Originally Posted by
ksryder
My wife started dog sitting as a side gig (Rover dot com, think airbnb but for dog boarding) and we thought it would be a fun little side gig because we love dogs and dogs are awesome and and what could be negative about getting paid to hang out with some bonus dogs?
You guys. It's surprisingly stressful. Most dogs aren't trained at all plus sometimes our own dogs are stressed or jealous plus sometimes the dogs don't leave our cats alone so we have to keep everyone separated and keep an eye on everyone and feeding and walks and monitoring all the various needs of the myriad animals is just... not the most relaxing thing I could be doing with my limited free time. (My wife works from home so it's a little easier for her.)
It doesn't help that I'm usually the first one awake so I get to deal with the feeding shenanigans first thing when I'd rather be drinking my coffee.
Also doesn't help that I've been up since about 2 because one of the boarders was crying so I came downstairs to sleep on the couch to comfort her and never really got much more sleep.
It's 7 am so whenever Mrs. Ksryder decides to drag her ass out of bed in probably 3 hours we're going to have a talk.
I feel your pain. I have a somewhat similar story, but different. I urgently wanted a new dog in my life because I so dearly missed my previous dog who died unexpectedly and prematurely. But Mrs. BD wanted nothing to do with any more dogs at this stage in our lives (both retired). Eventually I wore her down with persistence and we got a new puppy, a doberman, who is now 7 months, and I realize now the price I'm paying for ignoring my wife's wisdom. I had no idea a doberman pup was a totally different critter than other pups. There are many people I've met recently who adore dobermans and swear by them. I think they're lonely, masochistic, crazy people. This freaking dog is just too much!! Needy and demanding. She resents us when we sit down to watch tv together as she will get the noisiest toy she can find and drown out the tv . . . how dare we not spend more time with her. She is headstrong and physically strong with a bad habit of jumping on one to demonstrate her love, whether you like it or not. Nothing we have tried has worked well yet on the jumping. Fortunately I have a half acre of fenced-in yard because she uses all of it to run around at full speed, for no good reason, just because she can. Any outdoor or indoor chores you have to do you must plan to do them during her 2 - 3 hour post breakfast nap because otherwise she will insist on being right in the middle of it, you just can't get anything done.
She is a monster, I could go on and on but this is already too long for most to read. All the veteran doberman owners claim she will calm down with maturity. I cannot
wait for that day to come. I am a calm, laid back individual being pushed to the limit by this high-strung 60 lb, strong, big-footed "puppy". She has a looooong way to go before she can fill any of the shoes of my former dogs.
/RANT
And the absolute worst part is I've had to admit to Mrs. BD that she was right all along.
