Dog walker - am I overreacting?

[y4m]

We needed a new dog walker for midday when I'm out of town.  Found a company online with good reviews and they sent someone over to meet with me, meet the dog, etc.  This person will be our regular person going forward.

I show her around and she gets along fine with the dog.  I also show her how we leave him in our downstairs bathroom when we aren't home--it's like crating, but a slightly bigger space--his bed and food are in there.  He does much better in a small space.  I also write all of these things in our intake form on their website.

Have her come the next week, she presumably finds him in the bathroom as promised.  Takes him on the walk, but then I guess she must have let him off the leash when they came in, and he bolted away from her upstairs.  Rather than going and finding him and putting him in the bathroom (he's 11 lbs and pretty easy to control), she writes a note about how he didn't seem to want to go in the bathroom, so she just left him loose in the house.  Which is how our housesitter found him several hours later.

My reaction was to cancel the rest of the week and ask that my key be returned, because I clearly cannot trust the judgement of these people.  Luckily Toby didn't get into anything or destroy anything (probably because of some sedatives he's been on that make him extra sleepy), but he easily could have.  Choosing not to crate a dog "because he didn't seem to want to" is grounds for never ever ever using a company again, right?  They are also trying to charge me a fee for my late cancellation, which I have pretty much said they will collect over my dead body.

Overreaction?

[cst2cst]

Nope. My dogs have eaten things on occasion and I have no interest in weeks of vomiting or surgery because someone couldn't follow my instructions for the safety of my animal.

[lime]

I don't think this is an overreaction. You were clear on what you expected and put that into writing and they didn't take care of it, as promised.

[ssmjlm]

Team y4m. Any good company will know that dogs prefer a den anyways. So not only do they suck b/c they can't follow directions, they don't seem to know much about dogs.

[dexteroni]

You are not overreacting. Fee for late cancellation - ha! Cancellation fees are for companies who provide the services they agree to provide.

[protozoa]

Appropriate reaction.

[phunluvin82]

I vote NOT an overreaction.

[lb2006]

I'm with you - unacceptable.

[emilyinchile]

H walks and trains dogs. You are not overreacting. I cannot imagine the thought process that led the dog walker to think this was ok.

[takeonyou]

My dog would not do well of he was not in his room when we were out. I would lol at them collecting a late cancellation fee. I would require my fee returned bc they didn't follow instructions.

[Deleted]

Absolutely not an overreaction.

[LoveTrains]

Oct 7, 2013 13:16:00 GMT -5 dexteroni said:

You are not overreacting. Fee for late cancellation - ha! Cancellation fees are for companies who provide the services they agree to provide.

Agree with this.

I would also be putting nasty reviews on yelp and the like if they keep trying to enforce a cancellation fee.

Actually, I would probably give them one star on yelp anyway for their terrible first service.

There was definitely the potential for your dog to a) get into something terrible in the house or b) go to the bathroom in the house since the dog wasn't put back where you told them to put the dog. 

[lauralala]

Definitely not overreacting! I cannot imagine anyone thinking it was ok to simply disregard your instructions on this, and the company's reaction is ridiculous.

[sapphireblue]

I would be furious and you are NOT overreacting.

I am really surprised that the dog walker would do that, first of all, and second, that the company would not have disciplined her and apologized profusely to you.

Sure, if you had hired a neighborhood kid to walk your dog, I'd give them a pass and emphasize for the future that they NEED to put my dog back in the bathroom. But for a company? That's pretty appalling...

[dexteroni]

Oct 7, 2013 13:42:19 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Oct 7, 2013 13:16:00 GMT -5 dexteroni said:

You are not overreacting. Fee for late cancellation - ha! Cancellation fees are for companies who provide the services they agree to provide.

Agree with this.

I would also be putting nasty reviews on yelp and the like if they keep trying to enforce a cancellation fee.

Actually, I would probably give them one star on yelp anyway for their terrible first service.

There was definitely the potential for your dog to a) get into something terrible in the house or b) go to the bathroom in the house since the dog wasn't put back where you told them to put the dog. 

Totally. With phrases like "didn't ensure my dog's safety" and "gave me a hard time when I cancelled further services."

[Susie]

Oct 7, 2013 13:09:58 GMT -5 y4m said:

Choosing not to crate a dog "because he didn't seem to want to" is grounds for never ever ever using a company again, right? 

I think so.

[Deleted]

What? Your dog is not difficult to wrangle. You should just hire me to be your dog walker.

[ESF]

Not overreacting.

I could maybe understand if she was a little uncomfortable about trampling around through your house look for the dog in which case. But she should have called you to give you a heads up of what was going on, and even if she couldn't get a hold of you, just done it.

[krystee]

There's no way I'd let her walk the dog again.

I think it is so important to be able to trust your pet sitters implicitly. I had a pet sitter purposely ignore my "NO BONES ALLOWED!!" instruction on my notes for her (I know she likes bringing treats to dogs). She brought them anyway and my dog ended up eating multiple bones and having an obstruction that made him in so much pain, he bit the other dog when she touched his stomach. $1,000 later, both dogs were feeling better. I was raging.

[msmerymac]

I agree that anyone who has ever handled pets before should know how to control animals, including not unleashing them until they are under control (like... IN the bathroom) and/or being able to catch him if he went upstairs instead.

My mom's cat got out before (he was a notorious dasher) and I spotted him against the side of the house and totally side-lunged and grabbed him before he saw me coming, lol. This is because I've had cats my whole life. I know how animals think!

So... completely incompetent dog walker, totally justified at canceling and not paying a fee.

[Norticprincess]

Team you.

If the person can't control an 11 pound dog why is he/she a dog walker? The company's reaction is strange. They should attempting to fix the situation, not make it worse. But I've had it with pet services in the last month. (Boarding kennel lost my dog and it took 15 days to get her back) orangeblossom has a link for pet sitters that is like care.com I'm blanking on the website name. I'm down to two places my dog is ever allowed to stay (my mother and a friend that has her littermate) with a third back up option of a trainer I know through our vet who only does one (she'll do more if they are "related" dogs) at a time in her home and has a similar breed to time (I have an English Mastiff, and hers are American)

[hbomdiggity]

Uh, your dog, your house, your rules.

I may be tempted to give the company and another walker a shot, but based on the response re late cancellation I'd them to F off.

[hz80408]

Appropriate reaction; thankfully nothing happened to him!

[sapphireblue]

Oct 7, 2013 15:07:55 GMT -5 Norticprincess said:

(Boarding kennel lost my dog and it took 15 days to get her back)

Wow, norticprincess!

That is terrible! I am so happy you got your dog back, you must have been out of your mind.

I always pay for a boarding kennel because I was under the illusion that things like my dogs getting lost were much less likely to happen in that environment. Guess not!

[Deleted]

I'm with you, not overreacting.

[midnightmare81]

Oct 7, 2013 13:09:58 GMT -5 y4m said:

Have her come the next week, she presumably finds him in the bathroom as promised.  Takes him on the walk, but then I guess she must have let him off the leash when they came in, and he bolted away from her upstairs.  Rather than going and finding him and putting him in the bathroom (he's 11 lbs and pretty easy to control), she writes a note about how he didn't seem to want to go in the bathroom, so she just left him loose in the house.  Which is how our housesitter found him several hours later.

My reaction was to cancel the rest of the week and ask that my key be returned, because I clearly cannot trust the judgement of these people.  Luckily Toby didn't get into anything or destroy anything (probably because of some sedatives he's been on that make him extra sleepy), but he easily could have.  Choosing not to crate a dog "because he didn't seem to want to" is grounds for never ever ever using a company again, right?  They are also trying to charge me a fee for my late cancellation, which I have pretty much said they will collect over my dead body.

Overreaction?

Nope. I worked for a pet sitting company. If I did that, my ass would have been fired. Your reason for keeping him in there is for both his safety and to keep him for damaging things in the house. What would have happened if god forbid he had eaten something he shouldn't have and gotten sick? At that size, it wouldn't take much.

All in all though, you are paying them for a service, which is keeping your dog safe and happy. They failed to provide this service and put your dog at risk. That's not an over reaction at all IMO!

[bostonmichelle]

I agree not an overreaction. I would definitely tell them no way are you paying a cancellation fee, they should honestly refund your fee to you.

[redheadbaker]

Oct 7, 2013 15:07:55 GMT -5 Norticprincess said:

orangeblossom has a link for pet sitters that is like care.com I'm blanking on the website name.

Are you thinking of PetSit.com?

You can also find pet sitters and dog walkers on Care.com, but I prefer PetSit.

I'm mobile and miss my physical keyboard!