To me your original post/question is all about respect for boundaries. You want to negotiate the set of boundaries, which should only happen at the pre sit phase. The HO then has the choice to say no/yes and come to a mutual agreement or choose another sitter. I think mid sit isn’t a time to try to renegotiate as and when you have an idea/whim for entertainment. It’s very unfair on the HO and likely to make them feel uncomfortable. I feel there’s something you’re not saying though….what’s the urgency around seeing this beach/friend? The ants etc is a red herring and shouldn’t be conflated with the issue at hand of respecting a boundary.
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All I can say is…wow. I thought I’d get a little bit of support about a pet owner not wanting a dog left alone and changing expectations and not communicating them. Or maybe that they added up the time I was planning on being gone and it was around 4 hours which 4 hours is allowed in the posting. But all I get is accused of is having hidden agendas, disrespect, sneakiness, me having poor communication and a whole slew of other insinuations. Nothing about the pet owner. I wish I could just delete this post. But they changed the rules which I didn’t know about. Now I know why some people won’t post on here and why I won’t in the future. Who wants to be belittled bashed and accused of things over and over by different people? Be nice people. Instead of ASSUming something, ask for clarification. But be nice
And for the record, I was invited to this sit directly from the homeowner who has kept contact with me and invited me back previously. As for setting up something so I could meet my friend, If it had been through THS, I wouldn’t have asked. It wasn’t a big hassle for them. They texted me 10 minutes later that they had it set up. I kept in touch with the sitter throughout the day and was intending of coming back sooner but the substitute dog sitter said she was keeping the dog longer so I joined my friend for dinner. I would have skipped it if she hadn’t said she was keeping him later. I would have come straight back. If I would have come straight back, I would have been the one alone wondering when she was bringing the dog back because she didn’t until 7:15pm. I brought up the doorbell cam because people I talked to told me to just leave. I have a 5 star rating and have sat all over the world. But I do believe that if a pet owner doesn’t want a dog left alone, they should lay that out in advance. I’ve seen some postings like that and there have been discussions on here about pet owners unreasonable expectations. These people didn’t say anything about changed expectations so I thought it would be the same as before. And they still haven’t said they don’t want me to leave the dog alone at all. Maybe I’m making something out of nothing. I guess I was foolish in asking for advice. I should have just gone the 4 hours allowed in the posting and not worried about it.
If you plan to leave a sit because of a (THS allowed) doorbell cam, then don’t apply (or return) to ones that have them.
You seem to have wanted validation for doing what you wanted to do and are now upset because that didn’t happen. Yes the Ho should have told you now they are strict about the 4 hour limit but that still doesn’t excuse you continually pushing that boundary mid-sit. Had you checked before hand (‘hey anything different from last time? This time I have friends nearby so not sure I can adhere to 4 hours’) would have been great. Well since you have a great clientele next time double check when you do a return sit. And if you make a post and want validation (‘just venting’) then say so. If you want actual advice, well it may not be what you wanted to hear but everyone did answer your question.
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After writing about how you wanted to leave the dog for more than 4 hours, you said the hosts have a doorbell camera and you were concerned about getting a negative review if they found out about you leaving the dog longer than they expected.
See it’s right here:
It’s like a kid saying “I want to grab a bunch more cookies from the jar even though I was told I can’t have any more, but my mom has really good hearing and I don’t want to be punished” and then saying “I never planned on taking any cookies why do people assume such things”.
Actually I think you summed up this thread up just perfectly.
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You have totally misinterpreted and subsequently misrepresented what I said.
OK, sorry if I did. I can only go off what you wrote.
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Just to clarify…my post was about leaving the dog alone for 4 hours when I had a funny feeling that the pet owner didn’t want me to leave the dog alone at all. Nothing was ever communicated that I couldn’t leave the dog alone. All the rest of the stuff I said was just additional information, some of it extraneous. I do admit the time in my post specified 4 or 5 hours. But there were no devious sneaky plans. The comment about the doorbell cam was in case somebody said to just sneak out. Like the poster who did reply with something like that but was deleted. Don’t assume it was more than what I just clarified.
Yet you say this:
The lack of honesty shows in your own words which is why you are being questioned as to motivation and intent.
You also wrote this:
Followed by this:
Given the context of each line as it appears in your post, it appears that the concern of a bad review if you didn’t follow the homeowners request is more of a priority than the dog.
Better to actually discuss openly than rely on feelings or what hasn’t been said.
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