Friday, October 12, 2012

THE PET LADY....long story

Hello darling followers, happy Friday.  I always like to take the time to wish everyone a great weekend.  Today was the first official day of Fall for me as the temp finally got to sweater weather.  So I am happy about that.  I had mentioned earlier in the week that I would give you the details of the cat lady that we had stay here when we went to South Carolina.  I am going to give you the top things that really concerned me enough to come home early from vacation, not to mention the anxiety she caused from the start.  I should have known better and listened to that inner voice when I could not get a good feel for her even though she was recommended by a man that rob works with and we met her 3 times prior to our leaving.   I don't want to be mean or nitpick about things so here are the most concerning issues.  She told us that she would text us two times a day in the beginning just to let us know how things were going.  Concern:  We did not hear from her the first day so I had to text her.  When I didn't get a text back after a good wait, I called her and she sounded drunk or high on something.  I was pissed. Maybe I woke her up from a nap which we found out she did a lot.  Fine, you can nap but where are the dogs?  We found out that they were upstairs in our bedroom romping around with dirty paws on our new carpet all week.  She left them unattended way too much.  How do I know this?  We found a blue plastic thing in a million pieces all over the house that she obviously tried to clean up and not tell us about.  The dogs must have eaten most of it.  We still don't know what it is but I swear it's  the handle to the swiffer duster.   We spent over 100.00 bucks to have the carpet cleaned professionally this week and we installed it 6 months ago.  We asked her to wipe their paws and left towels in the garage but it is obvious to us that she disregarded our request.  She also spilled dog food about a quarter of a cup under the chair in my breakfast nook and it attracted ants from the garage through the kitchen in to that room.  Ants were everywhere.  We normally do not have ants.  Now we do, Rob and I spent hours cleaning that area and bought ant traps to capture any remaining ants.  How does someone spill dog food and just leave it?  How did she not see the army of ants climbing up the doorway of the garage?  It's the first thing I saw when I came home.  She used that door all week.  Concern:  Both dogs looked bigger like they had gained weight which tells us that they did not go out very much.  Georgia has been sick with diarrhea all week so I had to take her to the vet twice.   The second visit this morning was when they found that she has an infection in her anal gland which is from having diarrhea.  What did this woman feed these dogs?  What did they eat that was in pieces all over the house?  She took them off their routine and put them on hers which was nap all day, stay up all night.  My dogs did not go out until 8pm at night.  How do I know this?  We have cameras all around the outside of our house that we can access at all times from our phones.  We only saw  the dogs at 8pm playing in the dark.  What the frig?  No wonder why Georgia is sick.  She was off her schedule, stressed and eating whatever that woman gave them.   We asked her not to leave them in the crates for more that 4 hours at a time.  Caroline is not good  in the crate so we limit her time in there when we can.  She left them in the crate from 4:30 pm until 10:30 pm.  How do we know this?  The cameras record everything on the outside of our house.  We were not spying on her.  We were concerned about things at home.  She gave us reason to.   Rob and I came back to our hotel at 9:30 pm and hadn't heard anything from the pet lady so he checked the camera on the driveway and her car was still not there from 4:30pm.  Fine, I am sure the dogs are ok I said to myself.  No need for concern until 10:30pm when she was no where to be found.   I texted her and asked how things went with the dogs today?  She texted me back stating that they were fine.  How does she know?  She had not been there for 6 hours.  I was upset.  We then see her pull into the driveway a little while after that and she texted me saying that the dogs were kissing her and loving on her .  She was in my driveway just getting home after 6 hours, how could the dogs be kissing her...she had not gone into the house yet.  I see you lady, you are lying to me about the dogs kissing you and loving on you because you are in my driveway texting me.  WTF.  Don't lie, just be up front with me.  You had to go out longer than expected....just level with me.  She doesn't know that we know she lied because she did not know that we could access the cameras.  She knew we had them for security purposes.  I told her in the beginning that she was not prisoner to our home.  If she had to go out, go.  Just try not to leave them too long in the crate.    What else was she lying about all week.  We know our house and we know our pets.  She let the dogs on our bed and she let them sleep with her on the couch in the basement.  Our dogs have their own beds.  They do not sleep with us.  I know that people let their pets sleep with them and that is great but with the way that these 2 play, swim, run through the woods, get dirty, no way can they sleep in our bed.  I came home to stained, muddy, disgusting sheets.  I don't know what happen in my bed but it looked like a dirt bag slept in there.  She told me that she slept downstairs and brought her own sheets.  The amount of dirt and stains on the sheets told me that other things went on in there like possibly 2 unattended dogs with muddy paws were in my bed and possibly her too.    I bleached those things real good.   Anyway, there is a lot more but I don't want to be a total B.  We learned a great lesson here.  Go with your gut, listen to your inner voice when it comes to decisions about people and life things especially when it comes to your loved ones and your home.  sorry so long. 
   






Have a great weekend...what are your thoughts on this if you read it?  dawn xo

13 comments:

Asher said...

Wow! She sounds crazy! And like she needs to lose her job. It always freaks me out to leave my pets with someone else and now I'm gonna think long and hard before I do it again! Sorry your vaca had to be cut short :( What a bummer!

Kezzie said...

Bloomin heck! That sounds awful!!!!! Even if she'd gone out for a long time one day and the dogs had made a mess, you'd think she'd think, "Oh my goodness, they cannot come back to a house like this!" not leave you in total squalor and the dogs for an entire week!

two birds said...

i'm sorry you had to deal with that. all she had to do was be honest...it still would have been a really bad dog sitting job, but for some reason, lying about it makes it twice as bad! you are a good dog mama! i love your outfit. you look so cozy. i'm glad you are finally getting your weather!

Curtise said...

My thoughts? She was taking the piss! An English expression - being unreasonable, unfair, in a way that would be funny if it wasn't so awful...
You have every right to be annoyed and feel let down, Dawn. If you pay someone to do a job, you expect them to do it according to your agreement, especially if it is in your home.
What a shame that your dogs, and your home, suffered as a result.
On a positive note - you look gorgeous! No one would ever guess you were anything other than calm and relaxed in these pics, with that great backdrop and your fabulous style. The other thing to remember is, like you say - trust your instinct. You obviously make good assessments of people, so listen to that in the future.
Hope you and the critters have a good weekend after all the drama! xxxxx

Unknown said...

aww you look all cosy! Lovely wintery outfit


raspberrykitsch.com

xx

Thrifted Shift said...

That lady sounds awful. I'm so glad you came home earlier than planned or things would have been even worse when you got back! Your poor dogs and your poor bed and carpet! Ack! I'd be furious! On a slightly brighter side, you look stylish and huggable! Such a cozy fall outfit!

Anonymous said...

OMG! Does this woman have a Yelp page? I'd be ranting and cursing about her on it. But regardless, what a horrible nightmare. It would have ruined my time away for sure. Sounds like the woman is going through a really rough possibly addictive time in her life and uses these house sitting opportunities to binge on whatever she's dousing herself in. How horrible. Of course she's going to lie. She doesn't even want to admit to herself how she's completely fallen apart. Man, I hope you didn't pay her a dime.

Well, anyway, you sure look great in these beautiful crisp photos. ;)
I bet your gorgeous pups are happy to have you back too. Let's see some more photos of them!

A Very Sweet Blog said...

Dawn, you are good! I would've rolled up and surprised the hell out of that bwitch! She would not have gotten ANYthang! I'd tell her she had lied, I had proof, try suing me if you want, but you will get nothing. I would have taken pictures of everything and kept the cleaning bills for everything. Dawn, remember this. I don't care if MICKEY FUCKIN' MOUSE is doing something for you, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS state what you want and expect in writing; AND make them sign that bitch. That way you have some IN WRITING, that protects YOU. It's ashame what you have to spend (vet bills, carpet cleaning etc), due to her negligence. People are HORRIBLE these days and they don't give a damn about any of your stuff. All they care about is THEIR MONEY. I'm so sorry you went through this. On a more positive note, I love your hat and chevron print skirt :) Also check your emails chickadee because you WON THE MIETTE COOKIE GIVEAWAY! Congratulations girl! ((hug)) Let me know what kind you want.
http://www.averysweetblog.com/

BIKBIK AND RORO said...

O dear, that sounds like a most unfortunate experience. Well, you certainly shan't be hiring her again! It's true, we do need to listen to that inner voice. But hey! On the bright side, you look stunning as always -- such a gorgeous fall ensemble :)

Teddi said...

wow! what a complete nightmare. i'm glad you came home when you did. so much damage had been done. you were trying to avoid all these problems. the mess, the ants, the dogs being sick. something was definitely off. you look grand in your, finally fall, that looks like winter to me, ensemble. the bright blue background highlights it wonderfully.

HazelxJoy said...

Oh my goodness! What a nightmare. It's hard enough to leave pets as it is without having to worry about the person looking after them too. Such a shame she let you down.

Lynn Hasty said...

Oh my!! I would be upset!! I am glad your doggies are okay, but that lady needed to go!!

xoxo
Lynn

PS -- You look great, in this post and the next one!!

Unknown said...

I agree with your assessment, this lady sounds pretty sketchy. I couldn't believe she was flat-out lying to you by text.

I love your layering here. You manage to look super warm, cozy and stylish without even a jacket. The vest add a nice textural dimension.

“The only real failure in life is the failure to try.”

“The only real failure in life is the failure to try.”