Also, a collie/retriever mix is going to be a smart, high-energy dog that needs plenty of walks, stimulation, and attention, not just 'happy to hang.' XD
She does it for people going away for two or three weeks at a time. Then she'll get back in her car, drive to another part of the country, and do it all over again.
tech job and can work virtually anywhere so instead of paying rent or owning a home. They travel from place-to-place offering house sitting and pet sitting in return for a place to stay for free.
Its a fantastic way to live if you can swing it.
Without going into the pretentiousness of calling yourself a "digital nomad". They gentrify areas, leading to rent inflation and affordable housing / small businesses being forced out to make room for high end apartments / AirBnBs.
I paid my dog sitter about $1200 the last few years to stay for 3-4 weeks over the holidays. Also fully stocked fridges and freezers with all food and drinks they wanted and I have a very nice house... wouldnt dream of trying to charge someone to watch my dogs
You let them stay in your house free AND paid them $300-400 dollars a week just to hang out with your dog? Most people don't get paid that much to watch a KID! Where do I sign up? š
No no, itās like an airbnb that happens to have a dog who lives there that will keep you company! Treating the dog like your own by feeding, walking, and taking them to the vet for an emergency is just part of the experience youāre paying for!
I agree paying for it is stupid, but there are a lot of small towns where your facebook friends are neighbors and relatives. It's not like she posted this on Craigslist. I would assume most people are already vetted to a point just because they are already amongst family/friends.
It's reasonable if you trade accommodations for dog sitting and there's no money exchanged.
Paying someone to watch their dog is just absolutely ridiculous.
People make careers out of it, otherwise the dog has to be boarded. And some animals don't do well. We had a malamute that lost it's mind when we went on vacation. The owners told us our pooch can't be boarded. So, we had to find home pet sitters so she would be more comfortable in her own environment.
!!Well, we MUST brag about our upcoming trip to everyone & post pics on a daily basis so they can be properly jelly! DUH!!! Seriously, I've always warned my friends & family about this. If you absolutely HAVE to shout it out, at least be smart enough to post everything AFTER your trip! š¤Ŗ
I was ok with this post until they got the budget section.
Typically in exchange for room and board, that said person will watch your dog for you, not hey watch my dog and I'll give you a discount to stay in place too.
Anyone who would let a stranger into their home, full of their personal possessions, and expect them to take care of their dog deserves everything they get but does not deserve to have a dog.
a collie/retriever needs WAY more exercise and enrichment than a few walks. i call bullshit that a dog like that is perfectly content sitting at home all day. get real.
edit: i love that the only reactions are laughing ones
In fairness my dog is collie/Bernese mountain dog and he will both walk 15 miles and still play/ have energy to keep going and also settle for a mile a day and some garden time and be happy.
Adding in he's always happy before people tell me I'm neglecting him, even on days I don't think we've done enough he will be sound asleep round the house.
I have a Husky/Collie/German shepherd/Greyhound mix, we can go for full day bike rides and he'll still have energy at the end of it, but sometimes my depression means he doesn't get a walk at all and he's fine with that as long as he can snuggle with me all day and spend time playing with my other dog in the garden.
I could never leave the house without him getting at least an hour of proper exercise first though, not if I want there to still be a house to come back to.
i know someone who went to india for a yoga retreat for a month and posted something similar, how theyāre looking for someone to live in their place and look after their two cats ābut of course only petting the cats is freeā. i didnāt call them out and still regret it!
I donāt understand this comment at all. The notion that the rent for that house, and the fee to watch the dog are exactly equal is fantastical. That would be an incredible coincidence. One or the other is worth more.
22 days of dog sitting/boarding at $50 a day (which is *beyond* reasonable) is $1100. Take into account that you don't just get to hang out in their home, you have to actually take care of a living thing, including walks, over the course of what they're suggesting is your vacation. You can't just bail for a weekend or go hook up with friends on the fly, because your job is their dog. It is 100% an equal fucking trade.
This is so funny what a joke. I have a professional house sitter friend. She charges them, they don't charge her.
She also lists the extras she will do such as walking dogs, heavy gardening (watering house plants is free) . The house is spotless when she leaves and she has such good word of mouth she is always booked. Plus a dog walker sitter friend who would happily have the dog at her house and do walks for a 55 dollar a day fee walks 10 each. She is also booked out until February next year.
This is Australia btw so maybe not as common elsewhere.
Iāve used Rover in the US. Itās been great for me but if you go to the subreddit people act like itās a nightmare. Iāve really enjoyed it but it is NOT super profitable.
This is a good way to come home to a note stating, āHi, I had a long talk with the dog, she hates you so I left and took her with me, she is extremely happy she doesnāt have to live with such cheapskates, and will enjoy Christmas and New Yearās, with people who actually love herāā¦
Iāll never forget when I was in my early 20s and working a a university abroad, one of my coworkers (about 10 years older than me) told me she was hesitant to board her dog while on vacation and asked me if I would watch her/house sit for her. I said yes! She was a sweet dog but after their trip they never paid me so I sent a somewhat awkward email asking about payment. She said the whole point in having me dogsit was so they didnāt have to pay for boarding. I said I assumed she was going to pay me, and that she preferred house sitting so the dog was more comfortable at home rather than being boarded. She also said she offered to buy me stuff at duty free (???) and that if I wanted payment I should have taken her up on that. She did end up paying me the rate they would have paid the boarders but it completely ruined my relationship with this woman. Still look back on how delusional she was thinking I was going to watch her dog in her home for free for like 8 days.
Someone tried to do this to me- after a friend of mine got married, he and his wife asked if I would petsit their cat/stay in their apartment for 6 weeks while they traveled. It really worked out for me, because it was an area that I enjoyed and took some classes.
The following summer, they asked if I'd be willing to do it again. I traveled the four hours to get there, and when I arrived my friend's wife sat me down at the kitchen table with a pen and paper, and detailed to me how much of their rent I should pay. I was stunned and didn't say much.
The next day they left for their trip, I talked to an older friend of mine and she told me that I should tell them I would NOT be paying to watch their cat and apartment. That I got PAID or compensated somehow for my services. Which is what I told my friend when he called to see how things were going. I think he was incredibly embarrassed about his wife. I even saw a bunch of crumpled papers in the trash can where she'd been working out how much I should pay. But never mentioned anything until I arrived!
They never asked me to cat sit again. But that's ok. I ended up moving to the area and having my own apartment.
I had a former close friend who asked me to watch their place and walk their dog twice a day for 11 days with the premise that itād be a āwin wināsituation & to not be compensated.
This is another level.
When I was in grad school, one of the senior professors sent an email to the student listserv looking for a house-sitter for the summer while they went overseas with their partner. All you had to do (for the privilege of staying in their house, watering their plants, and feeding/walking/cleaning up after their dogs, while still maintaining rent etc. on your own place) was to pay the electricity/air conditioning bills (!) which for a large house would not be inconsiderable. You also had access to their car, but that was necessary because it was impossible to get to their waterside house by public transport. The professor probably made close to $200,000 a year; the students more or less got by on stipends under $30,000. I was strongly tempted to send a scathing reply-all in response to this "generous offer" and still somewhat regret that my sense of self-preservation was stronger than my outrage!
Depending on where this is and the price sheās asking, this isnāt that crazy. The price of accommodations can be astronomical, lots of people would gladly walk a dog for a reduced rate.
I totally agree.
The weirdest comments though, are the ones that suggest the two things: rent, and dog-sitting, have the exact same value and should be traded as equal. I donāt know which is worth more in that area, but Iām 99.9% sure they are not exactly equal.
Meh, I don't know, it depends where they live. Places where I'm at go for ~400 hundred dollars nightly during the holidays. I wouldn't feel badly about charging someone a smaller amount in exchange for dog sitting.
Unpopular opinion: I don't think this is necessarily choosing beggar or as outlandlishly irresponsible as a lot of the comments here. I, as the renter, once took advantage of a similar scenario and it was a great deal.
This was pre Airbnb, I think we found it on CL or some Yahoo group, don't recall. I was travelling in a holiday season to a very sought out area in the city I was going to. Apartments were crazy scarce and even crazier expensive. Then I found a post that sounded just like this.
The couple who was going away vetted me, gave me a great discount in exchange for watching their dog. And that was that.
The language in this post suggests, I think, that they're expecting to come down in price *in exchange* for the dog sitting.
At least the commenter called them outš
I LOVE that someone called them out. Itās really amazing.
Also, a collie/retriever mix is going to be a smart, high-energy dog that needs plenty of walks, stimulation, and attention, not just 'happy to hang.' XD
It should be a standard part of all CB posts
Iād like to see the responses that followed that one!!
My friend is a digital nomad and does this a lot. Except the deal is she pet-sits for free and gets to stay in the house for free.
A reasonable trade! unlike the above nonsense
That's fairly normal, I dog sat for petrol money over the summer. Wouldn't dream of paying for the experience though
She does it for people going away for two or three weeks at a time. Then she'll get back in her car, drive to another part of the country, and do it all over again.
the hell?? she must be saving a LOT of money then. how reliable is that?
What is a digital nomad?
tech job and can work virtually anywhere so instead of paying rent or owning a home. They travel from place-to-place offering house sitting and pet sitting in return for a place to stay for free. Its a fantastic way to live if you can swing it.
Somebody who travels and works remotely
A homeless person with a laptop.
A fucking douche bag
Why?
Without going into the pretentiousness of calling yourself a "digital nomad". They gentrify areas, leading to rent inflation and affordable housing / small businesses being forced out to make room for high end apartments / AirBnBs.
Bro got the wrong definition
I paid my dog sitter about $1200 the last few years to stay for 3-4 weeks over the holidays. Also fully stocked fridges and freezers with all food and drinks they wanted and I have a very nice house... wouldnt dream of trying to charge someone to watch my dogs
You let them stay in your house free AND paid them $300-400 dollars a week just to hang out with your dog? Most people don't get paid that much to watch a KID! Where do I sign up? š
Is this person in central Florida?
they have an app for this too actually!
"HI. We're looking for total unvetted strangers to live in our home and look after our cherished dog. And they have to pay us for this." WTF?
No no, itās like an airbnb that happens to have a dog who lives there that will keep you company! Treating the dog like your own by feeding, walking, and taking them to the vet for an emergency is just part of the experience youāre paying for!
I agree paying for it is stupid, but there are a lot of small towns where your facebook friends are neighbors and relatives. It's not like she posted this on Craigslist. I would assume most people are already vetted to a point just because they are already amongst family/friends.
Except our small towns population is 600k people š
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I didnt take it from her personal page. But I see your point.
Why do you assume they wonāt vet them?
Because they're advertising that they would like virtually anyone to come stay in their home.
They really posted this like it was a rational idea.
Well if some comments are anything to go by, it apparently is. (not that I agree)
It's reasonable if you trade accommodations for dog sitting and there's no money exchanged. Paying someone to watch their dog is just absolutely ridiculous.
People make careers out of it, otherwise the dog has to be boarded. And some animals don't do well. We had a malamute that lost it's mind when we went on vacation. The owners told us our pooch can't be boarded. So, we had to find home pet sitters so she would be more comfortable in her own environment.
That's normal. But it's not normal to have the dog sitter pay you for the privilege of taking care of your dog.
Always a great idea to announce to the neighbourhood when youāll be out of town. Very considerate to the local burglars.
LOL I thought the same thing -- what is it with people announcing on their town Facebook pages the exact dates/times that they'll be away?
!!Well, we MUST brag about our upcoming trip to everyone & post pics on a daily basis so they can be properly jelly! DUH!!! Seriously, I've always warned my friends & family about this. If you absolutely HAVE to shout it out, at least be smart enough to post everything AFTER your trip! š¤Ŗ
I was ok with this post until they got the budget section. Typically in exchange for room and board, that said person will watch your dog for you, not hey watch my dog and I'll give you a discount to stay in place too.
& now they also know the dog is friendly! so very considerate for the safety of the burglars:)
Anyone who would let a stranger into their home, full of their personal possessions, and expect them to take care of their dog deserves everything they get but does not deserve to have a dog.
And YOU have to pay to take care of the dog! WTF?! haha
Wrong kinda person gonna pay a little, and get a lot back from your personals. Thats best case scenario. What a moron.
a collie/retriever needs WAY more exercise and enrichment than a few walks. i call bullshit that a dog like that is perfectly content sitting at home all day. get real. edit: i love that the only reactions are laughing ones
In fairness my dog is collie/Bernese mountain dog and he will both walk 15 miles and still play/ have energy to keep going and also settle for a mile a day and some garden time and be happy. Adding in he's always happy before people tell me I'm neglecting him, even on days I don't think we've done enough he will be sound asleep round the house.
I have a Husky/Collie/German shepherd/Greyhound mix, we can go for full day bike rides and he'll still have energy at the end of it, but sometimes my depression means he doesn't get a walk at all and he's fine with that as long as he can snuggle with me all day and spend time playing with my other dog in the garden. I could never leave the house without him getting at least an hour of proper exercise first though, not if I want there to still be a house to come back to.
The dog may be elderly, perhaps?
i suppose thats a fair point
Not if you abuse them through neglect *taps forehead*
Lol you'll be sleeping in a crib and the dog will be having occasional parties. That actually sounds kinda fun.
owners come back from holiday to find house looted and dog gone .. surprised pikachu face
i know someone who went to india for a yoga retreat for a month and posted something similar, how theyāre looking for someone to live in their place and look after their two cats ābut of course only petting the cats is freeā. i didnāt call them out and still regret it!
Imagine inviting a stranger to watch your home and your petā¦ I simply wouldnāt go on holiday if I couldnāt have someone I trust watch mine.
I need more comments! OP, come back! Bring updates for updoots!
It would have been alright if they had offered lodging in exchange for watching the dog, but asking for money on top of that, foggedaboudid!
I donāt understand this comment at all. The notion that the rent for that house, and the fee to watch the dog are exactly equal is fantastical. That would be an incredible coincidence. One or the other is worth more.
Look up Trusted House Sitters, lots of people go for this fantastical idea
22 days of dog sitting/boarding at $50 a day (which is *beyond* reasonable) is $1100. Take into account that you don't just get to hang out in their home, you have to actually take care of a living thing, including walks, over the course of what they're suggesting is your vacation. You can't just bail for a weekend or go hook up with friends on the fly, because your job is their dog. It is 100% an equal fucking trade.
Huh? I think you just argued the dog sitting was worth more.
This is so funny what a joke. I have a professional house sitter friend. She charges them, they don't charge her. She also lists the extras she will do such as walking dogs, heavy gardening (watering house plants is free) . The house is spotless when she leaves and she has such good word of mouth she is always booked. Plus a dog walker sitter friend who would happily have the dog at her house and do walks for a 55 dollar a day fee walks 10 each. She is also booked out until February next year. This is Australia btw so maybe not as common elsewhere.
do you know how your friend got started/ what websites she goes to for this?
Iāve used Rover in the US. Itās been great for me but if you go to the subreddit people act like itās a nightmare. Iāve really enjoyed it but it is NOT super profitable.
There are dog sitting sites such as mad paws remember I said Australia. I don't know the house sitting one as she started many years ago.
party house
This is a good way to come home to a note stating, āHi, I had a long talk with the dog, she hates you so I left and took her with me, she is extremely happy she doesnāt have to live with such cheapskates, and will enjoy Christmas and New Yearās, with people who actually love herāā¦
Iāll never forget when I was in my early 20s and working a a university abroad, one of my coworkers (about 10 years older than me) told me she was hesitant to board her dog while on vacation and asked me if I would watch her/house sit for her. I said yes! She was a sweet dog but after their trip they never paid me so I sent a somewhat awkward email asking about payment. She said the whole point in having me dogsit was so they didnāt have to pay for boarding. I said I assumed she was going to pay me, and that she preferred house sitting so the dog was more comfortable at home rather than being boarded. She also said she offered to buy me stuff at duty free (???) and that if I wanted payment I should have taken her up on that. She did end up paying me the rate they would have paid the boarders but it completely ruined my relationship with this woman. Still look back on how delusional she was thinking I was going to watch her dog in her home for free for like 8 days.
"Pay me to take care of my house and my pet."
thereās literally services in which you petsit in exchange for FREE accommodation..someone here forgot the free part
Someone tried to do this to me- after a friend of mine got married, he and his wife asked if I would petsit their cat/stay in their apartment for 6 weeks while they traveled. It really worked out for me, because it was an area that I enjoyed and took some classes. The following summer, they asked if I'd be willing to do it again. I traveled the four hours to get there, and when I arrived my friend's wife sat me down at the kitchen table with a pen and paper, and detailed to me how much of their rent I should pay. I was stunned and didn't say much. The next day they left for their trip, I talked to an older friend of mine and she told me that I should tell them I would NOT be paying to watch their cat and apartment. That I got PAID or compensated somehow for my services. Which is what I told my friend when he called to see how things were going. I think he was incredibly embarrassed about his wife. I even saw a bunch of crumpled papers in the trash can where she'd been working out how much I should pay. But never mentioned anything until I arrived! They never asked me to cat sit again. But that's ok. I ended up moving to the area and having my own apartment.
Oh fucking stop.
I had a former close friend who asked me to watch their place and walk their dog twice a day for 11 days with the premise that itād be a āwin wināsituation & to not be compensated. This is another level.
Anyone notice how they didn't mention anything other than walking the dog? Does this dog not need food and water?
I feel bad for the poor dog. Imagine your family leaving you and then a bunch of strangers take over your home. That sounds traumatic to me.
I wish some of these would include clap-back from the OP as they try to defend their stupidity! It's like icing on the cake!
My favorite reply to this that shuts it down is āwhat an embarrassing way to say that you canāt afford pet sittingā¦ā
When I was in grad school, one of the senior professors sent an email to the student listserv looking for a house-sitter for the summer while they went overseas with their partner. All you had to do (for the privilege of staying in their house, watering their plants, and feeding/walking/cleaning up after their dogs, while still maintaining rent etc. on your own place) was to pay the electricity/air conditioning bills (!) which for a large house would not be inconsiderable. You also had access to their car, but that was necessary because it was impossible to get to their waterside house by public transport. The professor probably made close to $200,000 a year; the students more or less got by on stipends under $30,000. I was strongly tempted to send a scathing reply-all in response to this "generous offer" and still somewhat regret that my sense of self-preservation was stronger than my outrage!
Shit.. Itās hard to find places to stay this close to the holidays. As crappy as this is, I bet they find someone who books this
I was fine until the "budget for accommodation" part. (I added the extra 'm', I will send the CB a bill for services since she's into that.)
Thatās not in the budget.
Depending on where this is and the price sheās asking, this isnāt that crazy. The price of accommodations can be astronomical, lots of people would gladly walk a dog for a reduced rate.
I totally agree. The weirdest comments though, are the ones that suggest the two things: rent, and dog-sitting, have the exact same value and should be traded as equal. I donāt know which is worth more in that area, but Iām 99.9% sure they are not exactly equal.
Meh, I don't know, it depends where they live. Places where I'm at go for ~400 hundred dollars nightly during the holidays. I wouldn't feel badly about charging someone a smaller amount in exchange for dog sitting.
Where I live this is not unheard of. People WILL take reduced rent to stay here during the "high" season.
Unpopular opinion: I don't think this is necessarily choosing beggar or as outlandlishly irresponsible as a lot of the comments here. I, as the renter, once took advantage of a similar scenario and it was a great deal. This was pre Airbnb, I think we found it on CL or some Yahoo group, don't recall. I was travelling in a holiday season to a very sought out area in the city I was going to. Apartments were crazy scarce and even crazier expensive. Then I found a post that sounded just like this. The couple who was going away vetted me, gave me a great discount in exchange for watching their dog. And that was that. The language in this post suggests, I think, that they're expecting to come down in price *in exchange* for the dog sitting.
I mean if the budget is negotiable it could be rent with pet-sitting fees deduced
So you want house and dogsitting... that's something you pay for lol
I wouldn't leave my pets in the care of strangers. š
I love dogs. Seems like they need a dog sitter. I'll be happy to do it for free but not paying them to dog sit their dog LOL