Whos to pay?
 

You offer to take care of your freinds dog(s). Your furniture gets chewed up, whos to pay for the damage?

Well I would think, if they are "real" friends they would certainly offer to pay for any damage their dog did.. at least I would in a heart beat!

Well in my opinion I would say the caretaker...I feel if something like this were to happen, the caretaker must not have been watching the dog close enough...but I do also feel that most owners would either offer to cover the damage in part or in full. :)

Those were exactly my same thoughts...

opinions
 

I boarded Yorkies in my home for many years..some chewed, some dug holes in the yard, some scratched the doors etc..but that is what dogs do and I feel it goes with the territory.

I charged $10 a day..when I decided to go up to $15 one client thought it was out of line..so they took their dog on vacation with them. She chewed the carpet and a sofa arm in the hotel room and they got a bill for $800..she called me and wanted to know if she ever chewed anything at my house..yes, she did and I put her in a tiled playroom after the first time...well, the owner thought it was my fault they had an $800 bill, I should have told them so they would know not to leave her in the hotel room alone. People never cease to amaze me. LOL

wow, that's a new one. Petsitter responsible for dog misbehaving in the owner's care...now I've heard everything :rolleyes:

You couldn't have said it better for me!

I would say the caretaker as well, since it was not while the owner was there watching the dog. It is not their responsibility.

If the caretaker has never kept the dog before and the owner fails to mention that they have a chewer. I think it would be the owner's responsibility. But, if I were taking care of someone's dog(s) I would have them in a crate if I wasn't going to be there.

Still I think it is up to the owner.

chewers
 

Dogs under stress will do totally stange things. I do not care how wonderful the caregiver is, it is stressful to be away from family and home. Some wonderful dogs do bad things..caregivers need to be alert.

I selected "owner," but it raises an interesting question. What if the dog puts a hole in a $5,000 couch or tore up a "priceless" document? There's got to be a reasonable limit to the liability. If I was a caretaker, I think I'd just treat it as if it was my pet and an unfortunate accident occured. Deal with it.

i would expect the dog would chew. and pee too!
if you babysit a child, the parent pays. why shouldn't the owner offer to pay for some damage.
i do agree there is a limit. i won't replace your couch, but i will repair it!
i won't replace your carpet, but i will buy some spray to clean it up...etc

I would more than likely do the same. But I guess that would all depend on what it is. We did dog sit for my mom & my aunt last year while they went to Alaska and my aunt has 3 poodles hyper oh my gosh. Her youngest one did damage the weather stripping on a new door that my husband and I had just put up.

He also ripped the backing off of a quilt that my grandmother had made for us and I am going to get my aunt to repair that she sews a lot. Weather stripping I just trimmed it up and repaired it the best I could. Now if he had destroyed a couch cushion or somthing like that she would have fixed it for me she also does does reapolstery(sp). So I didn't say anything to her.

But like I said it really depends on what it is. More than likely what kind of mood I'm in as well.

Sorry to ramble on.

My husband is the one who posted this thread. He wanted your input on the situation. He was listening to the radio at work and this guy offered to watch his friends dog because he was going on vacation. The caretaker wants his friend to pay for his sofa that the dog chewed up. They are going to call the owner tomorrow to hear his side of the story and why he thinks he should not pay.

In my opinion, I think the caretaker should have been watching over the dog a bit more. It takes a while for a dog to do this kind of damage. I would want to know where was the caregiver during this time? I would think for the safty of the dog, they would put it in a kennel or make sure the dog was in the same room as myself. I don't even let Gus rome around the house if I can't take him with. He is confined to one room with pleanty of food water and pee pads intill I am back with him. If I had to leave my dog with a sitter, the last thing I would want to hear is,,,,, your dog did this and you have to pay. Where was that person while my dog was doing this? Why wernt they watching over my dog? I would be very upset and it would be the first and last time I ever let this person sit for my dog.

Does anyone live is San Deigo and knows of this story? My husband works there and I don't get the radio station he listens to here. I'm trying to call his cell but he's not answering. I am wondering if they called the owner of the dog yet. I really want to know if they went to small claims court,,, who would win???