u/linkchel

Owners downplayed literally every behavioural issue and I'm 8 days into an 11 day board

Here are the questions I asked at our meet and greet and the answers I got:

1. How is he with other dogs? “He doesn’t like some dogs and you’ll know when he doesn’t”
2. How does he do on walks/leash? "He is fine, there are some other dogs in the neighbourhood he likes."
3. Is he crate trained? "Yes."
4. Can he be left alone? "Yes."

And now, what has actually happened in the last week:

Resource guarding (not mild). He picks up random objects, a sock, a hair tie, whatever, tucks them under his chin, covers them with his paws and growls/snarls if I come within a few feet. I was almost bit on the first night because he found a stray sock somewhere and I tried to get it because I had no clue he had resource guarding behaviour. I even tried offering him a treat as a trade, but that didn't work at all.

A near-fight broke out when the other dog I was boarding walked toward the spot where his bowl USED to be. Not the bowl itself. The spot!! The only reason a fight didn’t happen is because I had removed the bowl and there was nothing to contest. Absolutely no mention of resource guarding, but maybe that's on me for not asking about it, I don't know. Also, he won't eat if the other dog is anywhere in the unit and believe me, I have tried everything. Separate rooms with doors closed, prepping food out of sight, feeding him first, feeding him second, feeding ONLY him, fan on for white noise. But if he can hear the other dog's footsteps through a closed door, that's enough to set him off. He's skipped multiple meals over this and then thrown up bile from an empty stomach. The dogs did meet ahead of time and there didn't seem to be any apparent issues.

He CANNOT be left alone. Barks continuously. I left for a 90 minute doctor's appointment and he was barking when I left and still barking when I got back. It doesn’t matter if he’s in his crate or has semi-free roam, the behaviour is still the same...barking.

Highly leash reactive to every larger dog. Lunging, barking...even after the other dog has passed. He will also sometimes bark and lunge at cars, lol.

He steals food off plates while we're sitting right next to them, meaning he needs to be crated during meal times, which is a big no-no for him and results in 30+ minutes of continuous barking. My partner and I legitimately cannot eat a meal in peace. It doesn't matter if he has his own food while we're eating, he wants ours and will bark at us. I usually end up crating him in another room with the door closed and the fan on to have some quiet while we eat.

I KNOW behavioural issues are NOT the dog's fault. I'm just extremely frustrated by this experience and feel completely blindsided by this dog's behaviour.

Hi all, would really appreciate some insight from people more experienced than me.

I have a client who has 2 dogs and a cat who typically needs help in the mornings with their puppy, which is what I was hired to do (it was a house sitting request, if that matters).

More recently, the client asked if I do care for cats, which I answered yes. They asked if I'd be available to do a few drop in visits for their cat for a weekend and offered $20 a day. I asked them what they expected out of the drop in and they said they'd want me to play with the cat, clean the litter box, check food/water...fairly standard cat stuff. They wanted me to come for 1-2 hours each day, for 3 days total. After getting a better sense of what the drop in would look like, I asked if they could do $25 a day. They responded with "I'll see if my other sitter is available."

Anyway, after a day the client let me know and they're going with the other sitter instead of me.

I am worried that I was asking for too much and that I've damaged the relationship with this client. I'm fairly new to Rover, so maybe I need a reality check, lol.