Pet Sitting

toedtoes wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

Boxer Lovers wrote:
Hear this c.g.owners?

We had just such a service until a "he wouldn't hurt a flea" dog severely injured one of our workers. The worker was putting the dog's leash on for the third walk of the day when the dog suddenly turned and repeated bit them on the hand and arm. The injuries required several months of rehabilitation and two surgeries. It appears that some dogs regard that the rv as their home and they will defend it against strangers while otherwise being extremely docile in any other setting. Needless to say, we are out of the dog sitting business.

There are several reasons for a dog to bite under these circumstances:

1. Defending their territory;

2. Fear of a relative stranger coming into their home while the owners are gone;

3. Fear of a relative stranger attempting to remove the dog from its familiar territory;

4. Fear due to too much "change" in the daily routine with a relative stranger involved (which is what the above situation sounds like to me - the dog handled two prior visits fine, so it doesn't make sense that it suddenly needed to defend its territory, unless the walker was a different person from the prior visits).

I would NEVER allow a stranger to come into my home/RV and attempt to remove the dogs without my being there. And a person who has only spent an hour or two with my dogs while I was there with them IS a stranger to my dogs.

In addition, I do not trust someone I barely know to handle my dogs appropriately, no matter what other strangers say about them (reviews, etc.). I've seen way too many situations occur because someone who "is really good with animals/dogs" wasn't good enough to get the dog's signals, or simply thought that all dogs react and think the same way.

Ditto.

There ARE very good, professional pet sitters out there who know what they're doing and understand the risks of going into a dog's territory. We have one for our cats, and I wouldn't hesitate to let her care for our dog. I thoroughly checked her out before signing on with her.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people who advertise their services as pet sitters are totally clueless about canine behavior and don't even realize what they don't know. That's very dangerous.

Would I expect to find a knowledgeable, professional pet sitter employed by a campground? No. And thus there's no way I would consider using one.