What are the boundaries if you go to a neighbor’s house to feed and walk their dog while they’re on vacation?
Is it crossing a line to stay at the house and watch a movie with the dog?
What about spending the night in the living room with the dog?
The neighbor in today’s story definitely thinks that’s crossing a line, but the kids’ parent does not.
Let’s see how the story plays out…
My across the street neighbors (like directly across the street, straight view down) have a dog, we don’t.
My kids (15 and 13) love it and go over to play with it occasionally, my daughter also watches the neighbors’ kids occasionally.
When the neighbors had their last dog, my kids would watch him, take him for walks, etc. while they were on vacation.
Then that one passed and they got a new dog.
The kids wanted to have a sleepover with the neighbor’s dog.
This time, they were having someone else walk the dog, but asked our kids to come by and feed her and collect their mail.
My kids were doing so, but then asked if they could sleep at the house.
They said they just wanted to crash in the living room with the dog, watch a movie, etc.
After dinner, I sent them over.
Everything seemed fine…
Since no one was going to be home, I didn’t see an issue.
I told them to leave everything as they found it, not to go through people’s things, etc.
They had their cellphones and I trusted them to be fine over there.
I think they just wanted to feel “grown up” for a night.
The neighbor wanted the kids to leave.
About two hours after they went over there, I got a text from my neighbor.
Neighbor: Are [Kids’ names] still at the house?
Me: Yeah, why?
Neighbor: We have a Nest camera set up. You guys have a TV at home don’t you?
Me: We do. They were just hanging out there. Are they doing something wrong?
Neighbor: They’re just watching a movie, but they’re there to feed the dog and collect the mail. That’s it. We’re not asking them to housesit. Please get them to leave.
The kids came home.
So, I texted my kids to come home, saying that they had to come home.
They did straight away.
I explained what the neighbor said and they understood.
The neighbor was pretty upset about the kids hanging out at their house.
When the neighbor came home, they collected the key and told the kids not to do that again.
In private, they told me I shouldn’t have allowed that.
I apologized, but they seemed really mad that I allowed it.
Was I being a jerk here?
I think they needed to ask the neighbor if it was okay to spend the night at their house with the dog not just assume it was alright.
Let’s see how Reddit reacted…
This reader is 100% on the neighbor’s side.
The parent really should’ve texted the dog owner first.
Here’s another vote for asking permission from the neighbor first .
Everyone is on the neighbor’s side.
Dog sitting and house sitting are not the same thing!
This mom and kids learned a lesson, I suppose.
If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.
