We've been spending some time in Lennox Head. We've had some absolutely gorgeous walks, and met some lovely locals.
However, it hasn't all gone easily this time, it's caused us a stress that we really didn't need right now. There are challenges that you face on house sits sometimes, but this time, we really didn't realise what we'd gotten ourselves into.
We were told that there was a renovation being completed - finishing boards off around the pool, and making a garden roof over the deck, but it turned out to be a major building work site, complete with dangerous dog.
We arrived to a multi level scaffolding in place, with tradies all over it. So when we enter or leave the home, we've had to walk in/out under scaffolding, with tradies working above our heads with lump hammers, nail guns and all types of equipment.
There is no outside lighting and a large gap between the deck for the unwary. It's been really stressful, and not what I'd imagined for finishing boards off around the pool and putting in a deck roof garden. We've done a lot of renovation in our own home, but not at this level of scaffolding and amount of tradies. Next time? I'll ask for more information. I seriously underestimated this.
The third day of our house sit, we took the darling dog we are minding out for her usual walk. However, this time when we arrived back, there was a dog lying near the building siteworks. I stopped in my tracks when it ran down the driveway at us, teeth bared, back arched and hackles up.
In dog language that means I'm about to attack you. I had nothing to protect myself with, and I was first in line between it and my husband walking the dog we are minding down the driveway. To say my heart started pounding, is an understatement.
My son works in animal management, and he's given us some really helpful advice on what to watch for in dog behaviour. We've also had dogs of our own all our lives, so we are no newcomers to dog behaviour.
I called out to the workers to contain their dog, and was met with a very underwhelming response. The dog owner tradie, signalled it to stop and it slunk into the garage that we had to walk past.
In retrospect, I wish now, that I'd called the owner of the building company and had it removed from the site before we walked past it. And called the council as well to make a formal complaint.
The next day, Kevin had an interaction with the tradie about his dog and was met with a really agressive response. That attitude was simply not OK, no apology at all, and at that point I messaged the owners of the home who were overseas, for them to deal with the issue. Normally, we like to handle any issues, so that owners have their lovely holiday with no worries. However, this case needed their action.
We had a few very uncomfortable days worried about that dog attacking either us, or the beautiful dog we were minding. One of the tradies said that the two dogs didn't get on, and that that behaviour had been going on for 6 months. SIX MONTHS! The poor dog we are minding, has been frightened to walk back down her driveway because of what she might find. AND to top it off, we weren't warned about this going on.
A house sitter minding a home at Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast, had their 5 year old child killed in a dog attack on Christmas Eve 2021. While playing in the pool, the dog they were minding rushed at the child mauled his back and neck, and there was nothing she could do to help. "They were house sitting a house, so it's not their dog and they were playing in the backyard and apparently the dog has just turned," Mr Young said. news report here.
So between renovation dust in the house; a makeshift barrier on the staircase being taken away with nothing to protect the dog or us from falling over; the dangers of walking under the scaffolding; having to deal with a very rude tradie; the lack of warning about what we'd encounter, it's left us with a really uneasy feeling about house sitting in future. Will we house sit again? Not sure right now.
For me what I realise in retrospect is, ask the owners to send through photos of the site, if they say they're finishing off things around the house. What they've been putting up with, may be your nightmare, or on the other hand it may be OK with you. It wasn't with us. We don't want to do renovations in our own home, let alone move into someone elses. If you are forwarned you can make an informed choice. And you never have to put up with a dog who is aggressively threatening you. Call animal management, and report it.
How to tell if a dog is going to attack click here.
