I like reading that you review other reviews from hosts and sitters! When I first started applying to sits a year ago, this was nothing that I did, yet now do before applying to any sit. I like knowing what hosts are saying about their previous sitters and vice versa. Paints a better picture…
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Good advice, thank you!
They were helpful, thanks for your thoughts!
That’s good to know re the 1 star. Thank you!
Of course, as an experienced trusted house sitter and having grown up with dogs myself, knowing when and how to let out dogs to do their business it pretty basic knowledge! That’s why I was triggered by it, it was like telling someone how to do their job which I’m sure if anyone has been on the receiving end of, can be really frustrating.
And yes, as @newpetlover has stated, I was told someone else would be arriving in half an hour to take over, so had already factored all of this in to my pet care plan that morning.
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Very true!
I didn’t think anyone wanted to attack me, but thanks for the reassurance 
Very difficult to read tone in these forums. But still, I stand strong in not ‘poo pooing’ emotion, as that communicates how much the owner had overstepped the mark. There is indeed much useful information from this conversation to be taken forward.
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If it was a horse and they asked you to bury it would you honour their wishes? 
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Yeah I agree, if you’ve agreed a leaving time it doesn’t seem fair that she’s given you a 1 star review because you’ve left at the agreed upon time. And if she’s said someone is coming half an hour after you leave you’d not be wrong (in my opinion) to think that that person could walk the dog, but maybe you could have clarified that before the time came. All seems a bit unfair really but I do agree with others that a 1 star review makes her look extreme and that could actually help you instead of geting a 3 star.
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i had that happen too. it was a load of rubbish and lies, and i just thought there’s no point replying so i didn’t give a reply. what’s the point. all my sits had been 5 star and to encourage you, it hasn’t stopped me getting the sits i’ve wanted and continue with the five stars. chin up. you know yourself. you don’t need that.
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yeah, me too. Gives a much broader picture to who people really are.
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thank you!
I don’t sit for that kind of large animals, so I will not have to deal with horses.
But to answer your question:
As I said in my earlier response:
“I would honour the HO’s wishes if one of their pets dies under my watch, regardless what kind of animal”.
In our country, such a large animal would not be buried, they will be picked up by a professional organisation. And they take care of it in a way the HO wants.
So yes, I would certainly help with organizing the transportation and logistics.
Since you are asking if “I would bury a dead horse”, I assume that’s different where you come from? And they don’t have that kind of service?
So I am curious, where would you put the horse you are talking about?
Would you leave it outside, till the owners come back?
And will you let scavengers take care of it?
Or put it in the freezer?
Or in the biological dustbin?
Or something else?
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I’ve had a few sits that have been extended and I have always insisted that the HO add the new dates. The easiest way to do this is to make a new listing with the final date of the first sit as the beginning and then listing the additional day/s.
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I always say communication is essential and always try my best, sometimes I can overdo it. You know the length of my post 
. But once I have detected that communication is impossible, I stop trying. It’s rare but it happens. Sometimes people keep contradicting themselves, if that is the case, you can’t advance. The lady the OP describes sounds a bit like that.
I had this experience and all I could do was look forward to get out of that house. I started to see the red flags a few days before, when the owner started to change her mind about the day I should arrive (agreed two months earlier). At one point, she even wanted me to wait for the results of his son’s competition and then if he didn’t pass the selection, I would go straight away, if he passed, I would receive further “instructions” (my words) Of course I didn’t accept that but she kept changing her mind anyway.
The moment I finally arrived, I knew I was trapped. She contradicted her son’s advice and her own advice and she never answered in a clear way. When I asked what was the best time for the morning walk she said not early but not late. I had to keep asking because there was no WG or a single written note. It was a first time HO and she had not even thought of what she should tell me. It was just me following her around house and garden and taking notes.
A real nightmare but I accepted it as an experience that made me stronger.
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I think it is completely unreasonable for a HO to expect a sitter to bury an animal that has passed away. Asking the sitter to make arrangements, or to be available on site to let in the person with whom the HO has made the arrangements then fine. But to dig a 1 metre hole to bury a dead animal, no.
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If one doesn’t argue just for the sake of it, any animal owner could organize that. Here dogs can be delivered to or cremated via a vet. A friend of ours had a hamster in the freezer for a couple of weeks till the family could organize a funeral. I would have sent a good thought and put it in the trash.
If my dog died during the sit I would totally thought it as my responsibility as the owner and have someone collect the dog. The sitter could be asked to be present for collection. No way I would ask a friend, guest or sitter to dig a 1 meter hole in the ground. In my opinion a sitter is equal to and should be treated as one would a guest or a friend. If one does that, it seems one stays well clean of many of the problems mentioned in forum. But people are different - and probably treat their friends and guests different, too.
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Slightly different scenario but we did a countryside sit once where the dog liked chasing and catching pheasants on the hosts land. One day she caught one on a walk and it died immediately. We asked the host what to do and she asked us to stick it in a bag in the fridge if it looked good enough to ‘dress’ (till they got back 2 days later) or wrap it in a garbage bag and put in the garbage if not.
No way would I dig a 1 metre hole for any animal that died on my watch. That’s a huge ask and difinitely does not fit into ‘housesitter duties’ I would ofcourse be on hand to help with any arrangements to be made e.g a deceased pet needing to be collected for transportation somewhere etc
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Totally right. I agree with your response.
I also think there is a big difference between the way you bury/ organize a funeral etc. of a hamster, chicken, guinea pig or another little animal and that of for example a very big dog or a horse. Digging a hole for such a big animal is really not do-able off course.
But when I stated that “I would honour the HO’s wishes if one of their pets dies under my watch” @jjay asked me if I would dig a one meter deep hole to bury a horse. And although I myself found this a little bit weird question, because I couldn’t imagine a HO would ask a PS to do that, I decided to stay open minded and take the question serious. Assuming that (s)he maybe really doesn’t know how those things works. Or maybe I don’t know that in some other countries (like maybe @Jjay 's country) it is different. And they do bury them?
I couldn’t imagine, but you never know. There are enough posts about (cultural) differences between the Houseowners and Petsitters from all over the world.
And…as you say: everybody is different. I myself wouldn’t see it right away as inequality to bury the pet of a HO. Maybe the feeling of inequality or equality you get when somebody asks you to do something out of the normal duties also depends on how communication and hospitality etc. in advance went. Or what your own values are (and I do mean this positive).
But if an extra task/ little extra effort is asked and it is do-able (so not burrying a whole horse or something that big and the ground is penetrable) I would do it.
But maybe I have another view regarding this because we always buried our little pets in our garden. We didn’t bother to do that for the animals we lived so long with. For me it was my way to give my animal a “last respect”/ “last time thank you”.
(And I am not judging if people do different things with their animals! I just tell what I would do and what feels okay for me!)
And maybe it helps that the soil in our garden/ environment was easier to dig through then in “other environments”?
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Interesting - a pet can for sure hunt. Hadn’t thought of that! 
Sounds like a very pragmatic solution, thinking of possible dinner.
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Pretty sure that wasn’t their first rodeo… #petsbringfood