Dog owners hosting

[Cindy513]

I have just started airbnb, and not included kitchen, providing tea/coffee facilities plates and cutlery for bringing food in. It seems that peogle are not reading the listing and surprised. I have two dogs and my husband and myself work part time therefor want to keep dogs locked in kitchen when we are not there.  What experience have others had with leaving the house with the dogs still there and guests.?

[Helen3]

You don't have a photo of the dogs on your profile or in your listing photos and it is only mentioned in 'other things to note. @Cindy513 

You need to make it much more prominent in your listing that you have dogs in your home including photos of them .Do the dogs have run of the house when you are home?

How do the dogs react if an uknown guest lets themselves into the property when you are not there?

[Cindy513]

I feel uneasy advertising my dogs with pictures, (just like children). I will make it more prominent that I have dogs and how they react when visitors arrive. They are friendly dogs.

[Cindy513]

If I am not there guest will not arrive through the door that they are kept. My point is, will my dogs be safe while I am not there?

[Mark116]

@Cindy513  Me, personally, I wouldn't leave my pets in a situation where the guests had access to where they were.  It only takes one bad guest who leaves a door open and the dogs get out, or potentially, something worse.  There are a number of people who do host with pets, but it seems like a lot of them are working from home so there are not long periods of time where the pets would be unsupervised and alone with the guests.  

You could also just start adding a sentence to your messages, XX, confirming your arrival time, XX, and wanted to make sure you took note that we have two dogs, and XX whatever details.  I'd be careful though.

[Rebecca181]

@Cindy513 Are you able to put a lock on the door? When I left the house for a few hours with my big dogs, I crated them (which is what they are used to and prefer - these are very big crates!) and the guests had no access to the rooms the dogs were in. I also put up stickers from the fire department that 2 dogs were in that room so they could be rescued in an emergency. Could something like that work?

[Cindy513]

Yes we have put a lock on the door for this purpose,  so when we are out guests have no access. They will be in kitchen where they are are used to being when we are out. I think I will have to say and be clear that the kitchen is not available.

[Linda108]

@Cindy513   You have a very nice listing with great value for the guest.  I agree with @Helen3 that a picture of you with the dogs is a good idea.  Perhaps if the picture was from behind the dogs maybe as you are giving them a treat, you would feel more comfortable as they would not be as identifiable.

Also, under rules, you could add to the rules that guests must acknowledge presence of dogs on the property.  I always introduce my dog to my guests as I greet them on check in.  My dog is a gentle greyhound and is often mentioned positively in my reviews.  I do have concerns that you have the dogs in the kitchen unless you are able to block view of the dogs so guests are not tempted to pet them over the child gate.  You never know what will trigger a dog to react defensively to strangers.

[Cindy513]

Thankyou Linda for your suggestions. Our house is quite long. We have two living rooms side by side and kitchen attached to living area we use so the door to that room would be locked and visitors would not be able to see them. You have to walk through our living area to get to kitchen so there would be a room between dogs and guests if we are out. 

[Cindy513]

I thought i would update you lovely people on the dog situation.  So far it has been a positive experience. One of us has always been in on check in and dogs and guests are loving the reeception they get. On meeting our guests the night before, mother and daughter,  instinctivley  felt at ease.  We left the dogs on their own the following morning for a couple of hours for a dental checkup. They were just leaving when we arrived home and all was good. This was a one off situation as trying to rearrange dental appointments are a nightmare. I think beacause we had not tried airbnb before we were a little nervouse, due to our lifestyle one of us is able to be here. all guests so far have been leaving after breakfast to explore for the day and back in evening. this has worked out well.

thankyou