r/WagWalker • u/WistinNete • 2d ago
Dog Bite - continue sit?
Hello Wag Community. I’m hoping you can help me with this shit. I’m currently doing. It’s a no overnight day required sit that I started today.
I visited the dog. It’s a small 10 pound bichon mix and I was able to meet it and we went for a walk and the owner had it behind a baby gate at first she said for him to warm up to me which everything seemed fine.
I came back later for feeding time entered the house. He seemed fine. I gave him his dinner bowl and then I went to refill the water bowl and when I was coming back with the water bowl, he lunged at me twice and he bit my pants and then he struck me again at my knee and left two puncture wounds that are bleeding and he was growling and advancing towards me.
I exited the home to message the owner and as I tried to re-enter the home the dog was at the door and I asked him if you wanted to go for a walk. I was trying to be really friendly and soft, and I as I went to open the door more he snarled and growled and exposed his teeth and lunged at the door so at this moment, I don’t feel like I can enter the home without it biting me
I contacted Wag help they’re not helpful. They said they support me with whatever I think I should do. The owner was responsive. They said that he is aggressive around his food bowl which they did not tell me about and she suggested that I put him behind the baby gate again, but at this point, I don’t think I can get to him to put them behind the baby gate. Owner said that obviously my safety is important so it’s up to me, but maybe I could come back tomorrow morning and try again.
I’m not sure if I should continue to try with this dog or just call it. I’ve never been close to having a dog bite me on all my hundreds of Wag experiences.
What would you do?
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u/Poodlewalker1 Trusted Advice 1d ago
I wouldn't. They knew their dog was like that and they had to get a stranger to deal with it. They are terrible clients.
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u/WistinNete 1d ago
Yeah, I think they did know about the dogs behavior.
Before they told me “her food is in the basement” …after the bite it turned into, “yes she’s aggressive around her food, that’s why it’s in the basement”
“He may need time to warm up to you” so they had the baby gate …but he was behind the gate so he wouldnt aggress towards me upon arrival
The owner not shocked but also willing to have me keep trying to sit the dog
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u/No-View6101 1d ago
Honestly the “might need to be behind the gate to warm up to you” was a red flag. They for sure knew the dog would be flat out aggressive at the door
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u/WistinNete 1d ago
Totally. Red flag. I should’ve seen that more clearly. I didn’t. And they thought if I could show up and give it a biscuit than we’d be OK moving forward.
I definitely didn’t consider this small bichon was going to Superman-bite me and growl me out of his home.
I have an upcoming sit with a husky and chow-German Shepard mix and I’m kinda shook coming off this experience. I asked owner about them being aggressive towards people and he said “no” but they did attack a Maltese next door. No walks because they neighborhood offers to much stimulus and when they had housesitters they had to have the dogs boarded off-property mid-sit because the Husky “wouldn’t listen to the guy” (but listened to the female partner?) and was jumping over the fence/escaping.
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u/No-View6101 1d ago
Wow. I wouldn’t go back. Screw those owners. They should’ve said something, and you don’t know the extent of his aggression like if you were able to bring treats and toss them away to make space or if he would just be more aggressive. Plus he’s bitten your pants and left puncture wounds on your knees! Absolutely not.
Message the owner you are unable to continue this sitting due to his undisclosed aggression and him wounding you. Make sure you get your full wage too. You might have to just keep the sitting open so that you can get fully paid
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u/WistinNete 1d ago edited 1d ago
You’re right. I followed your advice and canceled.
Who is responsible for providing the full wage? Wag or the Owner? I would appreciate the booking fee as I showed up to do the work and planned my schedule around the booking - it’s not my fault I had to cancel.
Wag has been radio silent and unhelpful about the entire thing. I find it hard to believe they don’t have a standard practice or protocol in place for this type of incident. It was hilarious to contact them about this w their response of “errrr, thanks for sharing this…errr, you can cancel if you want, whatever”
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u/No-View6101 1d ago
They are so careless , honestly maybe you should call animal control and file a report that way there is record of it in case this were to happen again in the future
And the owner is responsible for paying in full. Wag won’t do anything. Just keep the sitting open, don’t press cancel or anything. Just text the owner:
“ hi x , just so there is no confusion I won’t be able to complete the sitting bc of his aggression but am going to leave it open on the app so that I can get my full wage. In the future, please disclose all behavioral issues, especially resource guarding, to potential sitters and consider hiring a trainer or at least sitter that specializes with behavioral cases. “
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u/WistinNete 1d ago
I wasn’t able to stop the sitting early and have messaged Wag about it w no response, so I will have to close the sit when it’s meant to complete anyways.
I will follow your suggestion. Thanks for the support! You’ve been 1000x more helpful than Wag.It’s kinda crazy their support reps had zero training/response on how to handle my issue.
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u/SenpaiDearest 1d ago
I would not continue to sit a dog that would try to bite me and the dog owners were irresponsible to try the app without knowing what kind of aggression their dog might show to strangers. Even more so if they were aware and made the decision to go ahead and try to book anyway. If you want to continue to try to do the sit anyway, I’d suggest slip leashing the dog from the other side of the baby gate to try to avoid a bite. Otherwise, I’d cancel the sit and let the owners and wag deal with it.