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So, most of these stories are good. I /love/ pet-sitting. If I lived in or near a community where I could do it full-time, I would. I love animals. In fact, for my first pet-sitting job, I didn't discuss payment with them. For the most part, I let people decide what their animals are worth, and I haven't been screwed over yet. (I REALLY love pet-sitting.)
My work mostly consists of regulars. Most of these stories will be cute and full of smiles. ^^
Two of my regulars have come from my grandmother's rental home. She bought the building and land from us, and at this point, it was a 2-story garage. It was owned by hoarders of everything, so it wasn't pretty. The first pet-sitting job I ever had was just making sure these two very sweet cats had food and water while they were out.
The other cat-pet-sitting job was more stringent. I was to give the cat a half-can of cat-food three times a day, and I had to make sure she didn't leave the house. And she did try, that little rascal. She was happy to see me by the end of the 4-days though, rolling over on the table and asking me to pet her.
Or so I thought. Really, she was just luring me into a false sense of security. I thought she was going to stay on the table all happy, but she darted for the door.
There's two here, the other renter, a dog named Jas, and a group of purebred dogs.
Jas has just reached a year old, so he's very playful. If I don't play with him, he barks at me until I do. At least once a day, I try to let him into the upstairs of the house, which he can only go into if he's supervised. He's rarely content to just enjoy what time he has up there, and usually brings me every toy in the house.
The cutest thing though, has to be when I went to the other side of the gate on the stairs, because I forgot to turn off the light. He's terrified of that gate. He gave a bark/whimper that I could only interpret as a desperate plea to save myself.
The purebreds look like this:
I'm going to be seeing them again next week, which is why I'm thinking about all this. I figured I was either going to get paid really well here, or paid really badly, because the dogs had their food measured out, they were crate-trained, and they were show-dogs. Thankfully, the guy gave me what was pretty much $11 per dog, per hour spent with them.
The youngest dog would pretty much tackle me (according to dog-breeds, where I found the name of these guys's breed, the Bedlington Terrier is considered a small dog, so he's gotta be big for his breed, or just really excitable to take me down and lick my face) anytime he saw me. The owner tried to keep the dog from doing that. The middle dog was one they were pet-sitting for their daughter, and was the most well-behaved.
Their stand-out stories:
The oldest dog, every time I had to go, would make me carry her to her crate. The others would hop in if offered a treat, but she would bury her face into the couch. The owner said that it seemed to be a dominance thing, because she only started doing this when the previous oldest died (who also did it when they were the oldest.)
Every time I let them out, they would run along the carpet. The owner said that was normal when I asked him.
I don't know how anyone thought I'd be okay with this. This woman is getting a new dog, and she called to ask if I'd be willing to intermittently move into her house to train her puppy while she was out on business trips. I explained I was happy to do my standard, three times a day, at least a half hour per visit, and up it to an hour for the puppy, but I have a home, a cat, and two rabbits, none of which are really puppy-friendly.
When I tried to explain this to her, she acted like I was stupid for ever thinking it could work, saying flat-out: "Well honey, my dogs eat rabbits."
Yeah, most dogs that have met my rabbits do want to eat them. (Excluding my grandmother's Westie, who is terrified of my Mini Rex, because it's as big as she is.)
I don't think I was the right person for the job.
My work mostly consists of regulars. Most of these stories will be cute and full of smiles. ^^
Cats
Two of my regulars have come from my grandmother's rental home. She bought the building and land from us, and at this point, it was a 2-story garage. It was owned by hoarders of everything, so it wasn't pretty. The first pet-sitting job I ever had was just making sure these two very sweet cats had food and water while they were out.
The other cat-pet-sitting job was more stringent. I was to give the cat a half-can of cat-food three times a day, and I had to make sure she didn't leave the house. And she did try, that little rascal. She was happy to see me by the end of the 4-days though, rolling over on the table and asking me to pet her.
Or so I thought. Really, she was just luring me into a false sense of security. I thought she was going to stay on the table all happy, but she darted for the door.
Dogs
There's two here, the other renter, a dog named Jas, and a group of purebred dogs.
Jas has just reached a year old, so he's very playful. If I don't play with him, he barks at me until I do. At least once a day, I try to let him into the upstairs of the house, which he can only go into if he's supervised. He's rarely content to just enjoy what time he has up there, and usually brings me every toy in the house.
The cutest thing though, has to be when I went to the other side of the gate on the stairs, because I forgot to turn off the light. He's terrified of that gate. He gave a bark/whimper that I could only interpret as a desperate plea to save myself.
The purebreds look like this:
I'm going to be seeing them again next week, which is why I'm thinking about all this. I figured I was either going to get paid really well here, or paid really badly, because the dogs had their food measured out, they were crate-trained, and they were show-dogs. Thankfully, the guy gave me what was pretty much $11 per dog, per hour spent with them.
The youngest dog would pretty much tackle me (according to dog-breeds, where I found the name of these guys's breed, the Bedlington Terrier is considered a small dog, so he's gotta be big for his breed, or just really excitable to take me down and lick my face) anytime he saw me. The owner tried to keep the dog from doing that. The middle dog was one they were pet-sitting for their daughter, and was the most well-behaved.
Their stand-out stories:
The oldest dog, every time I had to go, would make me carry her to her crate. The others would hop in if offered a treat, but she would bury her face into the couch. The owner said that it seemed to be a dominance thing, because she only started doing this when the previous oldest died (who also did it when they were the oldest.)
Every time I let them out, they would run along the carpet. The owner said that was normal when I asked him.
Yeah, sorry...no.
I don't know how anyone thought I'd be okay with this. This woman is getting a new dog, and she called to ask if I'd be willing to intermittently move into her house to train her puppy while she was out on business trips. I explained I was happy to do my standard, three times a day, at least a half hour per visit, and up it to an hour for the puppy, but I have a home, a cat, and two rabbits, none of which are really puppy-friendly.
When I tried to explain this to her, she acted like I was stupid for ever thinking it could work, saying flat-out: "Well honey, my dogs eat rabbits."
Yeah, most dogs that have met my rabbits do want to eat them. (Excluding my grandmother's Westie, who is terrified of my Mini Rex, because it's as big as she is.)
I don't think I was the right person for the job.