Puppy back from dogsitter smelling of smoke

Miss_Havisham

even if he's not there long enough to be in danger from passive smoking, the poor little thing might suffer discomfort from smoke irritating his eyes and nose which is particularly sensitive in dogs. i hope you can get it sorted amicably.

rising_from_the_ashes

I'd not be happy either ...... used to be a smoker but never smoked in the house as didn't want my pets being subjected to passive smoking - and would therefore expect the same from anyone looking after my pets.

TBH even if they agreed not to smoke while my pet was there (but how on earth would you know this for sure?), I'd not want them in the house with them and I'd personally have to look for a new dog sitter.

catkins

Thanks for all of your replies. I am glad that you don't think me and OH are over reacting. As I say, we were both upset and a bit annoyed but my friend thought we were being ridiculous.

I am not sure how we will mention it as we don't want to upset her. She is a lovely person and, even if we don't get her to dogsit any more, we will still want her to bath and groom our dog.

The problem is, as another poster has said, even if she says they won't smoke around him how do we know she will stick to this? It may be that we only use her for daytime care as she does this at her workplace and use a different sitter for any overnight stays.

She has got a dog of her own so presumably her and/or her boyfriend smoke around him.

moggymutt

Itsnt it daft that we worry about hurting people's feelings when we ask them not to smoke, but we wouldnt if they physically hurt us in other ways.

I dont think you are overeacting at all- the sitter is the one being tup if it has never occurred to her that she is harming the dog.

Sambucus_Nigra

'Hi - how you doing, listen thanks for looking after Bertie the other day. How was he? He's so cute. We were just wondering where you took him as he smelt of smoke and wondered if he was ok round a bonfire/fireworks or whether he was nervous as he was a bit tetchy on bonfire night. Oh, you didn't take him to a bonfire - how odd...' and take it from there.

seven-day-weekend

I am a professional petsitter (in the client's house, not mine), and don't smoke, so have actually never considered this.

I suppose even if I did smoke, I would not do it in the client's house anyway, so again the situation would not have arisen.

However, now I have considered it, I suppose most smokers would not actually see anything wrong with smoking in their own home, even if there were others (human or animal) around.

I think you are going to have to tell your sitter that you do not want your dog in a smokey environment.

(I had a friend when I lived in Spain, she and her husband smoked so much that I was always coughing and my eyes streaming every time I went there. I would have to change and have a shower when I came back. They used to look after someone's dog occasionally. It never would have occurred to me to ask them not to smoke in their own home, and obviously did not occur to the dog's owner (a non-smoker) either. OTOH, they were not offering a professional service, just a favour. Rambling, sorry!).

stir_crazy

I think it probably wouldn't occur to a lot of smokers about the danger to pets. My family all smoke, including in the house, I'm the only one who doesn't and they don't even think about the smell of smoke on people or pets, let alone the fact that anything in the room with them is being subjected to passive smoking. My mum actually offered to store my wedding dress before I got married so it goes to show how little she thinks of it. Perhaps your dog sitter or her boyfriend never thought of the effect on your puppy. Is your dog sitter also looking after other people's dogs? Perhaps it is worth dropping a few hints.

_Andy_

OP you're not over-reacting at all. I wouldn't ever use them again, if they're smoking in front of your pet they don't respect them, end of.

catkins

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

'Hi - how you doing, listen thanks for looking after Bertie the other day. How was he? He's so cute. We were just wondering where you took him as he smelt of smoke and wondered if he was ok round a bonfire/fireworks or whether he was nervous as he was a bit tetchy on bonfire night. Oh, you didn't take him to a bonfire - how odd...' and take it from there.

Good idea. I may well use this when I speak to her.

stir_crazy wrote: »

I think it probably wouldn't occur to a lot of smokers about the danger to pets. My family all smoke, including in the house, I'm the only one who doesn't and they don't even think about the smell of smoke on people or pets, let alone the fact that anything in the room with them is being subjected to passive smoking. My mum actually offered to store my wedding dress before I got married so it goes to show how little she thinks of it. Perhaps your dog sitter or her boyfriend never thought of the effect on your puppy. Is your dog sitter also looking after other people's dogs? Perhaps it is worth dropping a few hints.

Yes she does look after other dogs as well.

As I said, he has stayed with her before and we have not noticed any smell when he came back. Neither me or OH have ever smoked and can smell smoke quite strongly on other people, in their homes etc. I would have thought that it would have more than just 1 or 2 cigarettes for him to smell so strongly.

Also as I said, neither of us have ever smelt smoke on her and although not really thought about it would probably guess that she does not smoke - could of course be wrong though! Her boyfriend we don't know that well - have only met him a couple of times. I know she was working some of the weekend so her boyfriend spent more time with our dog than she did. Maybe he doesn't smoke in the house when she is there?

We have only been in the house briefly, some time ago, when they first got the house and don't remember thinking it smelt of smoke. Now either she picks up and brings back our dog or we just drop him off at her door. I know they are doing a lot of work now on the house and I get the impression she doesn't want to invite us in as maybe a bit embarrassed? I think that is why she offers to come to us to pick and up and return.

marmitepotato

How many cigarettes did your puppy smoke?

On a serious note, I wouldn't care if the dog sitter smoked, just as long As I know my puppy is being loved, fed, walked and well looked after, she could smoke herself stupid for all I care. If I found out she had been drinking and had taken my pup out whilst totally blootered, well, that would be a different matter.