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.

What a skinflint your aunt is. She either pays the amount agreed or she finds someone else to do it.

I pay £490 a week for our dog sitter to live in, plus a fully stocked fridge. Your daughter needs to message and either request the agreed fee of £140 or decline. She could say she was offered work else where for a similar amount but turned it down.

I paid our dog sitter (ds’s gf) £50 and filled the fridge/freezer. She said she’d do it for free, but no way.

Tell her to jog on. £10 a day wouldn't even cover one walk here, let alone house sitting. Even at £140, your aunt knew she was onto a good thing. Housesitters are far far more expensive than that.

Normally you’d be paying £85 minimum per night for pet sitting so the aunt is getting away with only paying 2 days max for a weeks worth of work and it’s not just pet sitting it’s house sitting too! Tell aunt it’s £170 or she can find someone else to do it !

Your aunt is taking the piss. It costs at least £35 per dog per night at our local kennels so she was getting a massively good deal already!

Yeah. A kennels would be about thirty something a night. She’s already saving money AND ensuring her dog is comfortable and her house is safe. It’s the previously offered amount or no thank you. It’ll be a bit awks as it’ll make her life harder having to find someone as (presumably) short notice and she’ll probably have to acquiesce to the original amount. Show her these posts if she complains!

This is what makes pet/house sitting such a funny market. Some people will do it for free which undercuts the rest of the market. But that doesn't mean DD can or should accept half the money just because one dog has died. A walk is a walk.

If the aunt feels £140 is too much to pay a young person in her family to do it, she can go on one of those websites to get strangers to do it for free.

I meant to say £50 a day!

I think that’s really stingy of your aunt and no pet sitter in the world will come out for £10 per day. I’d be tempted to cancel and say it’s unreasonable to change the goal posts. Either she pays as agreed or finds another sitter. Step up for your DD!!

Sorry, I meant to say £50 a day..

If she's like this, I would turn it down. I used to do a lot of professional house/pet sitting through a respected agency and the stuff that can go wrong is massive.

If she's already being a tight wad over this, you will have her on your case over something for sure, even if it all goes well.

I'd ask the aunt do you really think the attention your dog needs is £10 a day worth? That's incredibly low and it'd a shame her other dog died, but the workload hasn't really halved has it, she is still walking the other dog, same amount of time as two, she's not spending half the time in the house away from home is she? It's incredibly stingy and poor taste tbh to pivot the loss of a pet into a financial saving. Especially when it's family involved.

One dog takes almost the same work as two dogs. You still have to do the same amount of walking etc...
I'm not sure where you are but in London I get charged £20 per walk x 2 times a day, and then £25 £or overnight. That is £65 per day which is only a small amount less than she wants to pay for the week.
Does your DD actually want to do it?
If not, I would threaten to pull out unless she is paid what she was promised...

’hi aunt, the £140 is for giving up my whole week to look after your dog and house. It wasn’t per dog. Totally understand if it’s better for you to book dog into kennels now.’

A dog walker is £13-16 a day!

She sounds as tight as they come!

‘No, I’m sorry, but it’s not acceptable. It’s a week of her time and commitment, whether one or two dogs to feed and walk.

Perhaps you’d prefer to pay for the dog to board at a kennel?’

To be honest I would try to get DD to cancel (or cancel on her behalf) because if aunt changes the agreement it is your DDs right not to continue as her new terms doesn’t suit her.

If your aunt starts complaining that this is unfair because it is only one dog, please remind her that kennels only do a discount if 10-20% for dogs sharing a kennel and that someone pet sitting at home will charge 3-4 times more per day than the kennel.

Your aunt is trying it on! I pay £45 per day for my dog to board in kennels and I have to provide all his food.

Mumsnet CF award of the week goes to...

£140 was tight, £70 is an insult. Useful opportunity to teach your daughter to value her time and not get screwed over by employers.
Thank goodness the dog that died got on and did it instead of dying on your daughter's watch.

LOL. My sister pays £280 a week to get her one dog looked after in her house. Your sister is a CF!

When our dog was alive we paid a dog sitter £35/night. . £70/week is taking advantage of a young person. You might want to find out the current going rate and point this out to her.

My pet sitter charges. This is in my home. I supply milk, juice, soft drinks and basics, she brings her own food.

No way! Let us know what the CF comes back with when DD declines.

Wow she is absolutely taking the mickey! We pay £30 a day so 7 nights x £30 day is £210! She was robbing your daughter to start with so to be only offering £70 is not fair! I would be telling her to sort out something else but if your daughter does do it, insist on the money up front!