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Hello, rant.
Dec. 21st, 2011 08:12 pmMaybe not the best note to open a journal on, but I needed to kvetch...
Rey and I have been doing some petsitting for extra cash, mostly for family and friends of family. One of my dad's coworkers, who is lovely and whose dogs are lovely (we sit for them regularly), suggested to her neighbors that they contact us for petsitting when they go out of town this holiday.
So far so good.
The neighbors contacted us and we made some loose arrangements to meet the dog (a sweet little white puffball with dark eyes, might be part pomeranian part terrier-not sure), which we did, and we quoted them $10 a day to go over there twice daily to feed/walk/check on the dog. Since they'll be gone for 2 weeks (Christmas and New Year's, mind you), that amounts to $140. The balking and backpeddling at this price was so immediate I got the impression they expected the cost to be $20 and a nice postcard from their vacation destination. Which might be reasonable for a family member or close friend, but, hey, we're strangers spending our gas money, right? Sensing this was an irreconcilable difference, I told them to call if they changed their mind.
Predictably, they did, because kennels cost $50 a night, professional petsitters can be anywhere from $15-$30 per visit, and the other neighbors didn't want to be bound to someone else's dogs for 2 weeks over the holidays. These are the sacrifices you make for your pets.
In the end, we offered them a cut rate ($100 for the duration), and tonight we went to check on the dog for the first time.
Dog has an operation recently to remove a cyst in her leg and is recovering. Due to licking the incision, she had been put in a cone of shame, which we knew and that was okay, but she was so worked up and nervous and uncomfortable she wouldn't let us near her and eventually threw up into the cone. We had to remove it and clean her up a bit, and she still didn't want to get up and go outside.
This dog is in a room in the basement. She has food and water and a dog bed, but there are no toys or stimulation of any kind aside from the husband's treadmill and a pair of the kid's shoes. And a towel. I'm not impressed.
On top of it all, we made a circuit of the next room while waiting for the dog to calm down and I noticed a James Dobson book on the shelf, along with other semi-religious social conservative staples. And the envelope they put our payment in was a fundraising request from the Family Research Council.
We'll do our best by the dog, of course, because none of this is her fault, but I think it's safe to say there's not enough money in the world to make us work for these people again.
Rey and I have been doing some petsitting for extra cash, mostly for family and friends of family. One of my dad's coworkers, who is lovely and whose dogs are lovely (we sit for them regularly), suggested to her neighbors that they contact us for petsitting when they go out of town this holiday.
So far so good.
The neighbors contacted us and we made some loose arrangements to meet the dog (a sweet little white puffball with dark eyes, might be part pomeranian part terrier-not sure), which we did, and we quoted them $10 a day to go over there twice daily to feed/walk/check on the dog. Since they'll be gone for 2 weeks (Christmas and New Year's, mind you), that amounts to $140. The balking and backpeddling at this price was so immediate I got the impression they expected the cost to be $20 and a nice postcard from their vacation destination. Which might be reasonable for a family member or close friend, but, hey, we're strangers spending our gas money, right? Sensing this was an irreconcilable difference, I told them to call if they changed their mind.
Predictably, they did, because kennels cost $50 a night, professional petsitters can be anywhere from $15-$30 per visit, and the other neighbors didn't want to be bound to someone else's dogs for 2 weeks over the holidays. These are the sacrifices you make for your pets.
In the end, we offered them a cut rate ($100 for the duration), and tonight we went to check on the dog for the first time.
Dog has an operation recently to remove a cyst in her leg and is recovering. Due to licking the incision, she had been put in a cone of shame, which we knew and that was okay, but she was so worked up and nervous and uncomfortable she wouldn't let us near her and eventually threw up into the cone. We had to remove it and clean her up a bit, and she still didn't want to get up and go outside.
This dog is in a room in the basement. She has food and water and a dog bed, but there are no toys or stimulation of any kind aside from the husband's treadmill and a pair of the kid's shoes. And a towel. I'm not impressed.
On top of it all, we made a circuit of the next room while waiting for the dog to calm down and I noticed a James Dobson book on the shelf, along with other semi-religious social conservative staples. And the envelope they put our payment in was a fundraising request from the Family Research Council.
We'll do our best by the dog, of course, because none of this is her fault, but I think it's safe to say there's not enough money in the world to make us work for these people again.
