All,
I am a new host and am trying to write a review for our third guest who was less than forthright about his situation and needs for his dog. My fiance and I are huge dog lovers who wanted to provide a place for people who travel with their dogs, so we set up our house specifically to be "dog proof" so we wouldn't be upset when accidents happen. (I also am a full-time dog sitter right now). As Airbnb suggested, we kept our prices low to generate interest. What I should have realized what that this was setting us up for problems, and it did. We have since decided to change our policy. We will no longer take pets after this first experience, we've added a security deposit, and we have increased our prices, disregarding Airbnb's suggested prices, even though it will likely mean less business for us.
Our first two guests were awesome. Our third guest had a dog that had suffered a spinal injury and was recovering. The guest reached out to us [partially] explaining his situation, and after reading his 5-star reviews, I booked him at a discounted rate out of compassion. (Bad move). So they arrived and the dog had an accident in the house in the first five minutes—okay, dogs get excited, no biggie. I talked to the guy outside for about an hour while we were with his dog and I found out that the guy was essentially homeless. He had been living at Airbnbs and out of his car for the past 18 months with his poor dog. At this point, alarm bells were ringing LOUDLY. After our talk, the dude went into his room, closed the door, and left his dog outside, unattended. It started to rain (it's Oregon) ... and the dog sat outside in the rain. I brought the dog inside, which was a feat unto itself because 1) the dog is big, 2) the dog is injured, and 3) the dog is terrified of and cannot walk on hardwood floors due to his injury. (It's obvious from the pictures that our entire house is hardwood). When the weather broke, I got the dog back outside where he remained through the evening. Later that night, I knocked on the guy's door and asked him if we was going to feed his dog dinner. (WTF?). That prompted him to get up and take care of him, but then he went right back to his room and continued to neglect his dog. He left him outside until well after we went to bed. We were heartbroken at the treatment but did not know what to do. The dog was inside when I got up to check on him at 5 AM. When the dog woke up, he pe’ed where he stood on the area rug because he couldn't walk across the hardwood to the door. (Thankfully I caught him mid-stream and was able to get a towel under him and get him outside and double thank god for Ruggable, washable rugs). That's when I realized the guy was keeping his dog outside because his dog could not control his bladder anymore. I was devastated. Not about the rug, but about the way this guy was neglecting his dog. Fortunately, the universe intervened and the stay ended due to circumstances beyond my control. My fiance and I were emotionally distraught and if we had had the means, we would have asked the guy to just leave his dog with us.
Now, I have to write a review. I want to be honest but diplomatic. I cannot give this guy a positive review because he should have been completely honest with us (and himself) about his dog's needs, but I don't want them sleeping on the street either. We have more than enough homeless people in Oregon as it is. His dog would do better in a farm-type situation where he doesn't have to contend with stairs or hardwood floors; our home was just too hard on the dog and heartbreaking for us. I don't even know where to begin. I want to keep it very short. Suggestions? Thank you for listening.
