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My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

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Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#471

Post by setr »

matz1 wrote: post #71
setr wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most interaction in life eventually boil down to trusting in strangers (that you pay). Your kids? Schools, daycares, after-school programs, schooltrips, babysitting; let them do anything on their own? All stranger interactions. At most you get transitive trust. But that doesn’t amount to much. No, the main reason we’re able to sustain this model is that we believe in two big functions: 1. Most people operate nuetrall…

Its not that you should not trust anyone. If I trust my dog to someone, then I have to accept that there are risk that the dog my die horribly. Likewise, if you trust your dog to me, then you better be ready to accept the risk that your dog might die.

Sure, in the same way that when I trust my kid to a daycare, I have to accept that there are risks that my kid may die horribly.

But the same is true when I trust my kid to myself; its a fact of life. Things can happen. It’s not like I can stop a car from running my kid down in every possible scenario, even if I’m naturally more careful and self-sacrificing than a paid stranger would be.

But that’s not a particularly insightful fact, and that certainly doesn’t excuse fault/misbehavior.

It’s not a useful sentiment to express in general, and unless you’re trying to argue for not trusting in strangers at all, I’m not sure what useful conclusion you’re trying to reach.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#472

Post by FireBeyond »

gambiting wrote: post #340
rayvy wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting story but someone I work with was actually severely rear-ended by an Uber driver heading to the airport, and she said the driver's insurance wouldn't cover the driver because the driver was acting as an Uber driver at the time of the accident. Don't know the insurance co., but I definitely remember being shocked by the fact that they wouldn't cover the driver for that reason

Well yeah, of course - my car insurance specifically doesn't cover commercial activity in my car(as well as going off road, racing or track use), so if I started driving for uber I'd be 100% uninsured until I got commercial insurance. I think that was one of the greatest lies of Uber at the start "just drive your car for money in your free time!" - that's all great, but no private car insurance would cover you while…

And then Uber offered insurance, as an appeasement, which for the longest time (still is?) third party liability only.

Total your vehicle? Personal insurance won't touch it, and the Uber coverage you thought you had is useless.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#473

Post by astura »

magduf wrote: post #467
sizzle wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not put an IP camera on your pooch and front yard for the peace of mind and to verify they are actually doing their job?

As another poster said, this wasn't house-sitting, this was basically boarding. This is the problem with dogs as pets: you absolutely have to board them when you go away, or else you have to pay someone to come to your place several times a day to walk them and clean up after them. That's not cheap, and is why boarding exists (the boarding person/company can have a bunch of peoples' dogs all in one place and take car…

The pet sitting situation isn't bad at all if you have a strong family or friend network and live near each other and all like dogs. People just casually bring their dogs over to each others house when they won't be home. When I was a teen when my aunts and uncles with pets go on vacation I'd spend the week at their house taking care of their pets.

Without that sort of network, yeah, I don't understand owning a dog either.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#474

Post by james_s_tayler »

treis wrote: post #455
james_s_tayler wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can respect that. You want to maximize the likelihood the dog survives. I call this "The Hard Problem of Delineation". You can't delineate between who will and won't kill your dog no matter what system you use. That's the problem. Though I take your point about the cold, uncaring, capitalist dog walker. Hmmm. Edit: now that I think about your point I can see what you mean. The "sharing economy (Uber for X)" has bec…

>You can't delineate between who will and won't kill your dog no matter what system you use. That's the problem. I think essentially every dog owner will have done something to "kill" their dog but were saved by chance. Dogs sneak out the door when you're bringing groceries in, yank the leash out of your hand, escape fenced yards, among a number of other possibilities of them getting loose. The saving grace is that 9…

Exactly. To a certain degree it's just bound to happen.

The problem lies in the blame game. If it happens on while the owner is looking after the dog they just accept the sad event as an unfortunate random happening. If it happens on someone else's watch it was their "fault". Which it might been or it might not have been but we have a really hard time shutting off that need to find someone to blame for bad things that happen that are out of our control.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#475

Post by thaumasiotes »

tallanvor wrote: post #228
thaumasiotes wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You killed someone's dog. This hits like losing family. Spoken like someone who's never lost family.

Having lost both pets and family (including my mother), losing a dog or cat is different but can absolutely be just as heartbreaking in its own way. Do not underestimate the bond people can have with a pet, and NEVER look down on them for reacting more strongly than you think they should.

People react differently. Some are weepy and some are stoic. But nobody who is mentally normal will react more strongly to losing their dog than they do to losing a person.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#477

Post by cgriswald »

gnicholas wrote: post #176
cgriswald wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing Wag screwed up was its total lack of empathy in trying to buy silence. > a couple thousand maximum Maximum? Many pups cost more than this and you'd be paying to replace at least. You might also be paying for any amount of vet bills if the animal isn't killed on the spot. If you hit a service or working dog, be ready to shell out tens of thousands for replacement due to the unique tasks performed (not all do…

> In any case, Wag and its walker are probably not at fault. I'd be after the driver. Not sure how you can jump to that conclusion. A driver can probably assume that a dog being walked by a person, even near the road, will be controlled appropriately by the walker. The only time a driver could not reasonably assume this is where the dog is too large to be controllable by the person (kid or small adult) who is walking…

A car shouldn’t be within leash distance of a pedestrian. As long as the walker is behaving appropriately as a pedestrian and the dog is on leash the driver is going to be found at fault. The same is true even in cases where that is not the case.

Obviously we don’t know in this instance but in most cases fault goes to the driver if the dog is on leash, and given that this dog did not belong to the owner I’d be surprised if it was off leash. It might have been a flexilead in which case the outcome might be different depending on jurisdiction and circumstance but in any case the owners are going to have a better time going after drivers.

Neither party in this case involved the authorities or contacted any of the affected parties. The walker was already doing something they might not want Wag knowing about (having a third party walk the dog). I don’t think you can make any conclusions there so I’ll stick with my “probably”.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#478

Post by cgriswald »

coldtea wrote: post #231
cgriswald wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing Wag screwed up was its total lack of empathy in trying to buy silence. > a couple thousand maximum Maximum? Many pups cost more than this and you'd be paying to replace at least. You might also be paying for any amount of vet bills if the animal isn't killed on the spot. If you hit a service or working dog, be ready to shell out tens of thousands for replacement due to the unique tasks performed (not all do…

> Maximum? Many pups cost more than this and you'd be paying to replace at least. You might also be paying for any amount of vet bills if the animal isn't killed on the spot. If you hit a service or working dog, be ready to shell out tens of thousands for replacement due to the unique tasks performed Still a limited and insignificant amount as far as compensations go (which could reach tens of millions in other cases…

Parent was putting it forward as a matter of policy. Risking $250-20,000 per $15 walk by people you’ve barely vetted and hoping no drivers whom you have no relationship at all with won’t make a mistake seems neither limited nor insignificant.

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#479

Post by jopsen »

horatiocain wrote: post #284
jopsen wrote: post #256

To be fair aren't most dog walkers paid extremely little? (Below minimum wage even) Many of these services like uber are effective means to underpay people. It has upsides too, such as people having a job (beats having no job). But I'm not surprised the walker didn't want to confront the client. Clients are very unlikely to be calm reasonable people in this situation.

> To be fair aren't most dog walkers paid extremely little? (Below minimum wage even) IDK what your source is on this one but the last time I got one it cost like $40 for a person to walk my dog and leave a little paper note that they pooped.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Wag-Salaries-E1201565.htm

This was just a generic guess..

Re: My dog was killed on a walk with a walker ordered through Wag

#480

Post by jopsen »

computerex wrote: post #263
jopsen wrote: post #256

To be fair aren't most dog walkers paid extremely little? (Below minimum wage even) Many of these services like uber are effective means to underpay people. It has upsides too, such as people having a job (beats having no job). But I'm not surprised the walker didn't want to confront the client. Clients are very unlikely to be calm reasonable people in this situation.

What's your point? You seem to be defending the walker when all we know is that a dog was killed under the watch of this walker. How is the walker's low wage relevant to this discussion? Just because they get a low wage doesn't give them a right to kill dogs?

I think I'm trying to suggest that people who walk dogs for a living might have a hard time -- and, thus, we should show them compassion.

We could also pay people a living wage -- but showing compassion and understanding is cheaper. (hints of sarcasm may occur)

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