Petsitting dilema.

[PigWittington]

My aunt asked my 18yo daughter to petsit for her during the summer holidays. Its a 7 night holiday and DD was to stay at her house minding her 2 dogs for £140.
Unfortunately one of the dogs passed away of old age a few weeks ago and my aunt has now messaged my daughter along the lines of 'I was paying you £140 to watch 2 dogs, now I only have 1, can I pay you half, £70'

I don't really know what to say to her. I understand she based the amount of what it would have cost to board 2 dogs at a kennel but DD is still doing all the same things, staying away from home for 7 nights. Feeding. Walking etc.
Plus DD needs to feed herself whilst there, will be away from her friend group etc.

I don't really know what to advise.

That’s really unfair.

There might be an argument for cutting £20 or so off, but even that would be stingy. When I’ve booked pet sitters in the past I’ve paid the same whether I had 1 or 2 cats.

Advise your DD to say no.

Edited to add that if my niece was doing that for me, I’d also pay for a supermarket delivery.

I'm sure the fridge would be stocked but you know what teenagers are like, they like to have specific things and the odd takeaway, especially away from home. I think £70 would most get used up on being there for a week.

I think I would message back saying DD had turned down other job opportunities since to facilitate Aunts holiday so it’s probably best to cancel and DD take one of those jobs paying the original amount.

I would look at some pet sitting prices and see how they structure it. It isn’t half price like Auntie is suggesting!

My pet sitter comes for visits (doesn’t stay overnight) but she structures her visit fees like this:
£10 one visit and walk per day
£15 two visits and walks
£20 three visits and walks
+£2.50 per day for more than one pet.

So you see it’s a relatively small uplift for a second pet.

that’s incredibly mean! She was paying somebody to stay in her house basically and the reduction in workload/inconvenience from two dogs to one dog won’t be 50%!
I’d advise dd to give a simple no, £70 isn’t enough to persuade me to uproot my life for a week.
I also wouldn’t agree to do it again moving forward, she’s really messing your dd around.

For reference, I pay £70 for somebody local to pop in daily to feed my cats…they stay less than an hour each time so £70 for a week’s stay is dreadful.

Dog sitting for 1 dog is typically more than £140. So £70 is rather taking the mick.

She’s paying for your daughter’s time and if she’s living there then there shouldn’t be a reduction at all. Very mean to expect a significant reduction and the original 140 isn’t much anyway for the level of commitment involved.

I’d never stay at someone’s house for £10 a day! Even £140 was stingy.

No, she needs the full amount as it’s not the number of pets she’s being paid for, it’s the 7 day inconvenience. And it’s an unbelievably small amount to be paid for that long.

£140/£20 a day to stay in her house was already taking the piss tbh. That wouldn’t even cover minimum wage for dog walks (assuming an hour morning and evening). And now she wants to reduce it to £70??? When the level of commitment and work is pretty much the same?
It’s pointless doing it for so little. It might have been a nice thing to do to help her Aunt out but now that the Aunt is selfishly taking the piss by being so cheap and is proposing leaving DD out of pocket for doing it as she’d easily spend that £70 just on feeding herself for a week, I’d tell DD to say no and go find properly paid summer work instead. She could make £70 in a single evening babysitting for example.

Around here, honestly dog sitters charge. £30-50 per day.

£70 is £10 a day, less than NMW for one hour !

Also, if someone is staying at your house, you provide the food even if it’s basic bread, milk, eggs, and pizza.

Unless your daughter really wants to do it, decline. She’d get more money for job seekers allowance, with no commitment!

Say no and don't help her out again.

£10 a day? No chance! She has an absolute cheek

I think you need to step in and message her. I appreciate your DD is an adult but I would say “dd has mentioned you want to halve your original payment offer to £70. 7 days of staying at your house to look after the dog is a big commitment and to be honest the original £140 was a bargain compared to dog boarding”

She is taking the piss. I think people forget that 18 year olds can earn a pretty decent minimum wage it’s not like when we were teens and the odd fiver for helping out was a great deal!

How cheeky of your aunt. If she was paying dog sitters to stay it would be a lot more than £20 a night! I think you should call her and tell her how unreasonable she’s being. If she doesn’t want to cough up the original amount agreed she can find someone else. We pay £55 per night for dog sitters and that’s cheap in our area. It sounds like she’s trying to take advantage of your DD and if your DD isn’t confident enough to speak up then I think you should speak to your aunt on her behalf.

I'd advise your daughter to say that while she's sorry about the dog that passed away, she understood the payment was for her time and a 50% reduction on what was agreed is not acceptable and she's found other work.

At £140 you could argue your daughter was doing her aunt a massive kindness. At £70 she's being taken for a mug. It's not like it's house sitting where she can come and go as she pleases. She has actual tasks and responsibilities. That's nonsense. Unless she this was an opportunity for her and a friend to live in London for a week I would be saying absolutely no. If the terms are changing she's no longer available.

That's outrageous. £140 is already a low rate.
It's very sad the other dog died; but the time spent would be the same.
To ask for any reduction would be cheeky, but 50% is ridiculous.
£70 for a week's work - that'd have been low in the 1990s even. Politely but clearly say no.
I've done lots of dog sitting and walking; and a big part of the pay is for the responsibility. It's a big deal being responsible for other people's furry family, and it needs to be appropriately recompensed.

Im another one who thinks your DD should tell her to jog on. 50% fewer dogs doesn't equal 50% less work.

And a professional pet sitter would be more expensive (and probably fully booked for summer so aunt has very little wriggle room) albeit with insurance.

Really sad that one of the dogs died but I think you or your Dd send a message to say “sorry about the dog but the truth is that £70 for a week just isn’t feasible or worth my while when I need to be earning money so sadly will need to decline that offer. £140 was already based on wanting to help family, compared to the possibility of a holiday job”

She is being really outrageous and unfair. My DIL was paid £40 a day for live in dog care when she was a vet student.

if your Aunt had to pay for boarding or home care for a dog around where I live, it would cost her about £180 a week for one dog ( boarding) and over £200 for home boarding. She’s got someone she knows willing to do this, so needs to stick to the original plan and not be so mean.

That's unbelievably cheeky 😔

I paid £50 a day for someone to stay in my house and look after my dog, so £20 a day was a bargain.

I'd insist on the full amount in advance, as I wouldn't trust your aunt not to try and short change your DD if she pays after her holiday.

I'd recommend your DD to say that she was only prepared to do the job for such a low payment (the original £140) as a favour to DAunt. It's not worth her while to do it for less so it would be better for DAunt to look elsewhere.

I’d reply with something like “I’m sorry 70 won’t cover my expenses whilst I’m there so how about 100 as it’s only one dog now”?
i think it’s a bit cheeky of her and honestly putting one dog in kennels for a week will cost a lot more than 70 pounds!