What to say to lying dog walker?

[oobeedoiwannabelikeyou]

Sent home sick from work yesterday, still off sick today. DH messaged walker at 9am to say dog was fine (she had been ill last week)
Dog walker messaged back saying Perfect I'll be to take her out.
Comes to 12pm no walker, DH messaged again to say where are you?
She messaged back saying she'd been and gone from 8:45-9:45 and would be back at 2pm.
DH said that's not true and that I was at home.
Walker messaged back assuring him she'd been.
DH said he would be coming home to walk her as I was too sick to and not to bother coming back in the afternoon.
She maintains she had walked her.
SHE DIDN'T I WAS AT HOME WITH HER!
Anyway the trust is gone, Therefor she is going. How do I word this?
I know she's lied and doesn't obviously give a shit but I would like to hold my head up high walking past her knowing I was right and handled it correctly without flying off the handle.
Please wise women if mumsnet help me with wording a message.

You are being FAR too passive in this imo.

This woman is a fraudster and is causing suffering to dogs and should be flamed for it!! Other people need to know about things like this otherwise their dog could become her next victim.

Stories like this are EXACTLY why I will never use a dog walker. I feel sorry for the genuine ones but they are few and far between.

PHONE her and ask her to explain what has happened. If not, go into the vets.

Chiming in at the end here.

DO tell the vet pratctice. It is very much their problem as she works there, and was sourced from there.

Far better to make a quick call now, than in a waffly kind of way at a later stage - and they then discover you aren't the only one being rorted. It's detrimental to the reputation of the practice, and they will be most cross you haven't said something.

Message her too, telling her what you will be doing and ask for your keys. She'll contact you very promptly I bet.

I would change the lock OP.
She has already shown how untrustworthy she is.
I would want fresh locks just incase.

I would also consider making the vets aware of her dishonesty with regards to your pets needs.

to your poor boy.

Poor pooch and what a shock to discover your dog walker is dishonest! I would be feeling paranoid about security in this situation and my first thought would be to get back my house keys. Personally I would choose to go round to hers to collect the keys or wait for her at home and ask her to hand them over. It’s a pain and expensive to change all the locks but I would at least change the Yale. We have an alarm and I regularly check the movements of our cleaner and dog walker. We recently installed a Logitech home cam and can now easily see whoever comes to the door, which gives us an increased sense of security, having had our car opened electronically on our drive on 2 occasions. The cam is around £120 and really easy to install. I wouldn’t be engaging another dog walker before installing one. Good luck and do let us all know how everything pans out.

Go into the vet and ask "Is x here? I need to get my key from her after sacking her for dishonesty and she's ignoring my texts". You can guarantee her boss will soon know!

Has she replied yet op?

I'm wondering if she's asked someone else to go in. They've told her they've been in and walked your dog and then this has happened.

Either way, she's been caught out because you hired her to do the job and the dog hasn't been walked.

How can people do this? I'm sorry I would HAVE to tell her why I no longer required her services. I just would. I would simply say 'I was sitting next to my dog all morning. You cannot have walked her.'

I had a new dog walker with a dog that was hard to handle . I especially emphasised don’t let him off the lead and make sure you put a lead on him when getting in and out of the vechicle .day 4 my neighbour told me she had met my dog running down the road to her . We checked our cameras and she had let him out of the house not on a lead . He had run out into the road . Luckily he came back when she called him . Then to add insult to injury when she bought him back she did the same thing . She got the sack . My new dog walker is brilliant .

@meandmytinfoilhat

Nope no reply at all 😡
My dog is very wary of strangers it took weeks of meetings for my dog to be comfortable with her there's no way she would/could send someone else.
(I was on maternity leave then so went out with them initially)

I agree with Jane actually, though my other response is WOOF.

I stay at home and am lucky to do so. Though I'd love to be trained in shop work. I have a full pension so I must have done something with my life.

Our dog would let us know, I think, as if we don't walk her but just let her use our garden she gets cabin fever and will doze all day but get us up in the night to be let out. it is excercise she needs, not just facilities.

Helen

OP why would you not tell the Vets? What about all the other dogs & families she's ripping off?? I think now you know this that you have a responsibility to others. You won't be the only one she's doing this to! I would be giving honest feedback on social media & making sure people know. Especially the Vet!

I would be telling her straight that you have reason to believe she hasn't been walking your dog. Why skirt around it? You don't have to protect her feelings!

I don't understand why she continued to lie when your DH said you were at home all day therefore you were with the dog at those times. It's not a lie she would have been able to get away with so makes no sense?
The timings are all off too, are you sure she's not confused? If you're going to lie it needs to be plausible!

This is awful

I hope you get some answers

@Chocolate50
I will tell the vet I'm just not going in all guns blazing to approach her.

@Delatron
It's so bizarre, I've given her the opportunity to come clean or make an excuse.
She is never coming back to walk my girl again either way.
I'm going to message tomorrow asking her to return my keys and come home to walk my girl at lunchtime myself
If no keys we will get the locks changed by the time I return to work.

Thank you to everyone for all your help support and stories good and bad.
It's fantastic to hear about the lovely walkers.
I will return if there's any other developments

Can I just ask, as I’m curious, (and sorry if this suddenly sows a seed of doubt for people who are currently happy with their dog walkers), but to all those who say their dog walkers send them daily photos - how do you know the photos weren’t all taken on the very first and only walk on another occasion and just sent one at a time week after week or whenever?!

I have visions of that day’s newspaper being held up in the corner of the frame like in a proof of life kidnapping scenario

There are far too many people setting up as 'professional' dog-walkers. They think £10/hour per dog sounds easy money, and it isn't ALWAYS easy. My DD's cleaner also walks the dog, a soft-natured, educated and obedient dog, it works very well. But not all 'dog lovers' love all dogs. Not all dogs are educated, not all dogs are nice, same can be said of people.

OP it sounds as if you took great care to make sure this walker got on well with your dogs and this does seem as if something's gone very wrong. I really hope she has a genuine explanation and apology for what has happened, it is disturbing that she hasn't replied... could she be dealing with some sort of crisis that has knocked her for six?

Dear Dog Walker:
There seems to have been a misunderstanding on your part regarding what day/time you were actually here. It is imperative Rover is walked regularly and reliably. Thankyou for your services to date but the situation is no longer feasible and your services are no longer required. Best wishes

i wold make a pointo of teling the vets could be damaging to their business

dont have to make a scene just tell them privately

Good that you found out what was happening. Two separate but similar ‘incidents’ regarding my adult vulnerable son and my dog.

My adult learning disabled son one day said he couldn’t remember where his social services carer had taken him. By chance, I stayed at home the next day, and discovered that the carer came and stood on the doorstep, didn’t knock, and then went away and went shopping on her own.

Our dog walker was generally wonderful but lost our dog who came home when she lost him, on his own, crossing six roads on his own including one major road.

So I am very much afraid that some dog walkers and some human carers are pretty rubbish. Needless to say, we made much better arrangements for both my son and my dog.

🌺

Oh this is so sad and infuriating to read. I hope you have a reply soon but i completely agree, i would be the same, the trust has well and truly gone, very sad indeed.

I am not keen on dogs myself and do not allow dd who loves them to have her own dog. She has often asked neighbours if she could walk their dogs for free. After summer hols neighbours have said dogs ate missing her visit. You might find similar to walk your dog.

She must know by lying so blatantly and refusing to back down that she will lose you as a client?
She could have just said, when you revealed you were actually at home , 'oh yes silly me, I got the dogs mixed up'. Of course you know she is lying as you were there with your dog so she hasn't got a leg to stand on. It's such bizarre behaviour. You'd think they would be clever about the deception!

Can't believe she still hasn't replied! Get your key back asap

You could report them to the Professional Dog Walker Association. professionaldogwalkersassociation.co.uk/

Gosh what a situation. For me the fairest thing would be to talk to her face to face and ask her why she maintains she took the dog out when you were at home at the time. How was that possible? At least allow her to explain and lying is harder to do to someone's face. Then, if you're still not satisfied and the trust really has gone I'd politely call it quits. I personally wouldn't resort to social media until the facts have been established. Good luck!