Dog Damage

[renishas]

A relative or close friend calls you and tells you they are going out of town for a little less than a week and they need someone to watch their puppy. You have two dogs yourself but you say you could try it so they bring the puppy over to meet the other dogs and see if they get along. They arrive and the 'puppy' is huge. She's a little over a year

Comments

[logosh]

Of course they'd be paying for any damages, but at the same time it was up to you to know exactly what you were dealing with before it was in your home. As for tips, I suggest crating when she can't be supervised and to let her know the piddling isn't tolerated

[renishas]

I asked lots of questions when They were here to meet my dogs. I got "she's a great dog, really well behaved. she won't be any trouble." They mentioned the peeing and the getting into things was right before they left the house to go on their trip. I crate her when we leave the house and she's gated into whichever room we're in until they get home. Unfortunately the piddling is met with more piddling when I try to scold or say no. Her previous owners were incredibly terrible people and she's very damaged.

[logosh]

Yeah, you gotta see the dog and all that loveliness before all that even happens. One of the biggest problems I see with people who have previously abused dogs is that they baby the dog when negative behavior happens, which just exacerbates the problem. And submissive piddling is a pain in the ass to break, and I've never been able to scold a dog out of it, but you can still break them of the habit, though it takes a long time

[petulant]

That's because scolding a scared dog is just exacerbating the problem. Of course logosh hasn't been able to "scold a dog out of it" and comforting a scared dog does not help continue the cycle. I recommend you take a wander over here: http://community.livejournal.com/dogsintraining/tag/ and search for ways that will actually help.

As for the rest, you already say you leave her crated when you aren't home, when you are, why isn't she just leashed to you all the time? That way she can't get up on furniture and so on. And as for the counter surfing, ummmm why don't you just take the food off the counters?

All that said, it was really shitty of the people to just drop that on you last second. Whenever I leave my dog with someone I always warn and re-warn about his most annoying behaviors that get worse when I'm not around because I don't want them to get into something without knowing exactly what it is they're agreeing to.

[sixdemonhag]

I personally wouldn't ask for reimbursement. I've taken in a lot of dogs over the years so I've learned to take precautions with new animals. If I miss something I figure it's my fault. Regardless of how they act at home, they are in a new environment, with people and dogs unfamiliar to them. Anything their family says about their behavior kind of goes out the window under those circumstances.

[cindyanne1]

I think I would have outlined that before undertaking the job. Certainly I would still bring it up, but if they didn't offer to pay for the damaged items I'd just let it go, and next time make sure to put it in writing that anything the dog destroys while in your care is the responsibility of the dog owner so there is no question.

[sblmnldrknss]

I'd call the owner and ask them which boarding kennel they want you to take the dog to. Why didn't they board it in the first place?