To pay/not pay the dog walker

[sophh7]

I don’t live with my partner but we’ve been together a few years. He works Monday-Friday, long days, this has only been the case for the last couple of years (he’s self employed so work isn’t always guaranteed either).

He used to pay the dog walker for a walk Monday-Friday, but stopped this a couple of months ago as work dried up and money was tight. I work from home so would pop over 2 or 3 days a week and walk her. This wasn’t always the case each week so I offered to pay for the dog walker to do once a week (I was happy to - although the dog is fine on her own for 8 hours a day I felt sorry for her. She also had access to the back garden still).

His 16 year old son has been at my DP's house since the start of the school holidays. I said to DP I’d stop paying the dog walker / popping over to walk to the dog as his son was there every day (it’s his dog). DP said he couldn’t force his son to walk the dog but he’d try. We’re now over half way through the holidays and it turns out his son hasn’t been walking the dog. At all.

I feel like asking the dog walker to start doing once or twice a week again, even though his son is there as currently she is only getting walked at the weekend when DP is at home. I feel dreadfully sorry for her not being walked, but why should I pay when there is a perfectly capable child at home that should be being made to walk her?

Apologies for this being so long winded!

Do you know Cats will be an issue? I've always had multiple cats and dogs together in a house and to be honest they just avoid each other but would depend on the breed of dog I suppose

OP it's your partner's dog at his house = his problem and if dog walker needed he should pay. Stop being a doormat.

What a deadful life for the poor dog. I couldn’t stay with a man who behaved like this. He’s emotionally lazy and selfish , showing in the way he treats his child and dog.
Take the dog home then dump the man. You’ll be so much happier.
( dog can be taught to reside with cats..it will take a while but treat it as a challenge. Get a dog trainer in to show you how).

Why, oh why, do people insist on getting a dog and don't commit the time needed to care for them? Selfish doesn't even come close.
I have two dogs. My DH was hospitalised some weeks ago, emergency admission. My priority before following to the hospital was to make sure the dogs were sorted with a sitter.
DH spent two weeks in hospital. My priority around visiting him daily was making sure the dogs were walked twice a day and weren't left for too long at a time.
DH passed away and I'm back to a full time job. My priority? You guessed it, making sure the dogs get two walks a day, aren't left for too long and get as much love & attention as I can give them.
Had DH survived, he would never have forgiven me if the dogs hadn't been looked after properly while he was in hospital.
@sophh7I understand your compassion for the dog, but your DPs attitude towards it baffles me. It would certainly take the shine off any attraction I had.

Plenty of dogs and cats live together happily, get advice from a behaviourist on introducing them and adopt her yourself. The lazy teenager has no right to call the dog his if he doesn’t look after her, and for dogs a walk is a basic need, it’s cruel to not care for her properly, and allowing this kind of neglect would put me off your DP if it was me.

kidnap the dog and bin the useless man.

@Justlovedogs sorry for your loss, but what you have described is how a true pet owner should behave in the deepest and darkest times 💐