Damage to house from dog, owners says unusual

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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Hello,
this is unfortunately the second issue in this one housesit, that I’m posting to this forum. before the sit, i told the owners I would be working on one day. they mentioned (but did not write in the welcome guide) if the dogs got loud when I had to work, I should shut them in the back area of the house.

During a meeting, this happened, and i put the dog in the back area of the house. while i was in the meeting, the (large, strong) dog was yipping and scratching at the (very nice-quality wooden) door, repeatedly. the noise didn’t bother me too much, I can block that out. but it was very persistent. When I let the dog out, she was absolutely fine, as loving as ever.

However now, on my last day, I’m noticing that the door where the dog was jumping and scratching has scratch marks all over it. This is a nice wooden door, probably not easy to repair. I couldn’t be sure these scratches were all new, but I sure hadn’t noticed them before. I called the owner to give them a heads-up and ask about it; as an owner I wouldn’t want to come home to that surprise with no warning from a sitter.

The owner said the door was scratched before, but also asked me to send a photo, which I did. He indicated that yes, that was definitely worse than before the sit, and indicated that sometimes the dog does scratch at the door, but he then said “but not usually THAT much”.

This is the second time in a sit the owner indicated the dog is acting differently from normal (pooping on a rug, and now the door). This was outlined in my first post about this sit (not sure now to link it here) but the owners had a very general welcome guide and presented their dogs as very low-maintenance.

Maybe they usually are, maybe this IS really unusual behavior. Hard to know! The dog is very friendly, not otherwise agitated, will take as much love as I give her. She does not appear unwell. She’s eating and pooping, etc.

I’m really concerned about the fallout of this sit. I don’t know if there’s really any ‘guilty’ party here. But I’m not sure how to handle this in my review and/or in any future final communications with these homeowners. Any advice or thoughts appreciated.

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I honestly wouldn’t worry too much about this. You followed the HO’s instructions, he knew that the dog scratches the door, and it is to be expected that the more he scratches, the worse it gets.
A pet can be low maintenance with their owner, but be stressed out when left with a stranger.

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Really dogs hate to be locked away in a different room.

It would have been much better to leave them with a frozen King or a chew at least to distract them while you worked.

If the dog scratched the door before then the owner knew about the behavior so it really isn’t your fault.

I’m not sure what advice to give on the review but others can probably chime in.

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I’d mention in your review that the dog behaved in unexpected ways, such as scratching more than usual or whatever else. That’s in case the host turns out to be unreasonable. You can of course write about good things as well, if any.

Any host who leaves a pet should know that they can behave differently with different people, especially because the pets might be missing their humans.

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That is a reassuring answer, thank you, I could use that right about now! That makes sense what you’re saying.

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Agreed I’m not a fan of lock-ins and the reaction was unexpected based on their low-key description of the dogs. The owners asked me to lock them in when I leave the house for good today (my last day here) so I will search around for whatever I can find to throw in here….i know a neighbor is going to check on them before they get back late tonight.

in the room…) thank you for your response.

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Yep good point Maggie8k and I like the neutral word “unexpected”.

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@ladybella Take a friendly video of the dogs and the place as you leave ( to show that all is fine ) if there’s any damage after you leave you have “proof” that it didn’t happen on your watch .

Several owners ( 5 ) have ask us to leave “music for dogs / cats “or classical music playing on Alexa to calm the dogs/ cats when we go out .

Not sure if it makes any difference- but we’ve complied when asked .

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I totally agree, dogs can sulk and misbehave just like children, its not unusual for them to pee or poop on the carpet in protest and to make a fuss because they didnt want to be shut away from you, whatever has happened here is not your fault.

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@Redlady As you’re presumably aware from commenting on @ladybella’s previous post, the dogs don’t get walked at all and only have the back yard for exercise/toilet breaks. They’re probably bored out of their minds already, and they’re now being deprived of human contact and shut away somewhere out of sight out of mind.

The OP may be following the home owner’s advice/instructions and therefore ‘not at fault’, but common sense dictates that the dogs are probably doing their best to communicate that their basic needs are not being met. Totally agree that pets can be demanding at times, but unless you’re sure that you’ve reasonably met those demands*, it doesn’t seem very empathetic to suggest that they’re ‘sulking’, ‘misbehaving’ or ‘protesting’.

  • Speaking as someone who has spent the best part of a day walking a dog and fussing over a cat. Both are still demanding more attention, but I’m satisfied that they’ve had their lot - the party’s over and I’m going to bed!
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Please do note that the dog had to be placed in a seperate room due to the noise possibly interrupting your work. I work remotely and often have virtual meetings so this would be important information for me to know before accepting a sit! I hope this last day goes without further event!

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Good idea; I’m already gone but sent plenty of happy videos on the stay so that’s good. They didn’t have Alexa, but we have housesitters play calming music for our cat when we’re gone. I find the music depressing but our cat seems to love it!

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So to clarify on the walks - one of the dogs is 14 years old and arthritic, it’s an effort for him to get out to the yard. I agree the owners way overshoot how much time the dogs can be alone (which is why I cut that time in half during my stay) but I did want to put out that at least with the one dog they are accommodating his difficulty walking.

What I can say as a new sitter (maybe 6-7 sits at this point) is some of the sits come with no surprises and some of the sits are more of
a “live and learn” scenario.

Looking back at the prior reviews, I believe I now see some carefully worded, almost too subtle hints that things were a little “out off”. Subtle wording in reviews, that’s a whole other topic! Again live and learn.

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Meant to say a bit “off”

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We tend to leave Alexa playing music when we leave the dogs. On our last sitting the dogs asked for Roxy Music, their favourite

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Or Who Let The Dogs Out!! :service_dog::dog2:

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Thanks @Twitcher, now I can’t get that song out of my head for the rest of the day - woof.woof,woofwoof. :face_with_spiral_eyes:

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