I would put this in the pit, but I hoped to get some advice on what to do. As a professional pet sitter, I hate shared sits, damn it, but I thought this one was fairly safe. It’s for a long time client who wanted me to do morning visits and have her fiancé do the evenings. She’s let him stay at her home frequently, he’s a dog owner himself, and they are supposed to marry in June.
So she left on Thursday, and everything seemed to be going fine. Then I got there this morning to read a note from him to her(not to me) saying that Penny, the dog, had killed someone’s rat terrier in the nearby park last night! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: I assume she was off-leash, as was his own dog(he says he was watching his dog and didn’t see what was happening in time). Possibly the terrier who was killed was off-leash as well. It’s pretty common in this little neighborhood park.
To make things even worse, according to his note, he RAN AWAY from the scene with Penny and his dog while the other dog owner was freaking out. :mad: :eek: :mad: He ran away in an opposite direction from the client’s house to ‘fake them out’, and then doubled back and waited till after dark to make his getaway. :smack: This is so stupid. The park is less than a block from her house. She’s there with Penny all the time. It’s a close-knit community and everybody knows everybody. Penny is a fairly distinctive looking dog, and this is just WRONG.
I called the client and left a msg. Haven’t heard back so far, and I don’t know just what I’m going to say. I do know I am not going to walk her in the park and maybe come in contact with this grieving dog owner!
Sorry to hear about that - it really sucks. Sounds like Penny will have to do without her walks until her owner gets back. What kind of dog is Penny - in other words, was boyfriend a jerk for having her off-leash?
Penny is a Chow Shepherd mix, we think. She’s about 70lbs, a rescue from an abusive past who had seemed to adjust very well. She’s very quiet, calm and obedient except when she sees other dogs. Then she gets excited. But as far as I know there haven’t been any red flags. She lives with two cats, and I think her owner lets her off-leash in this park frequently. I never let dogs off leash, and really try to encourage people not to, for exactly this reason. Dogs are very unpredictable, and disasters can happen in an instant.
Well, I’m not a big fan of dog parks either, and I’m not even a dog owner. I think too much can happen, even if they’re on a leash. This is a perfect example.
It was pretty shitty of him not to own up to the responsibility he has to that owner. I don’t think it’s your place to turn him in necessarily, but I’m sure if the shoe was on the other foot and you knew someone knew something about your dog’s death, you’d appreciate them dropping a dime on the perp. I also don’t think you should be expected to lie for him. You should let him know in no uncertain terms that if directly asked, you are going to give the information you have.
Do you have an alibi for the time of the attack?
If Penny was off leash, it is possible that no one saw who brought her to the park. Since the fiance ran off, it is possible no one is sure what human was involved. Since Penny is distinctive, someone might decide to associate anyone they have seen with Penny with the irresponsible human. Since the owner was out of town, you are known to walk Penny, and the fiance is a bit light in the ethics, you might want to be sure that you are covered for the time period under question.
I think I do have an alibi. It’s difficult to know, since I have no idea what time it happened, except that it was before dark. I also think I am going to make photocopy of his confession note.
I know if he was letting her off leash, he was breaking the leash law. This isn’t a dog park, people just stupidly use it like one. I don’t know if the other person’s dog was off leash, or how that affects who is legally responsible, or what animal control might want to do about it. Does this make her a vicious dog, legally? Could she be forced to have Penny put down? I am positive he’s left her wide open for a lawsuit, at least, and maybe ruined her reputation with her neighbors. GAAAAAHH. I know it must have been a horrible scene, and maybe he panicked, but his note sure makes him look bad, with its telling of slipping away while she(the other owner) was overcome with emotion, ‘faking them out’ and his concern about ruining some towels washing off the blood.
I think these things have to be reported to the authorities. I’d be surprised if he wouldn’t be regarded as having broken the law in running away.
It’s also disturbing that he reacted with such foresight in covering up the killing quickly. Has he had previous experience covering up killings, throwing off witnesses, and washing off blood?
Wow, what an idiot. I can just hear the cell phone message he’ll leave once they have kids: "Oh my God the baby got into the driveway and someone backed over her! We took her to the ER, and the doctor said…<click>
He said the note was meant for his girlfriend, and that she would have gotten it. He described it as an ‘inside joke’, and tried to say he had put in enough ‘exaggeration’ to keep anyone from believing it. . Very likely she would have gotten it, but I spent last night worrying that Penny would be put to sleep and her mom would be sued, and I told him so. I told him very emphatically that that was NOT FUNNY.
What an ass! If he meant it for her, he should have left the note on the last day after you had left or put it in an envelope with her name on it. To leave it in the open where you could read it, well, how does he think you would react? The naked girl on the unicorn is so much more absurd than the first story that, along with his explanation, it sounds as if he’s trying to cover up what may have really happened at the park the day before.
This makes no sense at all. Why did he leave a note to his girlfriend who is out of town, then a second note. Is she going to read these in chronological order? Also why leave notes on seperate days well before his girfriend is coming back? Something seems odd about this and not just that it is a bad joke.
This I can kinda understand. When I was out of town for a week or so, a friend of mine took care of my cats. He left me a running diary of his interactions with them that was completely hilarious. (One entry: “When I walked into your apartment today I thought it had snowed. Then I realized that the cats had gotten into your linen closet and shredded every last roll of toilet paper.”)
I leave a log so people will know a little about how things went with their pets. I was making notes, he wasn’t, until that one, so he may have got the idea to leave a note from me, but I don’t know what the hell is up with his sense of humor, or why he either didn’t think I would read his, or that I would know he was kidding when I’ve never met him or heard from him before. The most forgiving thing I can think of is that it never occurred to him that I am constantly hearing or reading stories just like that, from clients, from other pet owners, in the magazines and online. I hear more horror stories in this job than a typical person does.
I used to do this sort of thing with someone else-- we were both sitting someone’s dog and things escalated-- normally at first, “Took Annie out for walks twice today. Gave canned food and a piggie ear”, and worked up through “Took Annie to Mineral Ridge park for a 5 hour walk” and “fed Annie a chicken breast” and wound up at complete BS like “Took Annie out for a pedicure”, “Went to the Four Seasons with Annie for dinner” and “Took Annie to Disneyland-- be back soon.” Nothing about unicorns, though. Wish I’d thought of that.
I would tell the pet owner that, sorry, while you do appreciate her business, that prank was inapporpriate and you can’t sit for her anymore. I would not want to be the one who feels responsible for someone’s beloved pet when there’s some lunatic leaving notes like that around freaking me out, thinking my job is screwed.
:mad: He ran away in an opposite direction from the client’s house to ‘fake them out’, and then doubled back and waited till after dark to make his getaway. :smack: This is so stupid. The park is less than a block from her house. She’s there with Penny all the time. It’s a close-knit community and everybody knows everybody. Penny is a fairly distinctive looking dog, and this is just WRONG.