[Conflagration2000]

Me and my mate have been WC for about a year now. (we use the trad method but are seriously thinking of building our own wfp system) Yesterday my mate called me round the back of this house as he'd been bitten on his arse by the family dog . I told the women and she just laughed saying that if he (the dog) wanted to it could have really hurt him. We were just stunned  and carried on. Have other lads had this happen to them and if so, what did you do ??

PS hello Dia from North Wales we are in Llandudno we met in Penrhyn Bay about a month ago

[M & C Window Cleaning]

Hi,
I've noticed that many on here don't take on accounts where there are dogs and I understand why as I've been cleaning windows for thirty years now and one thing I've noticed about dogs is that just because a dog is fine when you first meet it, it is no guarantee that it will stay that way. Even the best of them can be unpredictable at times with strangers on their patch.
I've been bitten about a dozen times in all in varying degrees and on every occasion the owner has tried to play it down.
Certain breeds of dog can inflict serious damage if they turn and it's nearly always the w/cleaner that cops it, not the owner. As a consequence, no matter how friendly a dog may seem to be I never go in a garden with these breeds of dog unless the animal is securely locked away.
A couple of years back I had an account where there was a staff bull terrier that was so nasty I quit the job cause I didn't feel safe even when the dog was locked away.

[Nathanael Jones]

On my standard terms and conditions ( on the back of my flyers and "windows cleaned" ticket) I have a heading "Dogs" and explain that while I like dogs and normally get on with them, if I feel uncomfortable with any animal I will quit the job... and if a dog bites me I reserve the right to bite back!
I've had comments about that line,.. but nothing negative.
I wouldn't think twice about giving an aggressive dog a swift kick in the head, weather the custy is watching or not.

I've seen custys do that though in the past,.. the dog bites and they do nothing,.. or worse, laugh at you! Its downright rude and disrespectful, and I don't stand for it anymore.

[M & C Window Cleaning]

I've seen custys do that though in the past,.. the dog bites and they do nothing,.. or worse, laugh at you! Its downright rude and disrespectful, and I don't stand for it anymore.

Too right!

[Pole2pole]

I had a customer call me today to say her kitchen windows were all smeary and could i please come round and do them again(trad) I called her to say that if i wasn't looking around every 2 seconds to make sure her little bloody jack russels weren't about to snap me one in the ankles, i would be able to concentrate a little more on her windows. I swear to god if one of them buggers so much as nipped me i'd have kicked it soo high it would have come back down with snow on it's arse 
Anyways, she said that she didn't realise they were being so aggressive(thye're left out in the garden all day while she's at work) and we agreed that until the situation changed, it's probably best that i don't come by anymore. Kind of a happy ending and the dogs live to see another day 

[windowwashers]

I got bitten by a dog when I was younger, so I have a no dog policy, its simple if theres a dog i do the front only. I never go in a garden with a dog in I always ask for it to be locked away, same as kids (they are worse sometimes lol) if there out then thats not my problem most know me and they no full well I do not like dogs and fully understand.

[Sanity]

If you are bitten, I would either - kick the dog, or write a letter of complaint to tht owner stating that I will be claiming compensation.

If you get gangrene in your arse because of some manky dog-bite you gonna be off work for a while

[Helen]

just make sure the customer knows that should their dog be running free, you will not clean the relevant part ot their property. If the customer will not keep them inside, then refuse to do the work. Although dogs are kept as pets (and yes we have one), it is natural for them to protect what they consider is their territory and if they feel threatened then they may take action! You cannot blame them for that, but you can blame the customer for allowing it! As for the original post, I cannot understand why you carried on working when the customer had laughed and made that comment Personally i would not go back and would be tempted to report it as a dangerous dog and also a bad owner!!

[Blackbushe Windows]

Follow Ian's suggestion. Don't do unless dog is inside.

Peter

[M & C Window Cleaning]

The first bite I suffered was from a psycho collie that jumped over a fence from a nieghbour's garden to the house I was cleaning. It was like he had a split personality. One minute freindly and the next savage, and I mean savage. If I hadn't been wearing high leg DMs I'd have needed several stitches in my leg.
I spoke to the owner (also a custy) about it and they tried to play it down and accused me of winding the dog up. Funny thing was when she came round to collect the dog she wrapped a towel round her arm when she approached it. (Spoke volumes) She refused to keep it under control so I reported it to the Police. They went round and had a few words with her following which she kept the dog on a long chain in the back garden to prevent it from getting over the fence again.

Needless to say I didn't keep the custy!

[mark dew]

The first bite I suffered was from a psycho collie that jumped over a fence from a nieghbour's garden to the house I was cleaning. It was like he had a split personality. One minute freindly and the next savage, and I mean savage. If I hadn't been wearing high leg DMs I'd have needed several stitches in my leg.

Collies are well know by dog people for being unpredictable around other poeple.
I will never understand why people have these dogs as pets. They are working dogs and never will be anything else. I was brought up in a farming area and these were the only breed of dogs i was ever warned away from.
"They don't play, boy. Stay away from it!" I was told.

In answer to the original question, that owners attitude really pees me off. I don't feel comfortable myself in reporting anyone but short of giving her a slap i can't see how else these people can be pulled up.
If you can afford to, dump her. She obviously has no consideration towards you. A bad omen for the future i reckon.

[jeff1]

I had the same problem with a Jack russel, every time I went around, the owner opened the door and out it flew, straight at my ankles,  ( she was to old to control it)

I warned the custy about it and she was another, who just laughed, this made me see red, so I warned her, if it did it again, I would protect myself, after two bites from it, I was ready the next time, knocked the door of the custy's house and out the little darling came : straight towards me, I had my ladder at an angle and I pinned the dog to the floor with my ladder, it started to yelp, and I told the customer that I would snap its back if it bite me again, she managed to pick it up then.

I didn't even bother doing her windows, binned her and Just walked away.
I have a German Shepards of my own, and I would sooner go into a garden with one of them, than a Jack russel.

[mark dew]

I had the same problem with a Jack russel, every time I went around, the owner I have a German Shepards of my own, and I would sooner go into a garden with one of them, than a Jack russel.

Yes me too

[Tosh]

I've been chased up my ladder by two Jack Russels, and been bit by another two; one on my ankle (he got me when I wasn't looking) and another on my fingers as I put a chit through the door and he grabbed my fingers.

I was FURIOUS with that dog!

I also own a Jack Russel and he's lovely; soft as clarts; cats bully him, so they're not all beasts.

I've also had to 'stab' a border collie with my pole to stop him from biting me, before the owner came out; I've been nipped by another border collie and have had a close shave with a labrador; all in the line of window cleaning.

I do clean a few houses with dogs 'out the back', and these mutts are fine.  I wouldn't enter a garden with a vicious dog though.

I used to have a few accounts where the dog would follow me about, barking at me from behind every window I cleaned.  That used to drive me potty.

Dogs are a pain.

[Sir Squeaky]

I can just cope if they're silent.
I just hate that stupid barking noise they make.

It's right up there with fingernails down blackboards and dentist's drills.

If a dog barks at me it's bye bye customer.
£5 job or £50.
How would they like it if they came to my door and I jumped out shouting at them?

Bloody rude it is.

[simon knight]

You bunch of wimps...won't go up ladders...frightened of dogs...wonder why you all became W/Cs in the first place

[Ian Lancaster]

Somebody's doing something wrong :

Close on forty years in the business and I've never been bitten

[Sir Squeaky]

I've never been bitten.
I just don't like the horrible shouty things.

[Paul Coleman]

Somebody's doing something wrong :

Close on forty years in the business and I've never been bitten

You must be feeling quite left out Ian.
A dog that bit me died 6 months later.  It was coincidence of course but I must admit that I was happier doing the job once it had gone.
I've turned down jobs when I've felt under threat.

As for the owner who laughed at her dog biting the window cleaner, I suspect that I may have said a few very unprofessional things to her had it been me.

[M & C Window Cleaning]

I often wonder if the dog owners who laugh at others or play it down when their dogs bite someone have ever been bitten by their own dogs. Properly that is, not play biting.
Perhaps if they were they wouldn't be so ignorant when others get bitten by their dogs. It can be darn painful.

Jack Russels do seem to have the worst reputation. I was bitten by four on the same day a couple of years back. Two in the street who came tearing across the road to attack me and whose owners just laughed and another two in the evening whilst collecting whose owner seemed to think it was some rite of passage that I had to go through to stand there and let his dogs chew on my shins and see how long I could stand it before he called them off.

I have to say though I have had some lovely dogs on my round too. Among them a Doberman, a Rottweiler and a Staff. Problem with the Dobie though was he was big and all he wanted to do was play. I used to have to ask the owner to take him in so I could work. On another job I had a Great Dane who also wanted to play all the time which was a problem when the owner was out cause he used to put one paw on each of my shoulders and try to lick me to death whilst I worked. Fortunately for me he wasn't there long as he quite literaly ate them out of house and home and they had to get rid of him.