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Dog sitting for Adult Skid

grace8205's picture

Since skid has had a dog he has watched DH's dog once for 3 days. I make sure to make other arrangements for DH's dog usually because I don't it to come back that "we owe him". Normally it is friends of ours that take care of her, they would like to have a dog but not the full time commitment so they love having her, once I arranged for my niece to stay at the house.

Skid's dog is a very large German Shepard cross ( over 100 pounds) and not trained. I will jump on furniture, on the kitchen counter or stove to pull food down even if you and actually right there, the dog did that while I was carving a roast. The big pup terrorizes KT and she is on edge the whole time he is over. DH and I have nick named him the dog of destruction.

Needless to say having such a well-trained dog in our house it would be very difficult to handle having the large untrained pup here. Don't get me wrong he is a friendly, nice dog but not trained and too much puppy for me to handle.

This weekend I arranged some meet and greets with potential dog sitters that I lined up through an app rover.com because we are going to Mexico in February and our friends that normally watch KT are away at the same time. DH wanted one of his old employees to come and stay at our house and I said I was not comfortable with that since I only have met her once and don't know her. Anyways after a couple interviews found a great dog sitter, DH agreed and I booked her. He was happy because he did not want his dog to be with a large rambunctious puppy because it would stress her out. The sitter has 2 chocolate labs that are as mellow as our border collie.

So this morning DH says he would not be able to be a sitter like people on rover.com and has no interest in dog sitting other people’s dogs, because KT is so good and most dogs are not as trained as her. Which I get, we are used to her and she is amazingly smart and trained. But then DH says....wait for it...
"Well I would dog sit for skid" and " if I did we would buy a new kennel for him”, I shot him a look, to which he replied "well he has dog sit KT for us" I was ready to blow up but I held back since this conversation took place this morning as we were saying good bye and I won't see him for most of the week because he went out of town on business.

I do not want to dog sit for skid, I don’t want his dog destroying our house and I don’t think we should have to pay hundreds of dollars for a new kennel for skid’s dog. Not to mention it is not good for his dog, but that goes out the window when it involves skid.

I need to have a conversation with DH before he is in the position of being asked by skid to dog sit. I don’t think he is being fair not to consider how I feel and if I want to have dog of destruction in our house. Its DH's dog, he may feel like he owes skid, but I don't owe him anything. Am I being unreasonable?

sammigirl's picture

"The dog saga"....yes, this is what blew up in SD57's face. I said "no" to taking care of her dogs, which would be every week, if I let it begin.

The one dog is hyperactive and has raised his leg on my furniture. I ask her to leave him outside when she visited. She ignored me and continued to bring the dog into the house. DH didn't have my back, so I told her "what don't you understand, when I ask you to leave the dog outside, in our fenced back yard?" SD57 had a melt down; it was 8 years ago and we are totally disengaged. SD never liked me anyway, so she pushed the limit and I stopped the nonsense.

I have two small female dachshunds, house trained, and I never impose on anyone in their home. We do not travel, due to DH's health, so there is no dog sitting issue here. If I needed, I would find a dog sitter, such as OP has.

Our pets are our family and we love them dearly; the best thing you can do for your pet is set boundaries for them also.

sandye21's picture

SD and her Husband used to travel a lot. SD would call DH and not ask, but inform him they were going to drop off their dogs, sometimes for weeks. He would always say, "Yes", THEN let me know. This went on for years.

We had a beautiful rug which their puppy ruined because he was not house trained. He also ate a pair of my shoes, which were not cheap - Sd never offered to buy me replacements.

Not once did they look after our dog, nor did they offer. If this would happen today DH would be footing the bill for a kennel. Say "No."

Thumper's picture

We are dog owers as well and we do NOT dog sit anyone's animals.

When we travel and the dogs can not come along, we take them to our Vets for boarding. NOT cheap but we feel as responsible owners, taking care of them when we are gone IS on us.

tigerlily74's picture

NO! If nothing else, KT's well-being is paramount. Why would any dog-owner agree to a situation in which their own dog is traumatised? NO NO NO!

Acratopotes's picture

/why not simply say......

I would not have a problem dog sitting for skid now and again, after the pup is trained, so that we can handle it..... then give DH a pamphlet with a good dog school... and say, maybe skid should take pup there for some training?

But make it clear, dog needs to be trained before you will consider.... you did not say NO and yet you did not say YES....
it's up to them now if you will ever do it or not Wink

grace8205's picture

We haven’t been asked yet but it will be a weekend in March and you are right DH can do it at skid’s house.

grace8205's picture

Thank you everyone! Obviously from all the responses I am not alone with not wanting to allow this. skid has brought the dog over before when he has come over and it bothers DH and me, but DH would do anything for his kid and can be such a Disney dad that common sense and well being of his own dog goes out the window.

I will be putting my foot down and saying no. If DH wants to dog sit he can stay at skids house and do it, but he won’t be doing it here.

Acratopotes's picture

}:) }:) then you can visit DH in skids house, have sex all over the house, drink all his booze, and leave dirty dishes behind }:)

shes driving me crazy in my retirement's picture

Been there, done that with the dogs. Only time Twit knew us was when she wanted us to watch all her dogs, and drunkie, so she and her DH could go away. It was always something like her DH needed to get away because a. He was still grieving over his father's death (up to 2 years), b. Needed to get away because he was working so hard, c. They needed some R&R and the list goes on. Many times enver returned when they said they would. Always were going to take us out for dinner or something because we had watched the animals but that never, ever happened.

Not once did these ingrates ever do anything for us to recipacate as they were always too busy. Never took care of our dog the one time we needed it so my DH could go be with his son before some very serious surgery. Finally one day, after being used like this, I put my foot down and said NO, no way, no how, not ever. What I found was that as long as I was willing to be used Twit was tolerable. Once the freebies were over and she had to board the beasts boy did she change BIG TIME.

That is not to say life dealing with Twit was a bowl of cherries before, it just really ramped up when she isn't using you and getting her way.

marblefawn's picture

My mom always says, "That's not something we want to start."

If you don't need SS to watch your dog, best not to start watching his.