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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Dog sitting, is she a CF?

204 replies

Fucketbucket13 · 13/08/2018 18:46

My cousin asked me to dog sit months ago. I said I guess I would but I'm fairly busy. She said her mum would help out walking the dog so I agreed.
I live with my mum while I save for a deposit on a house so I thought it'd be a chance to have a break from each other even though we get on well. I'll still pay her rent as it is cheap and she still has all the bills to pay.

I've just turned up at my cousin's and she's left me a loaf of bread, a pint of milk and a bloody box of chocolates to eat. Nothing else no cheese, ham, salad stuff, potatoes nothing. The fridge is empty as is the freezer. I'm bloody annoyed I'm going to have to go out and buy a weeks worth of food so while saving my cousin over a £100 it's going to cost me at least £50!

Àibu to expect if you're dog sitting for free they should at least leave you food? She's even told me where the vac is so I'll clean for her!

OP posts:
WiddlinDiddlin · 13/08/2018 22:54

Professional dog sitters generally charge between 25 and 35 a day, sometimes quite a lot more.

Plus a food allowance or a fully stocked fridge/freezer.

So the OP's cousin is actually saving herself between 250 to 350 quid there, in home dog sitters are VERY expensive, its really the rolls-royce of dog minding services (kennelling is about 8 to 15 per day and is the budget end of things).

TillyTadpole · 13/08/2018 22:57

I have just priced a dog sitter to have two dogs at theirs for me to attend a wedding. Price £15 a night for both...

IceCreamFace · 13/08/2018 23:02

You can actually get free dog sitters. My friend did it for her cat when she went away for a month (actually really useful because she had a leak which the woman sorted out). There's a website full of vetted people, often retired, who like travelling around the country. I mean it's probably more difficult if you live in Scunthorpe than London or York or somewhere else people want to visit but it does happen.

blueberryporridge · 13/08/2018 23:06

I think you are being hard done by OP. Your cousin is saving a lot of money thanks to your offer to dogsit for her. I would have left plenty of food for you and would also have got you a present like nice chocolates or wine to say thanks when I returned.

HoomanMoomin · 13/08/2018 23:14

YANBU, she’s a CF.

And cancel the cheque.

Solasshole · 13/08/2018 23:48

We did not leave any fresh food apart from milk/bread when we had a paid professional dog sitter 2 years ago. There where no issues. She could help herself to existing dry foods in the cupboard if she wanted (pasta, rice, tea bags, random tins of beans/tomatoes) but bought her own for everything else. Would not even have occurred to me to buy food for her Hmm what would I have bought? What does she want to eat? Does she have dietary requirements or dislike something? etc etc

Will be doing the same next month when my friend cat sits for 2 weeks. She can help herself to dry foods and we'll make sure there's plenty of cat food left. She's essentially getting a free holiday out of this (not from the UK, getting a whole flat to herself for free while on holiday) so it's fair imo

IamPickleRick · 14/08/2018 00:02

Cat sitting is completely different to dog sitting.

I still had to be there morning and night to feed them and make sure they were in at night. I was mostly there to check the house wasn’t being burgled. The premise is the same; Free house with some privacy for a week. I bought my own food when I lived at home, on top of my rent. Does your cousin even know that you don’t buy food at home?

Mymycherrypie · 14/08/2018 00:04

Maybe you could call your mum and ask for supplies seeing as your rent to her includes food?

Mymycherrypie · 14/08/2018 00:06

Plus in your OP you did say her mum is helping out walking the dog so no different to cats actually.

heartsease68 · 14/08/2018 00:25

Didn't you decline when you were asked to walk the dog, obliging the dog's owner to ask her mother to take over that responsibility?

Pengggwn · 14/08/2018 03:13

It's a bit much to suggest the OP is getting equal benefit from this arrangement because she has 'free accommodation' or whatever. It is a favour.

therealposieparker · 14/08/2018 06:55

No.

longwayoff · 14/08/2018 07:16

Outrageous. U are being really put upon OP. She owes u at the very least the deposit for a new home and free groceries for a year.

Gribbie · 14/08/2018 08:13

When my family member petsits we provide food - making sure it’s their favourites and lots of nice snacks (they don’t drive and there are no shops close or I’d ask them if they’d prefer cash and go shopping themselves). It’s the least we can do to say thank you. It’s not just saving the money by not paying a pet sitter, it’s the dogs having someone they know with them. You are not a CF.

twattymctwatterson · 14/08/2018 08:33

This thread is fucking batshit. Op YADNBU. You have a perfectly suitable home already where food is supplied as part of your rent so obviously you'll be out of pocket and the dog sounds like relatively hard work. The least she could do imo is leave a couple of pizzas for you and some fresh stuff

KittyHawke80 · 14/08/2018 08:48

It’s so ridiculous that I’m now in fact expecting a handful of posts opining that the OP should be repoint the chimney, build an extension, and arrange a weekly Fortnum’s delivery as the sort of ‘thank you’ ordinarily comensurate with being allowed to stay in someone’s house while you look after their dog.

Broken11Girl · 14/08/2018 09:06

You agreed to do it as a favour. She left a box of chocolates as a thanks. I don't see the problem. I'd leave a small gift, wine, chocs, etc for a relative too, plus told them to help themselves to tea, coffee, and whatever non-perishables I had in. I certainly wouldn't stock up, and would use up or chuck perishable food as I wouldn't want to get back to stinking gone off food, if they didn't like it. Same for a paid cat sitter, but no gift.

mydogisthebest · 14/08/2018 09:09

TillyTadpole, dog expert are you? Collies need lots of exercise. I don't have a collie but my dog gets walked 3 or 4 times a day (not when it's hot though),

How on earth would it work out cheaper to use a dog sitter than to get some food in? A dog sitter charges around £20 a day if not more. No one suggested the fridge should be filled with steak and champagne. Some ordinary food such as eggs, pizza etc would be fine.

I can only assume that all the posters thinking it is perfectly fine to get someone to walk your dog, look after your house etc and not only not get paid a penny but also not have any food left for you would do or have done exactly the same.

I really am amazed that OP is getting such a tough time. So many stingy posters on here

mydogisthebest · 14/08/2018 09:14

TillyTadpole, where do you live that 2 dogs would only cost £15? Where I used to live 2 dogs were £35 and where I live now (150 miles away) is also that sort of price, if not more.

A kennel would charge at least that for 2 dogs so any dog sitter only charging £15 for 2 dogs would not be looking after mine.

The dog owner has saved herself a fortune - professional house sitters charge about £80 a day!

Shadowboy · 14/08/2018 09:14

We went away for 7 days. A live in dog sitter for two dogs was £25 per day (it was £20 per day for one dog). That is just shy of £150. She could have left £30/40 worth of food and everyone would be happy. YANBU

12stars · 14/08/2018 09:16

Interesting. It totally depends on what the OP is getting out of the arrangement. We often have friends to house / animal sit while we are away and never pay thrm or leave food. They have full access to whatever they can find but I don't buy anything in. This is because the people who do it are usually people who would like a week in our house because they have more space or it gives them chance to stay in our town like a mini holiday themselves. Right now we have a couple house sitting while we are on holiday and they are benefiting because they used to live in our town and get to come back and see friends and have a break. So no, I wouldn't pay them or leave them food.

Sounds to me like the OP is benefiting by getting space. However because the OP doesn't pay directly for her own food she feels hard done by suddenly have to pay for it.
Are you still paying your mum rent for this week OP?

spiderplantsgalore · 14/08/2018 09:36

I can hardly believe what I'm reading in a lot of the these posts. Of course YANBU in expecting a bit more food than that to be left.
I look after a friend's dogs now and again, in a scenic part of the country so I really enjoy it. She leaves a fridge full of food which I top up if and when I need to.
She also gives me a present as thanks.
That's because she realises that her dogs are benefitting from staying in their own house, and she is benefitting from saving on kennel or dog-sitter fees.
OP says the mother offered to help out with dog-walking not do it all for her.

The only unreasonable remark was about the hoover.

Oh, and my dog has two long and two shorter walks a day. Border collies need a lot of exercise.

Mummyoflittledragon · 14/08/2018 09:51

spiderplants
If a friend dog sat for me (ddog goes to a sitter) especially for free I’d also leave food. I can’t believe people don’t. Yes, these friends may be getting to stay in the the house for a week perhaps in some nice location but it’s not at their convenience or time of choosing but that of the owners. Therefore the owners thank them, not the other way round.

Leonard1 · 14/08/2018 09:56

Yes but you will be enjoying living in her home. You move on and learn from this and next time negotiate terms. Eat pasta this week!

spiderplantsgalore · 14/08/2018 10:02

If it was just to stay in the cousin's house to have a break from home I could see the point of not providing any food to speak of. But it's to look after the dog.
OP is doing the cousin the bigger favour.