Woman gives dog sitter six ‘ludicrous’ rules to follow

The dog owner was labelled ‘entitled’ by furious Reddit users

Social media users were outraged at the list of demands (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A dog owner has been criticised on social media after leaving a “ludicrous” list of rules for their dog sitter to follow while they were on holiday in the Caribbean.

The dog sitter, who shared the unsparing guidance to Reddit, revealed she was not being paid for the overly onerous caretaking and was simply helping out a friend.

The list of instructions begins innocently enough with a cheerful, “Hey, hey girly. [Redacted] said you were going to be house sitting and animal watching. First of all, thank you!”

The dog owner then went on to list the “few rules and requests” that she and her partner had regarding the care of their animals.

“1. Please be here at 6.30am sharp for first feeding. 12pm sharp for lunch and 5.30pm sharp for dinner.

“2. Please clean up around the food and water areas after each feeding (make sure you are staying until they finish). The cat sometimes takes a while so be mindful of that.

“3. 15 minutes after feeding concludes, please take the dogs out individually for personal play time.

“4. During play time if they defecate, please pick up the remains. We are trying to keep the backyard clean.

“5. Each of the pups will need an individual walk each evening.

“6. Please message me at the conclusion of each trip and let us know if anything went wrong.”

Clarifying the lack of recompense for the dog sitting duties, the owner signed off with the following remark: “Thanks again. We wish we could compensate you but we went all out on this Cozumel trip and we are on a tight budget right now.”

A screenshot of the onerous list of rules (Redditt)

In response to the thread, one Reddit user wrote: “We wish we could pay but we decided that it was better to treat ourselves. Ooopsies.”

Another commented: “So entitled they can’t even come up with some sort of excuse. They literally say we spent too much on our vacation to pay you.”

Others felt that responsible pet owners would factor the cost of animal care into the planning of a holiday.

“They care about their pets but not other people,” one user commented, while a second agreed: “Exactly! If arrangements can't be made for my dog, we do not go anywhere.”

The story follows recent news that more than three million UK households had given up a pet in the last year.

Figures released by the Pet Food Manufacturers Association (PFMA) in May found that while 4.7 million households acquired a new pet during the pandemic, an estimated 3.4 million had given one up since 2021.

Dr Samantha Graines, a pet welfare expert at RSPCA said the relinquishment statistics were “very worrying but not surprising”.

“Bringing an animal home to join your family is a significant commitment and responsibility and the increase in ownership during the pandemic did cause concerns that some people may not have fully considered whether they would be able to properly care for them for the rest of their life,” she said.

As of 2022, there are a record 35 million pets across the UK, with 17.4 million households owning at least one.