I've had a friend for a few years who has looked after my dog when I'm at work. We used to be neighbours and he's been saving up money towards opening a dog day care for years. He has three dogs of his own so I figured it would be good familiar company for my dog when I'm at work, especially when I have to work late hours or night shifts. I financially compensate him for looking after my dog at a rate similar to "professional" day cares, since fair is fair, he's trying to build a career in this, and especially since he lost his job during the pandemic (whereas I luckily and thankfully did not).
I've since moved to another neighbourhood but have continued to have this friend look after my dog. However, in the past year, his behaviours seem to have changed and my dog is being negatively impacted. She has regularly come home with upset stomachs (often waking me in the night to go outside to use the "washroom"), which is primarily due to his new common-law partner feeding the dogs human food/treats. I brought this up with them and they initially insisted I was feeding my dog inappropriate treats (which I pointed out was not possible, since I was giving my dog the same food and treats as before the stomach issues started and she does not have these issues on the days I'm home from work) before my friend's partner finally admitted to giving them human sweets (which he seemed rather forgiving and almost defensive of). This treat-giving has continued despite my repeated flagging of it. Again, they do not apologize or change their behaviour.
This morning, I got back from a 3-week overseas vacation during which my friend and his partner looked after my pup (again, fully compensated financially). When I picked her up, I saw that she was missing a ton of fur and looks like she had a grooming job done by someone on their first day of grooming school with two broken arms. I pointed out that she looks completely raggedy and the only answer I got was a rather defensive, "Yeah, well, we groomed and cut her hair." No prior mention/notice (even a text message) saying that they had to groom her and asking for permission or even giving a rationale. No apology. My dog also seems oddly low-key behaviourally since I brought her home, which I'm not sure is due to not having seen me for three weeks or because something else happened in my absence that I'm not being told. I smell a rat, to be honest.
Since the whole upset-stomach-inappropriate-treat things continued in spite of my concerns, I've been looking into an alternate day care service for my dog for at least half of my work week, both to see if there is a difference in my dog and to alleviate my stress that my dog is being inappropriately treated. However, since this morning, I'm seriously contemplating terminating my services with this friend (who I am now starting to doubt is just that) and finding another full-time day care for her.
In a situation like this, would you bring up these concerns with the "friend" before terminating services? Would you give another chance? I'm always leery of burning bridges but in this case, I'm feeling a little violated (for lack of a better word) by the unsolicited/unapproved hack grooming job (not to mention the other concerns from the past year or so).
I've since moved to another neighbourhood but have continued to have this friend look after my dog. However, in the past year, his behaviours seem to have changed and my dog is being negatively impacted. She has regularly come home with upset stomachs (often waking me in the night to go outside to use the "washroom"), which is primarily due to his new common-law partner feeding the dogs human food/treats. I brought this up with them and they initially insisted I was feeding my dog inappropriate treats (which I pointed out was not possible, since I was giving my dog the same food and treats as before the stomach issues started and she does not have these issues on the days I'm home from work) before my friend's partner finally admitted to giving them human sweets (which he seemed rather forgiving and almost defensive of). This treat-giving has continued despite my repeated flagging of it. Again, they do not apologize or change their behaviour.
This morning, I got back from a 3-week overseas vacation during which my friend and his partner looked after my pup (again, fully compensated financially). When I picked her up, I saw that she was missing a ton of fur and looks like she had a grooming job done by someone on their first day of grooming school with two broken arms. I pointed out that she looks completely raggedy and the only answer I got was a rather defensive, "Yeah, well, we groomed and cut her hair." No prior mention/notice (even a text message) saying that they had to groom her and asking for permission or even giving a rationale. No apology. My dog also seems oddly low-key behaviourally since I brought her home, which I'm not sure is due to not having seen me for three weeks or because something else happened in my absence that I'm not being told. I smell a rat, to be honest.
Since the whole upset-stomach-inappropriate-treat things continued in spite of my concerns, I've been looking into an alternate day care service for my dog for at least half of my work week, both to see if there is a difference in my dog and to alleviate my stress that my dog is being inappropriately treated. However, since this morning, I'm seriously contemplating terminating my services with this friend (who I am now starting to doubt is just that) and finding another full-time day care for her.
In a situation like this, would you bring up these concerns with the "friend" before terminating services? Would you give another chance? I'm always leery of burning bridges but in this case, I'm feeling a little violated (for lack of a better word) by the unsolicited/unapproved hack grooming job (not to mention the other concerns from the past year or so).
