear that they were never taught boundaries or manners. We could not sit or lie down without both of them jumping all over us, even on our heads. We were literally losing sleep because of their behavior. In the room with us? Jumping all over us. Shut the door to get some space? Non-stop barking and scratching. My husband has scratches and marks on his face from one of them. The owner messaged to check in about the dogs and how they were behaving, so I was honest about the unruliness and asked for any advice on how they dealt with it because all of the usual ways I use to try and stop it had zero effect on them. She gave me some advice, all stuff we had already tried and did not work. She said she felt bad about their behavior and to let her know if it became too much. I said I would feel terrible making her find another sitter in the middle of her vacation. Not once did I say the dogs had to leave or that I was unwilling to finish watching them for the duration of the stay. Her next response was that she was going to have her sister pick the dogs up. So I thought, okay, I didn't express the dogs needed to leave but if that's what the owner wants then that's fine, so I just agreed and said she would be refunded for the rest of the nights that the dogs won't be here for now. She then sent another message the next morning saying her neighbors were picking them up instead.
So, neighbors show up, and the neighbor lady immediately begins berating me. She tells me I ruined their vacation. That I'm a horrible person. That I fail at life. That I shouldn't be allowed to watch any dog ever again. She even threatened to spread information about me on the internet. Constant insults. This was scary for me. I have never been insulted or talked to like this before. But I remained polite the entire time and handed the dogs and their belongings. After they left I ended up breaking down and feeling horrible, wondering what I did wrong. I messaged the owner and said the dogs had been safely picked up but I didn't appreciate the threats or hateful words from her neighbor when I have been communicative this whole time. and apologized that we didn't end up being as good as a match as we both initially thought. Owner said she will talk to the neighbor and that she ...
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. I’ve had a bad experience before and I ended up deleting my account on neighbors and stopped dogsitting for awhile. But I realized that some people are just bullies and you have to try not to let it bother you and don’t let it ruin your experience.