Dog sitting was not what I thought it would be like

[CookieandOatmeal]

My hubby and I have a reputation of being huge dog lovers and somehow ended up dog sitting a 6 month old yorkipoo for his colleague for two weeks. Dog is super sweet but is super high maintenance. She is super energetic, climbs all over my sweet golden and takes away toys/bones away from my dog when she is playing with them, cries nonstop in her crate when I have to head out, cries on car rides, and has had numerous accidents in my house. We had a overnight sleepover to test things out and the dog was an angel. I feel like she pulled a fast one over us! Lol. I was concerned about how potty trained she was and was assured that she was getting the hang of it and should be good when she stays over. I guess when I said I would dog sit I expected the dog to be more trained than it is. I'm so sick of cleaning up messes in the house. Dogs peeing and pooping in my house is a pet peeve of mine and I'm starting to count down the days til she goes home. I worked hard to potty train my goldens when they were really young so I don't have to deal with messes in the house. I'm starting to feel like a bad dog person for feeling this way about this whole situation. When her parents emailed asking how things were, we said things were fine since we wanted them not to worry on their vacation. 1 more week to go! Just wanted to vent a little. Thanks for reading.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Put her in the garage or call the kennel. Not what you signed up for.

 

[old lady]

Poor you and the pet. That was not fair of the owners.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My hubby and I have a reputation of being huge dog lovers and somehow ended up dog sitting a 6 month old yorkipoo for his colleague for two weeks. Dog is super sweet but is super high maintenance. She is super energetic, climbs all over my sweet golden and takes away toys/bones away from my dog when she is playing with them, cries nonstop in her crate when I have to head out, cries on car rides, and has had numerous accidents in my house. We had a overnight sleepover to test things out and the dog was an angel. I feel like she pulled a fast one over us! Lol. I was concerned about how potty trained she was and was assured that she was getting the hang of it and should be good when she stays over. I guess when I said I would dog sit I expected the dog to be more trained than it is. I'm so sick of cleaning up messes in the house. Dogs peeing and pooping in my house is a pet peeve of mine and I'm starting to count down the days til she goes home. I worked hard to potty train my goldens when they were really young so I don't have to deal with messes in the house. I'm starting to feel like a bad dog person for feeling this way about this whole situation. When her parents emailed asking how things were, we said things were fine since we wanted them not to worry on their vacation. 1 more week to go! Just wanted to vent a little. Thanks for reading.

She's probably upset, scared and missing her owners. Not sure it's fair to compare her to your own dog, but I hear you.

 

[kimblebee]

I totally sympathize with you. My husband has been working up north for three week stretches and I'm stuck watching his dog. I am not a pet person at all and I am soooo over it. Luckily he is housebroken or it would have been a while other ballgame...

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

Put her in the garage or call the kennel. Not what you signed up for.

I would feel bad for the dog if I did this even though I can't wait for her to go home.

Poor you and the pet. That was not fair of the owners.

Maybe they are used to her antics and thought they were normal. I feel like I'm super aware of these issues because my golden doesn't act like this. I'm afraid my golden will pick up bad habits from this dog.

 

[Tiggeroo]

At that age even a housebroken dog might revert when separated from their family. Give her less free space by using baby gates and keep her in the same room you are in. Reward every proper potty trip

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

She's probably upset, scared and missing her owners. Not sure it's fair to compare her to your own dog, but I hear you.

That's what I was thinking too but she knows where to go to ring the bells when she wants to go outside. She rings them often but doesn't always do her business but wants to go out to play. The first few times she's had an accident, I chalked it up to nerves etc. but it's been a whole week. She went two days without an accident and had two today. Sigh.

 

[robinb]

Crate her when she's not being directly supervised by you.

 

[ksjayhawks]

Crate her when she's not being directly supervised by you.

This is what I was going to say. Crate her unless you can directly watch her and get her outside the minute she starts to show signs of going. When she is out, take her out often. She is still at the age where she needs a lot of sleep. Put her crate in a location where she cannot see/hear you--laundry room perhaps?

 

[sk!mom]

I feel your pain! DH and DD19 are "dog people" to the max. DH has always spent a lot of time with our dogs getting them well trained and awesome. Through high school, DD had an awesome regular dog sitting gig with the cutest most well behaved maltipoo ever. From the first time he was our guest, he did awesome and adapted so easily to our house.
Between our own dogs and that awesome sitting experience, we thought we were dog whisperers.

And then DD agreed to sit for another friend. OMG, this dog had accidents all over the house and howled all night. It was a nightmare. At least he showed his extreme anxiety on the first "trial" night. The longest 36 hours of my life.

 

[indimom]

Good Luck, OP. DD had a dog-sitting job recently for friends. The old, blind, diabetic dog was no problem at all. The pup was a nightmare. Poor thing was so completely traumatized by the owners leaving he would barely eat or drink, bit DD on day two, bit me on day three. I felt soooo bad for the pup. Even though he knew DD and was staying in his own home with his buddy, he was so stressed by his family leaving. We won't watch this pair again, it was awful being part of the situation that was so clearly stressing this dog.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

I feel your pain! DH and DD19 are "dog people" to the max. DH has always spent a lot of time with our dogs getting them well trained and awesome. Through high school, DD had an awesome regular dog sitting gig with the cutest most well behaved maltipoo ever. From the first time he was our guest, he did awesome and adapted so easily to our house.
Between our own dogs and that awesome sitting experience, we thought we were dog whisperers.

And then DD agreed to sit for another friend. OMG, this dog had accidents all over the house and howled all night. It was a nightmare. At least he showed his extreme anxiety on the first "trial" night. The longest 36 hours of my life.

This experience has turned me off from ever offering to help someone watch their dog lol. I think I may try dog sitting again only if it's a golden and one that I've had many interactions with so I really know what they are like. I'm not getting paid or anything so cleaning up messes are even more annoying!

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

Crate her when she's not being directly supervised by you.

This is what I was going to say. Crate her unless you can directly watch her and get her outside the minute she starts to show signs of going. When she is out, take her out often. She is still at the age where she needs a lot of sleep. Put her crate in a location where she cannot see/hear you--laundry room perhaps?

We do crate her when we can't watch her but she hates the crate and wails/cries the whole time. We are always in the same room as her but when she decides to go, she doesn't always ring the bells but just squats. Her mom said she was able to hold it for about 4 hours at a time. I take her out a lot more than four hour intervals. I thought she would need naps too but this dog is like the energizer bunny, she keeps going and going. When I put her in the crate for a nap, she bangs against the door and cries. I have to run around and catch her to put her in the crate because she hates it so much.

 

[ToyStory Fan]

I have a 2 month old pup who doesn't act the way you described, so I'd lean towards it being an issue of proper crate training from the owners. It's difficult to ask someone (even a dog owner/lover) to watch such a young dog - the issue seems it is with the owners - maybe not ensuring that the crate is a place of comfort and the dog's "fortress of solitude". At 2 months my little guy knows when it is nap time or bed time and he doesn't fuss going to the crate. Not suggesting you should try and train the dog for them, but if you think you will be watching it for them again, it may be in your best interests. Good luck.

 

[Poohforyou]

Op, I hope you're getting paid well for watching someone's pet for 2 weeks. I can't imagine taking that on without being compensated. We have a dog and I remember when he was 6 months old he wasn't 100% trained. I also remember him being more anxious than he is now. Leaving a puppy for that long is really hard on the dog. The poor thing probably just didn't understand.

Maybe the owners might consider hiring someone to stay in their home the next time they go away for so long.

Fyi, our dog hated a crate from the get go. He has a 3x3 play yard he stays in instead. He's content being in it. A crate isn't universally appealing.

 

[NewRVLady]

My sis used to dog sit- in their house !
She was a college student and loved having a house to herself on many weekends
I would not have done it in my home like you are doing

 

[bdcp]

Yorkies can be very high maintenance. Because they are so small they tend to be carried a lot and given a lot of attention. The breed also tends to be a bit hyper and yappy. That said, a 6 month old should be completely housebroken and crate trained. I would also crate her a bit more to avoid accidents. Otherwise, I guess you won't be watching her again.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

I have a 2 month old pup who doesn't act the way you described, so I'd lean towards it being an issue of proper crate training from the owners. It's difficult to ask someone (even a dog owner/lover) to watch such a young dog - the issue seems it is with the owners - maybe not ensuring that the crate is a place of comfort and the dog's "fortress of solitude". At 2 months my little guy knows when it is nap time or bed time and he doesn't fuss going to the crate. Not suggesting you should try and train the dog for them, but if you think you will be watching it for them again, it may be in your best interests. Good luck.

My golden loves her crate too but we worked hard at making it a great and fun place to be. She is used to going there for naps and such when she was little. We sometimes still find her in it when she's looking for a quiet place or to work on her kong.

I'm starting to agree with the idea that maybe crate training wasn't really done.

 

[Mizzoufan]

Poor doggie.