AITA? Dog sitter edition

[Bernadine]

We’re going on vacation the first week of July. Our regular dog sitter so longer sits, so I needed to find someone new. I know our tenant dog sits and asked him. It’s $600 for the week, which is MUCH more than our previous sitter, but I didn’t feel like dealing with the hassle of finding someone else. Well, we kind of had someone else drop in our lap who would do it for $350. Am I an asshole if I cancel with our tenant?

[mel]

Nope! I'd just tell him that you found someone else but you appreciate his willingness to help out.

[Bad Dingo]

I don't think it makes you an asshole, but it might burn a bridge for future pet sitting w/your tenant so I'd stick w/the original plan. It's possible that they turned down other dog sitting opportunities in order to watch your dog and they'd be out that money.

[shauni27]

not an asshole at all. Do what Mel said.

[NewGirlNic]

I think you are giving enough notice to cancel. You don't have to tell them you found someone cheaper, just say plans changed and you no longer need him.

[deadwing]

Does your tenant rent space in the house you live in or do they rent another property? If they live in your house, I'm not sure I'd cancel because that's going to be awkward and they'll clearly know you still went away and used a different pet sitter.

[Bernadine]

The tenant is in our basement. However, he mentioned he’d come up with the dogs 3-4 times/day and then spend the night up here with them. I’m thinking I could just say we found someone who’s able to spend more time with them?

[livinitup]

What if he comes back with “so, I’ll spend more time with them, too”? It’s about the rate. So, either don’t disclose why you are using someone else or say their rate is more affordable. He’s allowed to price his time higher. It just means he may lose to a cheaper sitter. There is no shame in telling the truth and a whole lotta mess if you muddy the facts.

[TR]

Jun 16, 2023 8:37:03 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

The tenant is in our basement. However, he mentioned he’d come up with the dogs 3-4 times/day and then spend the night up here with them. I’m thinking I could just say we found someone who’s able to spend more time with them?

I think $350 for a week of dog sitting is a STEAL. I also think $600 to just be in a different place in the same dwelling in which you live is a bit insane. So I'd have no problem cancelling.

[dexteroni]

NTA; you might be if you were leaving like tomorrow, but he has a couple weeks to fill the slot. And $600 seems inordinately high when he lives on the premises. Just don’t lie in any way when you tell him. Why risk damaging a relationship with a paying tenant by lying for no reason? Just use the “we’re going with someone else” line someone else suggested. If he presses for a reason, it’s fine to say politely that the other sitters fee is significantly lower. It’s not a judgement of his fee or his work, it’s a fact.

[polarbearfans]

Is the other sitter going to stop by as often? The rate seems super low for a pet sitter to stop by that many times. $600 is more what I would expect.

I would probably just stick with the tenant. They are there and have committed to stopping by quite a bit. Plus this will put you in a good position for future needs. I really question the lower rate of the other sitter.

[VillainV]

I’d tell him that you found someone much less expensive, and are going to try them out, but really appreciate his willingness to help out.

And holy shit, $600/week to just come up a few times a day and spend the night? I’m not a dog owner so I have no idea how much is normal, but I pay someone $30/day to come feed and play with our cats twice a day (about 15-20 minutes per visit) so this seems like a lot to me, but maybe it’s normal?

If the other sitter was only a little less, I’d probably not switch, but $350 is a BIG difference.

[jlt19]

There is no way in hell I’d pay someone who lives in my home that much. Maybe I’m out of touch and that’s a-ok with me, but he has no extra commute. No gas expenses, no juggling of going home to shower, then let the dogs out, go to work, etc. it’s basically his normal life with a few extra tasks added in.

I pay our friends 16 year old $80/weekend to do basically the same thing. She also lives in our neighborhood, so it’s not overly inconvenient for her. But I also don’t expect much from her either other than feed them twice a day, let them out every 4-6 hours and sleep with them. They’re lazy bums, so they don’t even want to do anything else anyway.

[heygrey]

The tenant is not just a random person she asked. He dog sits regularly and if this is his normal rate it’s not okay to ask him to reduce it because of his proximity to the job. She can use him or not, but it’s unfair to suggest he change his price for her.

No one would suggest paying a baby sitter less because they live next door and it isn’t far to walk home at the end of the night.

[pixy0stix]

It is kinda assholey to cancel a job that he's been turning down other offers for. Dog sitters are in hot demand that weekend.

[TR]

Jun 16, 2023 20:39:19 GMT -5 heygrey said:

The tenant is not just a random person she asked. He dog sits regularly and if this is his normal rate it’s not okay to ask him to reduce it because of his proximity to the job. She can use him or not, but it’s unfair to suggest he change his price for her.

No one would suggest paying a baby sitter less because they live next door and it isn’t far to walk home at the end of the night.

Who suggested he change his price? I think it’s high, but I wouldn’t ask him to change it. He can decide what he charges.

[heygrey]

Jun 16, 2023 21:12:45 GMT -5 TR said:

Jun 16, 2023 20:39:19 GMT -5 heygrey said:

The tenant is not just a random person she asked. He dog sits regularly and if this is his normal rate it’s not okay to ask him to reduce it because of his proximity to the job. She can use him or not, but it’s unfair to suggest he change his price for her.

No one would suggest paying a baby sitter less because they live next door and it isn’t far to walk home at the end of the night.

Who suggested he change his price? I think it’s high, but I wouldn’t ask him to change it. He can decide what he charges.

No one explicitly said ask him for a lower price, but several people said his rate is too high because he lives on the same property. His proximity to the job has nothing to do with what he charges. 

[TR]

Jun 16, 2023 22:00:02 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Jun 16, 2023 21:12:45 GMT -5 TR said:

Who suggested he change his price? I think it’s high, but I wouldn’t ask him to change it. He can decide what he charges.

No one explicitly said ask him for a lower price, but several people said his rate is too high because he lives on the same property. His proximity to the job has nothing to do with what he charges. 

I disagree 🤷🏼‍♀️ babysitting isn’t an equal comparison because taking care of a child is way more work than taking care of a dog, barring some exceptions perhaps of very high need dogs. I would fully expect someone who has to drive to my house and basically live somewhere new for a week to charge more than someone who has to walk up some stairs a few times a day.

ETA: And maybe that IS his discounted rate. Who knows? Doesn’t mean OP has to pay it.

[wanderingback]

Jun 16, 2023 22:00:02 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Jun 16, 2023 21:12:45 GMT -5 TR said:

Who suggested he change his price? I think it’s high, but I wouldn’t ask him to change it. He can decide what he charges.

No one explicitly said ask him for a lower price, but several people said his rate is too high because he lives on the same property. His proximity to the job has nothing to do with what he charges. 

Just throwing this out there- our part time nanny is also a personal trainer. So I recently started doing sessions with her. She gave me a discounted rare cause the days we work out we do it right after she finishes watching the baby. So she said since she doesn’t have to travel extra she’d give me a discount.

Anyway, I have no clue how much dog sitting costs, but I don’t think a 2 week notice makes one an asshole but if there might be a need for their services in the future I would think about that also.

[mofongo]

What do people pay for Rover sitters? Like when your dog goes to their house? I feel like $50ish/day may be normal? I could be way off the mark, but $600 for a week does sound really high!

[charlatti]

Jun 16, 2023 22:42:18 GMT -5 mofongo said:

What do people pay for Rover sitters? Like when your dog goes to their house? I feel like $50ish/day may be normal? I could be way off the mark, but $600 for a week does sound really high!

Rover sitters in my area range from $30s up to $75 per night (that’s for staying in the dog’s house, so similar to this situation, but rates seem to be the same for going to their house). Our college-age pet sitter, who lives in the neighborhood, charges $40 per night. Medium COL here.

[InBetweenDays]

We generally pay around $80/night (HCOL) for one dog so $600 for a week for what sounds like more than one dog doesn't seem bad to me.

If you cancel I'd offer a portion of his payment since as others have said it's very possible he passed up others sitting opportunities when he accepted your request.

[pixy0stix]

Jun 16, 2023 22:42:18 GMT -5 mofongo said:

What do people pay for Rover sitters? Like when your dog goes to their house? I feel like $50ish/day may be normal? I could be way off the mark, but $600 for a week does sound really high!

The one we have for that weekend is $20 per visit, and we have her coming 3 times a day, no overnight. We've paid both more and less than that on Rover. We had one person we would have paid the $600 for a week because she was really good.

[mofongo]

Jun 17, 2023 10:31:41 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Jun 16, 2023 22:42:18 GMT -5 mofongo said:

What do people pay for Rover sitters? Like when your dog goes to their house? I feel like $50ish/day may be normal? I could be way off the mark, but $600 for a week does sound really high!

The one we have for that weekend is $20 per visit, and we have her coming 3 times a day, no overnight. We've paid both more and less than that on Rover. We had one person we would have paid the $600 for a week because she was really good.

So I just checked rover locally, we have an anniversary trip next month. Our dog is teetering on medical border at vet, so I’ve been hesitant to do our usual boarding place (which I do love normally). The prices seem to go from $38-$45/night here. Naturally the first person I click on, the first review is a guy whose english bulldog died while the person had them:( I guess I will talk to my vet and see what he thinks! 

Side note, penny does not enjoy daycare, so I feel bad leaving her there for 8 nights, we haven’t been on a long trip since pre covid. She’s lazy and has a lot of health issues. For some reason leaving her with a rover sitter makes me nervous, even though I know people have great experiences.

[pixy0stix]

Jun 17, 2023 11:17:19 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Jun 17, 2023 10:31:41 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

The one we have for that weekend is $20 per visit, and we have her coming 3 times a day, no overnight. We've paid both more and less than that on Rover. We had one person we would have paid the $600 for a week because she was really good.

So I just checked rover locally, we have an anniversary trip next month. Our dog is teetering on medical border at vet, so I’ve been hesitant to do our usual boarding place (which I do love normally). The prices seem to go from $38-$45/night here. Naturally the first person I click on, the first review is a guy whose english bulldog died while the person had them:( I guess I will talk to my vet and see what he thinks! 

Side note, penny does not enjoy daycare, so I feel bad leaving her there for 8 nights, we haven’t been on a long trip since pre covid. She’s lazy and has a lot of health issues. For some reason leaving her with a rover sitter makes me nervous, even though I know people have great experiences.

We've had mostly great experiences with Rover. Unfortunately for us, the one mildly bad experience we had was during our longest vacation. The person didn't show up when she said she would until we texted her and mentioned that we have outdoor cameras and knew when she was at the house. (We hadn't brought up cameras before because we don't have any in the house.) She was there during the contracted hours once she knew we could check up on her in that way.

[mofongo]

Jun 17, 2023 11:34:15 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Jun 17, 2023 11:17:19 GMT -5 mofongo said:

So I just checked rover locally, we have an anniversary trip next month. Our dog is teetering on medical border at vet, so I’ve been hesitant to do our usual boarding place (which I do love normally). The prices seem to go from $38-$45/night here. Naturally the first person I click on, the first review is a guy whose english bulldog died while the person had them:( I guess I will talk to my vet and see what he thinks! 

Side note, penny does not enjoy daycare, so I feel bad leaving her there for 8 nights, we haven’t been on a long trip since pre covid. She’s lazy and has a lot of health issues. For some reason leaving her with a rover sitter makes me nervous, even though I know people have great experiences.

We've had mostly great experiences with Rover. Unfortunately for us, the one mildly bad experience we had was during our longest vacation. The person didn't show up when she said she would until we texted her and mentioned that we have outdoor cameras and knew when she was at the house. (We hadn't brought up cameras before because we don't have any in the house.) She was there during the contracted hours once she knew we could check up on her in that way.

I think I’m just gonna book the normal boarding place and talk to my vet! It just makes me nervous, sorry for your bad experience, thks

[wildrice]

$350 for 7 days is $50 a day, which sounds about right. I do think $600 is high. I briefly did dog sitting but stopped when I realized how much extra time I had to spend driving back and forth and how much hassle it was to move into someone's house for several days. I would probably watch my next door neighbor's dogs for a very low rate since I would not have to do any of that.

[erbear]

That seems like a lot to me (and I live in a relative HcOL area). We pay a professional $50/day for that gig (and we get a steal with former students of mine who charge us $20/day in exchange for not living with their parents for a couple of weeks 😂😂😂)

[sonrisa]

My first concern would be related to the person staying overnight in your house. I’m not big on strangers doing that. I would pay more for someone I already know and trust over a random referral. If he was just dropping in a few times a day, it would matter less to me.

[egeiger]

Just another thought. While high, that’s also a holiday week. So, he could be charging a premium. Add to it dogs plus fireworks (generally speaking) and it could be worth time and a half to him.