Friend agrees to dog sit for 2 weeks for $500, friend sends her $170 and then ghosts her ahead of her wedding: 'She could afford to pay you - she just chose not to'

JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor

Aug 27, 2026 1:45 PM EDT

Have you ever burned a bridge with a friend over money?

It's not always a good idea to mix business and pleasure; that's why we have that saying. Things tend to get kind of complicated when you start owing each other money. That's what happened here, and it all but ended the friendship between these two women. When you agree to pay someone a certain amount of money, you should probably pay it. Trouble comes up when you try to back out of something that you've already agreed to. And if you can't afford it, then you should have never agreed to pay it in the first place. The woman in this story was trying to have it both ways, though.

Friends love to do favors for friends. It's what bonds us and brings us closer together. House sitting or dog sitting is a great way to show a friend how much you care for them. They need something, and you're happy to provide it. But it's also not an easy task, especially if you have a particular dog. Some dogs require complex feeding, medicine, sleeping, and outside time routines. It's not always easy just to slot in and figure it out. That's where the money comes in. Folks pay good money to watch their pets. They're like members of the family, and you want to treat them as such. So even when a friend offers to do it, it's a good idea that you pay them, even if they agree to a little less than a stranger would.

Am I in the wrong for kicking my friend out of my wedding for making her pay me for watching her dog?

Me (25) F and K (27) F have been friends for many years now, | asked her to be apart of my wedding about six months ago. For what I could gather she was very excited about this. Around this time she also asked if I could watch her aggressive pup for a two week vacation she had coming up in a couple months.

Now this is where everything went wrong. K works in vet med which I also do too. Before moving in with my fiancé I lived mostly paycheck to paycheck. K still lives similar to paycheck to paycheck. We were discussing the other day that she saved up money to take this long road trip with her bf. As mentioned before I

agreed to watch her pup. Kora cannot be boarded or watch by many people due to her being extremely food aggressive, dog aggressive and sometimes human aggressive. She said she would pay me $500 dollars to watch her for the two weeks. I dog sit and would normally charge close to 1200 for a two week trip, but for friends I normally charge less.

A couple weeks go by and we were talking and she mentioned that she was still struggling financially and that money was tight. I told her that if she could not afford to pay me the $500 dollars for watching kora a couple hundred or whatever she could afford would be fine with me. I only asked that she paid some as watching Kora comes with a lot of

work. We have two dogs and Kora does not get along with them, when she stays we have to crate and rotated. She also has special feeding instructions, potty breaks etc.

When she came to pickup Kora I asked for her to let me know when she sent me the funds so I could transfer them. She seemed a little cold and upset by my asking but the conversation was mostly focused on her trip. During the conversation I found out that she was getting close to

In this story, though, a friendship unraveled because of a simple task. One of them needed someone to watch their dog, but they didn't feel like paying full price for it. You can't just back out of giving someone money just because you don't feel like paying full price. Plus, there was a wedding on the line here. It tested their friendship to the utmost, and they shared their story with the internet, which gave them ideas on how to navigate it.

$1000 dollars back on hotel deposits for damages and that she spent close to $2500 dollars on tattoos while on vacation. I was taken back by this as she precious had said that money. was so tight. She ended up sending me a total of $170 dollars for the two weeks. At first I wasn't super upset by this but

after hearing how much she spend on her trip I felt pretty upset. As if I was taking a vacation and had a friend watching my pet I would have set aside money to ensure I could pay that friend for taking care of my fur baby.

After she sent me the money I messaged her a couple times to ask about things for my wedding, bachelorette, bridesmaid dress, etc. no response. I waited about a week before contacting her again. Still no response. I sent a texting asking what was going on and why she was not responding.

*_{Featured likenesses do not identify those mentioned.}*
*Two women have an argument on a bench outside*

I also explained that if she could not respond or at least tell me why she was upset or what was going on that she could no longer be my bridesmaid. Still no response. I waited another week and sent another message asking again why no responses and informed her due to the lack of communication that she was no longer invited to my wedding and not a bridesmaid anymore.

She also did this about two months before my wedding, after I already agreed to pay for her dress and other things for her to be apart of my wedding. I'm feeling pretty used and upset as I have always helped her financially and emotionally. So AITA for being upset she didn't pay me the original amount or for kicking her out of the wedding?

Commenters agreed that she was right to be upset.

Relevant-Plankton297 NTA. You dodged a serious bullet there

Lewes2024 NTA. She's a user. You got played. Don't bother texting her. Just assume she's out of the wedding and never let her darken your door again.

MangoStrudel NTA. $500 is also insanely low. She would had had to spend closer to 1500$ if she boarded the dog anywhere else.

Fit_Swing7877 NTA she agreed to $500 then ghosted you instead of talking about it.

blarryg Um, what friend? She's not returning texts, probably paying for the inftion she got from that expensive tattoo. $170 for 2 weeks of dog-watching. Great "friend".

morchard1493 NTA. As someone else said, serious bullet dodged. She was hoping you would let the $500 go, and when she was still forced to pay you something because you didn't let it go, she was soured and pl ed and just ghosted you, it seems. Consider this friendship de d.

Flustro NTA Some people who don't have money are legitimately struggling and others 'don't have money' because they spend it on nonsense. She's the latter.

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