u/flofraz228

This is just a vent, I’m not looking for advice.

The other day I accepted 4 check-ins for a repeat client and I am definitely blocking them! I feel empathy for the couple because I’ve been sitting and walking their 2 large dogs for about a year. They had a baby about 4 months ago and the dogs are now being neglected.

Before the baby I figured the dogs weren’t getting enough exercise because of their energy level on walks. The lady right next door confirmed she never saw the dogs outside before and complained that the smell of the poop and pee in the back during the summer is an issue. It’s not even a yard with grass, it’s a fenced in driveway so the dogs go on cement and the couple just leaves everything to bake in the sun. There’s no attempt to hose it down or anything.

Now that the baby is here it’s 1000x worse! The Doberman runs in circles so fast she’s a blur even though she gets trazodone regularly. On the Friday walk she ran around me wrapping the leash around my bare legs (I’m in shorts because it’s 100+ degrees out) and caused a friction burn. It’ll leave a nasty scar. Then when I took her back inside and opened the door 3 inches to walk out with her brother, she jumped over him to get out and took off running towards the tree line of the park across the street. All I could think was how on earth will I find this dog is she runs into the woods. Pure panic set in!!! Thankfully she ran along the trees and didn’t actually enter the woods. It’s so hot she got tired very quickly and slowed down enough so that I could grab her collar.

It’s so unfair to keep a high energy dog like that cooped up in small home with practically no exercise. She needs to run fully extending her legs, galloping like a horse every day so she isn’t miserable. Instead they just drug her but that isn’t working. This is the worst part of pet sitting, seeing these awful situations pets are forced to deal with. Vent over.

So I started my business as a full time pet sitter entrepreneur a year ago. I built up a customer base by using Rover and marketing in my local community with business cards and neighborhood group posts online. Referrals from satisfied customers are rolling in back to back. Now I’m booked and busy! It’s going so well I can justify hiring at least one employee.

Anyway, now that the customers are chasing me and not the other way around, I maintain my peace by weeding out the people who I can tell will be difficult, argumentative or just plain annoying. The house sit I’m currently on is for a friend of a regular, longtime customer. I really didn’t want to take it, but did just to make my loyal customer happy. I figured I would do a one and done, no biggie.

Now the customer wants to book me through July and August for all her international trips.

Here’s the issue. I don’t like this lady and the dog isn’t great either, but my main issue is her.

Issue #1: When I plugged the address she gave me into Google Maps, I wanted to double check her general location because it was 30 minutes farther away than I expected. Gas is sky high in DC! So I sent a text asking for the closest intersection to confirm. Instead she sent the address again and never answered my question. The reply was a bit snarky.

Issue #2: She showed zero respect for my time. A meet and greet is 20 minutes. Everytime I said I have to go, she’d say, “one more thing“ and keep talking. I was there for about an hour and late to my next booking trying to be polite. I feel awkward leaving when someone does that, I need to work on it because it’s not fair to other customers. When I did finally say I have to go for the 3rd time, she acknowledged that she kept me for too long and justified it by saying, “I had to make sure we went over everything.”

Issue #3: I dropped off food the night before because she lived close to the previous sit. I accidentally left an ice cream sandwich that I had in my hand on the counter (sooo hot out I was looking forward to eating it enroute to the next booking). I realized I left it about 5 minutes later and sent a text so it didn’t melt and make a mess. Instead of finding the one I took out, she opened the freezer, saw the box of ice cream sandwiches and informed me they were in the freezer already. I literally said that I left ONE on the counter. This woman is once again is ignoring what is being asked (like the intersection question) and providing the information that she feels is relevant. After a painful back and forth, she found it and put it in the freezer. I can’t stand a know-it-all who just has to look for ways to correct you.

For these reasons, I’m declining her request for future bookings. Communication is so hard because she’s scrutinizing/correcting everything I say instead of simply answering or addressing the statement directly. I’m also annoyed because the dog is terrible on a leash, he’s a 100 lb boxer, and he has zero training whatsoever. She insisted he doesn’t pull, but he almost pulled me (130 lbs) into oncoming traffic at a busy intersection!!

I’ve already told her that I’m booked solid until Christmas. It’s a lie, but I don’t want to deal with her or her hell hound ever again.