'My mum dogsat for me but she wrecked my house so I'm going no contact'

Daily Record

3 days ago

She even chucked the dog's bed out into the mud outside and made herself at home.
When you've got a pet, you sometimes have to rely on your loved ones for a bit of help. This can range from taking them for a walk when you're busy or watching them when you go on a trip.
‌
Often, your friends and family are happy to help when they can. I mean, who doesn't enjoy getting some extra doggy cuddles?
‌
And if someone is dogsitting for you, you'll normally tell them to make themselves at home - they are doing you a favour after all. However, one woman took this too far when minding her son's Great Dane - and it left him furious.
‌
Posting his story anonymously on Reddit in 2022, the man revealed that he and his wife had recently moved into their first home together. The couple were off to a music festival and asked his mum to watch their pet pooch.
The son said that he paid his mum in advance for the five-day dogsitting stint because she "needed the money". But when the couple got home, they were horrified to find that his mother had wrecked their new home, The Mirror reports.
The man claims his mum painted every room, hung up her own artwork, and tossed his beloved pet's bed into the mud outside. He also alleged that his mum's boyfriend had a spare key cut - and he thinks the older couple may have nicked some of his wife's clothes.
‌
Posting on the social media forum, he said: "Last week, my wife and I travelled to a music festival for about 5-6 days. I hired my mum (she needed the money, I needed a dogsitter) to take care of things while we were away for an agreed-upon price.
"We cleaned the house prior to leaving, left her with strict instructions for what to do with our Great Dane, stocked the fridge, wrote the WiFi and desktop passwords down for her, and pre-paid her so she'd have some money.
‌
"Fast forward to yesterday, we arrived to find lots of things had been done to our home and it sent me into a fit. My wife and I are 30-somethings who just bought our very first house together, and it was bought [and] remodelled and to our liking."
Furious that his mother had taken it upon herself to make huge changes to their new home, he laid out all the illicit updates she had made.
‌
He wrote: "Every wall in the house had been painted with a colour that did not match our normal paint scheme. The job was also incomplete and patchy in most areas. The previous paint was totally fine, and only seven months old!
"[There were missing electrical outlet covers, [and I] still don't know why. [There were over] 100 cigarette butts in my rose potted plant out the front, and several items were missing or moved.
"Pictures [had been] hung [and there were] holes in walls. We did not intend on hanging anything yet until we decided on where we wanted things.
‌
"A six-foot ladder was laid on vinyl records, destroying three of them in the process, our indoor dog bed was thrown in the mud, [and there was] duct tape found over the motion detectors and Ring doorbell.
"[A] spare house key [was] made by my mum's boyfriend. Now I feel like I must change my locks.
‌
"Not to mention the whole reason I needed her in the first place: the dog! He'd been left out back seemingly the entire time, barely fed, and his dog bed is caked in mud and rain - I feel it necessary to toss it in the bin now."
The enraged son admitted he "lost his cool" with his mum and her boyfriend after they wrecked his home. But, shockingly, his mother just thinks he's "ungrateful".
‌
Feeling "gaslit" by his own mum, he changed the locks and seems set on cutting off all contact with her.
He continued: "Naturally, I lost my head and my cool. I immediately started yelling about the fact that this is not their home. It was not okay for them to treat our home like it was theirs, doing whatever flight-or-fancy entered their brains.
"The entire time, my mother refused to accept responsibility for the actions, began to cry, and called me 'ungrateful'. I feel like I'm being gaslit by my own mother for being upset.
‌
"Our relationship is now tarnished even further than it was, and my wife doesn't want her back here. The scenario has played in my mind countless times and I feel completely awful about yelling at her, but it's the complete lack of accepting responsibility on her part that has me fuming, on top of acting like nothing was even amiss."
Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!
Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.
You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.
All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in!
If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like.
To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
In a later update to the now-deleted post, he said: "I have completely ghosted my mum and blocked her phone number. I have changed the locks and begun the process of fixing my home out of pocket. My dog is back to his chipper self and is scheduled for a veterinarian visit tomorrow."
‌
The man was inundated with support from Redditors in the comments. Many suggested he do some more digging into what happened when he was at the festival, as there may have been more to discover.
One person said: "Covering the ring doorbell was to keep you from knowing who was in your house. I'd talk to the neighbors. Pronto. What did they see?"
Another replied: "If you won't sue her, send her an invoice to cover all the damage to your walls, the cost for hiring painters, the missing items, a new dog bed, a vet check up, missing items, any damage to your cameras, a locksmith, etc.
"This makes me so f***ing angry. She'd be cut out of my life forever. What a violation."