Just need to vent. Hope you ladies don't mind.
So let me preface this by saying I like dogs. Love them, actually. I have 2 of my own, and have even volunteered a vet clinic. I was pre-vet for a while and just like dogs in general.
Okay, so here's my rant. A good friend of mine (one of my BMs actually) asked me to dog-sit for her 2 dogs for about 10 days while her and her family went on a cruise. They have an english bulldog and a great dane/german shepard mix. I have been around the dogs a lot (at their house with them) and they seemed like well-behaved dogs, so I agreed. I told them they didn't have to pay me, I would do it as a favor to them. After all, she has been great with wedding stuff so far and they only live 15 mins away from me.
So anyways, when I showed up to get their housekey, they informed me I would also be watching her parent's beagle. Ok. Whatever. I got the low-down and started going to their house 2x a day to feed and walk the puppers.
Long story short, the bulldog was an absolute JERK. He was obviously depressed that he wasn't with his family and chose to act out. Almost every time I came over, I had to clean up poop and pee. He shredded a board game they had sitting on their bookshelf. Got into the cat litter (even though they assured me he would do none of these things and was safe to roam the house).
Then one night, while I was feeding the dogs dinner, the bulldog tried to steal the dane's food and all of the sudden they were in a big fight. Like, there was blood ALL OVER. I freaked out and tried to seperate them, but you know how it is with 2 big dogs. I finally got them to stop and had to see who was hurt and discovered that the bulldog had a puncture in his lip. The dane was fine. Arrgh, I was so upset and worried about the dogs and didn't know what to do. I cleaned them up as best I could and called my friend to see what I should do. I stayed for about a half hour to monitor the bulldog and he wasn't bleeding anymore so I deemed that he would be okay and went home. My friend didn't call me back until the next morning. She said they sometimes get into "little tiffs" like that and apologized for that. Really? Couldn't have mentioned that to me before I agreed to dog-sit for you? I don't care how big your dogs are, it is not normal for dogs to get in fights where they draw blood. Lots of blood. Wresting, yes. Actual hard-core fights, no.
So basically all-in-all, the week got progressively worse with the bulldog acting out more and more each day. He got really sullen and angry despite my efforts to cheer him up. The week was terrible. I hated going there to take care of these dogs and felt upset that my friend hadn't adequately warned me how these dogs were. I would never had agreed to do this if I had known earlier. AND on top of all this, even though I said they didn't need to pay me, they did. Which, in my opinion, means that they should pay me something fair since they chose to do so. I really would have been fine, I meant it when I said I would do it for free, but since they declined my generosity I was miffed when they left me $60.00 for 3 dogs for over a week. It was just frustrating, especially when I did so much extra than just feed and walk the dogs.
So imagine my disdain today when I showed up at their house this afternoon to look after the dogs one last time and return their key. They were home early, and my friend was so upset (at me!!) that she couldn't even talk to me, she sent her boyfriend. No thank you, no nothing. I just got a lecture about how inadequate I was and how this dog never acts like this and it must be all my fault and I should never had agreed to do this if I thought it would be too much. Oh man, I am just so upset about this whole thing. I worked my butt off for them and did them a big favor, and they are honestly mad at me?? I couldn't believe it.
Arrgh. Sorry this was so long. It's just been a rough afternoon and it feels good to vent.