AIBU about dog sitter?

[Dygger]

We have an elderly deaf dog who gets distressed in kennels, so when we were invited to attend a family wedding abroad we asked around to see if anyone we knew would dog-sit for a week. A friend who used to live nearby but moved away a few years ago, jumped at the chance to spend a week here and catch up with her old mates. We agreed to leave her a full fridge and wine in exchange for dog care..

A couple of weeks before we were due to leave she called to say that her request to take the time off work as holiday had been denied and she'd have to take it as unpaid leave. She works part-time and isn't very well off. She wasn't sure she could afford to come if it meant she wouldn't be paid, so we ended up agreeing that I'd pay her £250 plus petrol money. She arrived as planned and we went off on our trip. She sent photos each day of the dog out and about on various walks.

When we got back we discovered that the day after we left she'd tripped over a tree root on a footpath and injured her back. She could barely move, so one of her local friends, whom we know by sight, had looked after her and the dog. Fortunately she was feeling a lot better and was able to drive herself home.

I didn't think any more about it until earlier today when I bumped into the woman who'd helped out. I thanked her. She said she was glad she'd been available to come to the rescue and then said something about her rate for dog-walking being £20 a hour. I was a bit thrown and said she'd be the first person we'd call if we needed a dog-walker in future. She didn't look happy and said something about not normally offering freebies.

I don't know what to do. On the one hand it doesn't feel fair that we pay twice. They didn't even let us know there was an issue. On the other hand this is a village and it won't take long for word of how mean and thoughtless we are to do the rounds.

Do we need to pay the woman who stepped in to help? If so, how much would you offer?

@KosherDill £100 a night! In the words of Blanche Devereaux - get outta here 🤣🤣🤣🤣

In which case the friend should have contacted the OP to say ‘I’ve got a friend -who isn’t a professional dog walker who’s going to look after me and walk your dog for £20 an hour. Is that ok?’
The OP would then have the option of saying ‘yes that’s fine or ‘no, I will arrange a professional dog walker who has the proper checks, recommendations and liability insurance to come in and walk my dog’.

Ypu don’t get to charge someone retrospectively without agreeing T&Cs first with the person who is contracting your services.

Well you're a fool then 😂

I'm a bit confused about the friend being refused holiday but then being able to take unpaid leave. Surely if holiday is refused then it is for the reason that there is insufficient cover for her job. ? ie too many staff off in July/Aug and the business cannot work . Yet she was able to take unpaid leave ? Which would still mean she wasn't there. !

Was this a ruse to get you to pay her ?

Then on top of all that she engaged someone to walk the dog without referring to you ?

Sorry but I would be asking her to pay the dog walker. She had been paid to do it and didn't so she pays the dog walker .

I am clearly cynical, but it sounds like the pair of them dreamed up a scheme to fleece you before Friend 1 even arrived. I am betting the fridge and wine rack still went down too, despite the payment.

That said, it's the chance you took and next time I would just make sure you hire a professional dog sitter with a contract and back-up.

I would definitely be clarifying with friend what the arrangement was with the dog-walking person.

Someone, somewhere is being a CF... im not sure if its friend or friends dog-walking stand in!

I'm a bit confused about the friend being refused holiday but then being able to take unpaid leave. Surely if holiday is refused then it is for the reason that there is insufficient cover for her job. ? ie too many staff off in July/Aug and the business cannot work . Yet she was able to take unpaid leave ? Which would still mean she wasn't there. !

Maybe she didn't have enough annual leave left.

At least.

Sometimes I pay a second one to do drop-ins when live-in has a hectic week. And my dog "sends" her birthday and Christmas gifts.

My sitter's willingness to live in makes it possible for me to travel with no worries. And no stress for my dog. I want the sitter to be happy!

I think it behooves you to find out if friend incurred any extra costs. Doubt she deliberately tripped & injured herself to screw you out of a few pounds.

Absolutely do not pay the dog walker. She was sub-contracted by your contractor and not part of your verbal agreement. You have no contract with this person. Judge Judy would make mincemeat out of this!

If the friend was injured and unable to walk the dog, she should have contacted the OP and asked about a back-up plan, not hired someone without discussing it first.

OP says her neighbours would have walked the dog for free had they known.

Yes, friend should have contacted OP. She tried to solve the issue herself, somewhat clumsily. I think it's stingy to make her pay for that error.

The old dog was ok, which was the desired result.

Just googling how to become a pet sitter 🤣

Your friend employed the dog walker, so the dog walker should present her bill to your friend. And your friend should have contacted you as soon as she knew there was a problem and asked you what you wanted to do (you might have made arrangements with your neighbours, or employed a dog walker, or come home early).

An error of her own making, though - nothing to do with OP who thought everything was going fine until she got home from her trip.

You can't hire services on behalf of someone else (without asking) and then expect that person to stump up the cost of those services!

If the friend was too injured to walk the dog, she should have called OP immediately, explained and apologised and said "Jane has offered to take over the walks for (x) per day" in which case OP would have said "Please don't hire a stranger to walk my dog, let me make other arrangements and I'll get back to you".

Personally if I was OP, I'd be pretty angry that my friend had sent my dog out with a total stranger without even asking my permission first!

I pay £30 a day for someone to come in, feed my cat, empty litter tray 3 times a day.
They literally come in , put food down and leave (litter tray rarely used) if I want them to interact with my cat, spend a little time talking to him, stroking him, it's even more.
I take my dog on holiday with me, but I've seen how much a house sitter/dog Walker is and yes £100 a day is good value.
If I wasnt working, I'd offer my services, it's good money and usually food and drink provided and some really nice places to stay.

the original agreement was with you and the original dog walker, if the friend has outsourced the dog walking then I'd presume that the unofficial walker discusses it with the walker you originally had.

Your friend pays the dog walker. Anyone suggesting otherwise is talking nonsense. Ignore them. You do get a lot of it on MN, people talking nonsense, that is.

The replacement dog walker could pull any amount of hours / amount PH out of her arse. It could be ruinous! Ridiculous state of affairs. Oh and there is no need to pay £100 per day as someone upthread suggested 🙄 you can find reasonably priced professional dog sitters that don’t talk the piss. £100 a day indeed. I think not (and I live in one of the most expensive areas of the UK where everything is overpriced and have never been charged £100 a day).

just send the “dog Walker” a bunch of flowers or a hamper or something

I sometimes cat-sit for friends/friends of friends. It’s a tricky area and can be seen as a favour each way! However if I couldn’t fulfill part of looking after one of the pets, and I had to outsource it, I’d compensate the 3rd person out of my money. You’ve agreed a price: you shouldn’t have to pay twice.

The 3rd person does deserve to be paid/rewarded for their time. Even if it’s only 20mins at a time, it’s still a commitment on their part to come round every day and take out someone’s else’s dog, and it kept the dog happy (plus ever know a plumber to let you off 40minutes? :-) ). This should come from your friend though!

However was no 3 told (by a friend possibly pain-fuddled) that you would pay? They might honestly have been promised payment. Just explain the situation to them.

As to them not being a 'proper' dogwalker.... I understand you wouldn't have chosen them and that some would prefer insurance etc. However they have still provided a service!

As to why your friend didn’t tell you whilst you were away: they might have been trying to give you a relaxing time away (part of the service: I send reassuring messages but try to keep it as stress-free as possible so they can enjoy their hols and not get bogged down in admin). The photos from the walks – were they passed on from the third person? – sent out to reassure, I’m sure.

(Exceptions to the above - to my friend J when little Poppy followed the Avon lady all the way across their estate and they had to do what they usually do ie post on their local fb groups!!!).

It’s not stingy at all - don’t be daft.

You don't owe your friends, friend any money for walking the dog. You didn't agree to her walking the dog, you also didn't agree to pay her to walk the dog. If anyone should pay, it should be your friend, out if the money you gave her.

This sounds like an absolute mess and a good example of why friends and money don’t mix. As soon as you agreed to pay the friend £250 to make up for the lost holiday, your arrangement got a bit complicated and she’s confused things even further by bringing another friend into the mix.

I know people are saying it was great that she didn’t bother you on holiday but to be honest I’d be quite annoyed if my friend got someone else to walk my dog every day without telling me about the change of plan. Like OP, I have neighbours who know my dog well who would be happy to help out, and I’d much rather have them looking after him in this scenario than a stranger I didn’t know.

What’s done is done but I’d contact your friend now and say ‘I ran into Friend today and I think she was implying she wanted paying for the dog walks she did - just checking I haven’t misunderstood something? Did you tell her that I’d be paying her?’

What a bunch of cheap mingers.

Friend did the best she could. She's low income and shouldn't end up in the hole because she tried to organize a solution after her injury.

She should have consulted OP but failure to do so shouldn't cost her substantial funds.

*Friend did the best she could. She's low income and shouldn't end up in the hole because she tried to organize a solution after her injury.

She should have consulted OP but failure to do so shouldn't cost her substantial funds.*

I agree, I don’t think the Friend should have to pay the extra dog walker given that she was only being paid £250 for a week’s dogsitting which is very low. But I think OP needs to have a conversation with her to find out what the arrangement was with the ‘dog walker’ friend as it sounds like she’s potentially being a bit of a chancer.

If I could afford to pay though I’d pay, to keep the peace.