to expect her to pay the full amount?

[ameliarose78]

About a year ago I met Z through a dog club, we have the same type of dog and we met up a few times.

Z has a mental illness and as such doesn't work and relies on a pension, her DP works full time - no DC.

She put a post on FB asking if anyone could mind her dog for 2 weeks while her and dp went on holiday - I said I could, she offered to pay me but I said there was no need.

During said dog's stay at my house, she jumped onto my bedside draws from my bed and ate a piece of dark chocolate. As she is a very small dog this was a toxic level and I had to bring her to the vet for emergency treatment - total bill was 300 quid.

I asked her owner to pay me back for this. This was roughly 6 weeks ago and as yet I haven't seen any money - just saying how hard it is for them, how they can't afford it and promising to have paid it numerous times and have had it 'bounce back'.

So AIBU to ask her to pay the full sum and should I go round to her house and ask her for it?

I know a girl who had one of them little chuahaha dogs and it ate a family sized Dairy Milk whilst the family were sleeping. Next day she was absolutely fine. God knows how.

I had a look into how much it would take to harm a dog, with milk chocolate it's anything over 9g/kg

Wrt the questions about whether the OP was right to take the dog to the vet and the cost incurred:
Dogs can and do die from ingesting chocolate as it contains theobromine which is the poisonous element. Urgent treatment is necessary as there is no antidote. Usually the dog can be made to vomit if treated quickly enough. The level of danger depends on the size of the dog and the amount of theobromine in the chocolate. White chocolate has lower levels , then higher with milk and higher still with dark. Theobromine doses in the region of 100-150 mg/kg bodyweight are toxic to dogs.

If the incident happened outwith surgery hours, the OP would have had to attend an out of hours practice. Emergency appointment costs are usually upwards of £120 just to be seen, not including medication/treatment.

Wow $80,000 worth of damage, what did the dog do??

Flooded the house. Carpets needed to be replaced, laminate floors had to be pulled up and replaced. All the skirting boards had to be replaced and the whole house painted. Lots of furniture and other items ruined.

Jesus. My dog is insured for up to 1 million in damages and I wondered what on earth the little sod could do do incur that

"I know a girl who had one of them little chuahaha dogs and it ate a family sized Dairy Milk whilst the family were sleeping. Next day she was absolutely fine. God knows how.

I had a look into how much it would take to harm a dog, with milk chocolate it's anything over 9g/kg"

Presumably because Dairy Milk no longer contains actual chocolate

Really?! So it doesn't contain theobromine? Lucky dog!

This is a useful tool but I would still always advocate seeking advice from your vet.

Dc she is babysitting for break an expensive vase. They were in her care. Should she suck it up?

Of course she should! If you're looking after a toddler and you left it alone for 5 minutes and it smashed a vase, that is entirely your fault for not supervising properly.

How on earth could you think otherwise?

I don't think insurance would have paid out for this tbh.
But this is a great case to highlight why you put dogs in kennels and pay an insured business to do the job. There wouldn't be a highly toxic substance left around your dog and anything that happened would either be covered by the kennels insurance or be very easy to determine whether the owner is liable to pay the bill.

But this is a great case to highlight why you put dogs in kennels and pay an insured business to do the job
I get what you're saying but I would never ever put my dog in a kennels. It's not about the insurance it's about quality of life for the time my dog is there. I would leave my dog with a well know and well trusted friend if they were willing and capable because I know they wouldn't be left in a kennel. However in doing so I think I have the right to expect a duty of care, as much as someone would expect had they left their child. I would of course leave my insurance and vet details in case of emergency

Dairy milk does have cocoa in it so still dangerous, white chocolate has no cocoa, just milk / sugar / various junk additives

I'm in the "you agreed to look after it, you take all reasonable measures to keep it safe (such as not leaving a known toxin within easy reach), the vet bill is your responsibility" camp.

Once you've agreed to do something, you do it properly. The fact you were doing it for free - which was your choice in the first place - is immaterial. If you don't feel you can do it wholeheartedly and take on the full responsibility to keep the dog as safe as practicable, you say no when friend asks.

Personally I'd be mortified if I'd nearly killed a friend's dog, especially as they could expect me as a fellow dog owner to know not to leave chocolate lying around, and I would refuse to take any money in reimbursement for the bill even if they offered.

They need to pay half each.

Spandexpants007
Don't agree. It was foreseeable and avoidable, especially given that OP has a dog herself. A voluntary contribution, perhaps.

"Known toxin".

It's chocolate, ffs. Chocolate may be poisonous to dogs, but you are all carrying on like the OP was massively negligent in having chocolate in her house. Many people (most people? especially just after Easter?) have chocolate in their houses. It's not like she was dusting the carpet with arsenic and putting belladonna in the dog's bowl. Accidents happen.

you are all carrying on like the OP was massively negligent in having chocolate in her house.

I don't think so. Having it in the house where dogs can't reach - fine; having it on a bedside chest of drawers reachable by a very small dog - not fine.

Am on the fence. If you'd been looking after one of my pets I'd have paid up no question.

OTOH last time I looked after friends' cats I had to take one to the vet - I'd gone round one day to find her lying unresponsive on the floor. What with the out-of-hours appointment, overnight stay and whatever medicine they were giving here I knew the bill was going to be high. I'd tried ringing my friends before I got to the vets' as did the vet himself but we couldn't get an answer, so I gave them the authority to go ahead with whatever they felt needed to be done. With that in mind I felt responsible for the bill should my friends query it and was more than prepared to pay myself, despite knowing that they were far better off than me. But I felt that since I'd given the authrorization it was my responsibility.

Luckily my friends didn't agree, said they would have done the exact same thing and didn't take my money. But they could have and it wouldn't have changed my view of them or our friendship,

So, as I said, I'm getting splinters.

It's difficult. I don't think Yabu exactly but the woman shouldn't have agreed to pay if she didn't have that intention.
I would ask round local home boarding businesses what they do in similar circumstances.

I suspect though that because you left a toxic item in reach of an unsupervised dog, you are technically liable. It's just a shame you did this as a favour as if you were licenced your insurance would probably have covered it.
I'd be inclined to say go halves but she may not even pay up.

This is worrying me a bit though as I've agreed to take a Friends dog for almost 3 weeks in the summer. Again a favour. 🙈

If I was the owner, I'd pay up. I've been trying to think of a comparison as I have cats but if they were being looked after in someone's home, as a favour and saving on chattery fees but then ended up eating a plant/flowers which are toxic to cats, I'd pick up the tab.

Would you pay if it meant taking out a loan WicksEnd? Ignoring the consideration of who is liable, the dog owner says she can't afford to pay.

"Would it really occur to most people to not do what the Op did?"
If someone owns a dog I would expect them to have done their research into canine training, behaviour and health, and to therefore realise that dogs are natural scavengers, some more so than others. I would expect a dog sitter, paid or unpaid, to use common sense and err on the side of caution with any dog in their care.

I've had a few (large) dogs over the years and they vary. One was a dreadful scavenger (previous owners starved her and no amount of "training" would have undone that behaviour) and would try and steal food as soon as my back was turned. Everything edible needed to be kept well out of reach and I had to be careful that she didn't eat discarded cooked bones when out on a walk. Other dogs may be destructive so shoes etc have to be put away where they can't get them. If I was looking after someone's dog I'd behave as though it was a destructive food thief and act accordingly, even if it turned out to be nothing of the sort. You only need to spend time on YouTube watching videos of what dogs do when their owners aren't around to realise how "naughty" many are. If in doubt, never leave anything around that you don't want the dog to get at.

Personally if I looked after someone's dog and due to my lack of care I poisoned it I'd be so embarrassed I'd feel like keeping it to myself. No way would I ask the owner to reimburse me for my mistake. In hindsight I'd probably wish I'd accepted payment for dog sitting so I wasn't so out of pocket though. Dogs should be treated like toddlers and not trusted until you've got to know them and their individual ways and habits.

Its normal to have drain cleaner in the house but you don't leave it where kids can drink it. Why would you leave something lying around that you know will poison the dog if they eat it? Sorry op but I think you are screwed on this one.

But the OP has a very similar dog that doesn't, clearly, jump on the furniture to steal food. It may have been a mistake not to hope that someone else's dog, that in so many ways was similar to your own dog, was also as well-trained, but it isn't the wild recklessness that people here have painted it to be. It's a pretty understandable mistake.

The op didn't leave the chocolate 'lying around'. She left it for a minute while she went to get her coffee. I don't blame the op one iota for what happened. Most people aren't perfect and do make mistakes. But I don't think she should expect or ask to be reimbursed.