Dogs being left

[David126]

A few times recently I have been contacted by people looking to leave their dog with me during the day.

I have a dog and allow dogs, not common for people to bring a dog ,never occurred to me that someone would leave a dog during the day, or if they brought children leave them.

So I looked at the day care options for dogs locally and the charge is not much less than my cheapest room. They are caged, walked etc which is what I would expect but not something I want to get into.

So I looked at some of the dog policies that the nearest resort town hotels have.

They vary significantly, most do not allow dogs, those that do charge from $5 to $75 per night, noticed restrictions by weight, sometimes by breed, some mention not to be left, some said ok if crated some said nothing. The one common theme was that they were all much more detailed than a simple box tick.

Time to update my house rules, just struck me as odd that if you had your dog with you that you would leave it all day in a hotel room?

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

My husband and I travel frequently with our dog, but we would never dream of leaving her all day at a hotel or Airbnb.  We usually plan daily activities where she can come too (outdoor markets, hiking, outdoor dining, etc.) The longest we have ever left her was an hour or so to grab dinner at a nicer, indoor restaurant. 

Does seem odd people would want to travel with their pet, then leave them in a room all day.

[David126]

I am not in a ski area but there is one not that far away and it is mainly those who will be gone all day skiing, too far for them to pop back, so not just for a few hours, more likely 10 or more.

I did have some people stay who were hiking and my mistake assumed that was what the dog would be doing, one look and I saw that was not going to happen. No mess but barked a lot during the day. Not fair on other guests, not fair on me.

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

If you want to see an example of Dog Rules you can look at my listing both in the Description and  in the House Rules.  Every stupid thing a dog owner has done at my property is now against the rules.  When they come up with a new stupid thing, I add to the rules.

No leaving dog in unsecure yard from which it will escape in under 5 minutes. Check.

No leaving unattended  loose inside camper. Check.

No letting off leash in field of goats. Check.

No letting it get kicked by my horses.  Check.

No bringing dog aggressive dog face to face with ranch dogs.  Check.

No leaving dog tied on deck while you drive away and it barks and screams for hours.  Check.

No bringing a crate that the dog has never seen before, stuffing dog into crate and driving away while it barks and screams for hours.

No blaming me when dog gets a laceration, inhales a foxtail, sprayed by skunk, breaks his leg scaling the fence.  Check and check!

The BEST dog stay we ever had was a wildlife ranger with FIVE big hound dogs that tracks the mountain lions so they can be collared and tagged by the wildlife service.  No cats are harmed in this process.  Those hounds were perfectly trained and perfectly quiet at night (in his truck in their crates.)

[David126]

I have a large dog, near 6ft standing up, but friendly. I simply would not trust him in an unusual situation, and he likes Horses, Cows and I am sure given the chance Goats. As buddies to run around with. So no wandering off leash outside an area I know is secure.

It is 5F currently and he is snoozing in the snow outside, so leaving him in the Truck is not an issue.

[Maria-Lurdes0]

Check out dogvacay.com.   Maybe that's a new business for you!

[Robin4]

@David126.....Ah, but the problem is you say you will allow dogs David. Nobody would dream of taking a dog to a hotel because the management don't allow it!

You have possibly taught me something by this post David in so much as I will amend my house rules from saying 'we would allow pets, but not inside the facility' to 'we would allow pets, but not inside the facility and definitely not to be left unattended'.

Dogs and cats are a bit like suitcases....they are something that just happens to be travelling with the guest! And in general owners have a different set of perceptions to the way others see their pets.

Thanks David, you have given me some valuable information today....but then again, hardly a day goes by when you don't!

Cheers.....Rob

[Emily140]

@Robin4I have to share, in case you don't read my missive contribution to this thread, most people who travel with dogs are great, the dogs are great and you'd never know they were in your space.  I have even allowed PUPPIES and it was so much fun. I may have an unusual perspective in that I'm in a very high-cost area so people are paying quite a nightly price ($250-$350/night) for my little cabin so I'm dealing with people of some means traveling with their dogs.  My point is I have NO issue with allowing dogs inside, I'm not looking to host dogs that are kept like livestock.... but dogs that are companion animals accustomed to being indoors!  HOWEVER, being left alone is something that has to be well managed.  Lots of questions are appropriate.  I just learned my lesson on that.  "What's your plan for Junior today?" every day.

Anyone flying to Australia with their dog will have a crate.  Good luck getting that dog INTO the crate after a long flight in it, but that's another story.  Anyone driving should be able to bring the dog's bed and/or crate.  And shouldn't be leaving the dog except for perhaps mealtime away, and after a nice long walk, pups are happy to curl up and snooze in their crates or on their beds for a couple hours, no problem at all.  Around their owners things, they will feel comfortable unless it is a particularly anxious dog.  I give an extra sheet to put over the bed when there are dogs in the group.  I think most people use it.  Have never found extra dog hair that didn't likely come from my own dog.

Just one voice of a dog lover!  Cheers from Napa Valley.

[Robin4]

@Emily140

Oh Emily so are we....we have been dog lovers since........I was 4 when, as a farm boy, I got my first dog and I can't tell you how much joy dogs have brought into my life.

I am conscious of others though Emily and not everyone looks on our treasures the way we do.

We do have a dog, an Aussie Shepherd and we do have a crate, a large crate so I guess you could say we are well set up for guests with dogs but, on balance it is not worth the damage that travelling dogs will do, to host them.

As I said I will not allow a pet of any description inside the cottage. We have warm, secure comfortable outside areas for pets and I do have this policy because some people are allergic to pet hair. In fact some even have reactions to contact with pet hair, and it is by far preferable to **bleep** the problem before it arises than having to cover the cost of remedial action should a guest require it. It is no good just stating you have a dog in your house rules...people with allergies will still book and expect us to make good when something goes wrong.....not worth it!

As far as outside the cottage when I wrote that post you have just responded too, I was quite happy to have pets in our quite large secure rear garden. If you look at my listing you will see what I mean by 'garden'!

I had this request, and the woman said, 'can I bring our two dogs'! I thought about it for a while, one dog, sure, two, not so sure, what if they ganged up on our 'Betts'! In the end I asked her what sort of dogs they were and she simply said they were about the same size as our Betts. I accepted their request and when they arrived....my god father these two dogs were the size of road working machinery....and they did about the same amount of damage. They were Berniese Mountain dogs, each weighing at least 70 Kgs. By the time the guest left next morning, our garden was destroyed, hundreds of dollars and many many hours of work just gone. And all this bloody guest said was..."I hope the dogs were not too much of a nuisance"?

After that I though, that's it, I don't care what it is, it's not welcome. Emily, guests are coming into our environment and they need to respect that but unfortunately pet owners do not! They will just sit there and begninely smile while their little treasure deposit a t*rd the size of a Fosters beer can in the middle of what was your herb garden!! They will watch while that faithfull hound will roll all over your violet patch because it's nice and soft. They will just fleetingly excuse themselves when Bonzo vommits a belly full on our carpet with a dismissive remark like...."Oh, it must have been something he ate in the garden".....

"YES I KNOW IT WAS....It was my bloody flowers"!!!!

Sorry Emily, I host people and I do that to the best of my ability.....I don't host pets!!

Cheers.....Rob

[Emily140]

@Robin4 Oh gosh no apologies necessary!  It's good to have this discussion and I agree some folks' love for their pets completely obfuscates the damage they can do.  The only damage I've had here in my little cabin was from a 90-lb Weimereiner, maybe 10 years ago, long before AirBnb, who had full-on anxiety attack in my little place and scratched my front door up, trashed the curtains desperately trying to get out when he was left alone in there.  The hardest part was enduring his stress and not being able to calm him down.  And once his family returned and he was a docile calm pack member again, they were indignant toward me, how dare I accuse their dog of anxiety issues.  They complained the A/C must not have kept him comfortable....  

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@David126 - As former foster parents for dogs, part of the problem of bad dog ownership is the thought that dogs can be left alone for long periods of time.  Bad parents don't even realize that the dog is a part of their "pack" and leaving them behind is very, very stressful.  Travel alone is stressful and then they want to leave them with strangers in a strange house?! We made the following a part of our house rules:  

* DOGS: Please do not instant book if you plan on bringing your dog. We charge an additional fee for your pet's overnight accommodations that you must agree to in advance. We cannot commit to dog-sitting so unattended dogs must be crated.

 And when someone requests to bring their dog, we ask a lot of questions to determine if they are, indeed, good dog parents or bad ones.  A stressed-out dog left unattended could be very dangerous to us and destructive to our home.  We ask what their plans are for the dog while they are off doing whatever they are in town planning to do.  We've provided the names of the local doggy day care, dog walkers and turned them on to Rover.com when they don't have a plan.  Dog care is not free in our home and we don't commit to it because we are not sure your dog will listen to us or follow our rules.  

And yes, we've actually had guests say "we'll just leave him behind" or "lock him in the bathroom" or "leave him in the car"....um, no, decline. 

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

And if someone IBs with a dog, we charge a premium daily $50 - the nightly price - because ALREADY the guest isn't bothering to follow the rules.  Otherwise, we charge $15-25 for the entire of the stay just for the extra clean up and laundry. 

[Emily140]

@Alice-and-Jeff0All good points.  I just learned it's important to simply ask for the plan for the dog each day.  People are clueless sometimes. I was freaking out this weekend over guests leaving their dog ~10 hours in my cabin.  I asked on my Facebook page, "How long is it OK to leave your dog alone in a strange place?"  I was pretty shocked by the range of responses.  By people who I know who LOVE their dogs.  My rule is four hours tops.  And that presumes those four hours are right after a good walk.

So to avoid awkward situations like the one I was just in that stressed out me and the visiting dog, I will now ask upfront of everyone traveling with a dog: has your dog traveled before and known not to be anxious if left behind, and what's the plan for the pup each day?

Because even a well-meaning host could get themselves bit by trying to help a dog left behind who is anxious about being abandoned by the pack....

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Exactly @Emily140.  That's why we insist on crating.  If the dog has not been trained to "crate up", "off" or "no" then they don't have what I consider "basic skills".  And let's not even talk about a stressed out dog after a long day in the car traveling and eating god-knows-what off the ground at some reststop, now the owners are gone and the pet is anxious AND not feeling well.  Recipe for disaster.  

[Emily140]

Was just about to start a thread... hope you don't mind me adding thoughts to yours.  I love dogs, enjoy visiting dogs, and accept dogs at both properties where I now host.  I just had my first bad experience and posted what the guest may consider a negative review.... feeling stress about it....

My situation:

1.  I have a dog, who LOVES guests and 90% of time loves visiting dogs; if they don't get along, I keep my dog in my house (also on same property) while guests are here, it's their vacation...

2. My house rules:  Your dog must be an experienced traveler known not to have anxiety in new places if to be left alone, and may not be left alone more than four hours.  Please crate for short stints alone.  Please bring a familiar crate or bed.  I offer references for local pet-sitters who can handle longer absences if attending an event where the dog can't join you.

3.  I do not charge a cleaning fee, nor any extra fee for dogs --this is part of my overall philosophy that charging cleaning fees = giving license to leave a place dirty.  A little extra vacuuming is par for my course.

So I've had many good times with wonderful dog visitors this year. 

And I just had my first issue.

Gal and her BF came for a concert event, and left the dog in the cabin for ~10 hours.

Details:  I didn't even think about the plan for the dog because they never mentioned the plan to leave him here.  I didn't realize until that very morning they were planning to go to this outdoor all-day/night annual concert event.  They left ~1pm I think?  Around 7pm, I started hoping the dog isn't in there, as it gets hot inside this time of day if A/C not running...  Complexity is that of course I don't feel it's right to GO INSIDE their cabin during their stay.  But I'm a dog lover, and worried about the dog, slowly realizing he's been left for a long haul.  I opened the door and called his name, and got growled at.  My dog went in (they had been playing earlier) but smart visiting dog growled and chased him right out. Fair enough, that's an appropriate response, it's his house for now til Mama comes back.  He was not anxious, they spent all morning with him and he knew he was ok in there.  But after nearly an hour trying to coax that dog out, I know he's got to pee.... At 8pm I finally got him to come outside by picking up his bone (another subject she left a huge gooey meaty bone on my bedroom carpet...).  He trotted on out and pee'd what could have filled a small pond, then relaxed and padded around outside sniffing a few minutes before going back inside to wait for his mom.  I opened all the windows and ran the fan for 30 mins or so to cool the place down, then closed him up.  Really sweet dog, but that was a stressful situation for both of us.

As usual, the problem is not the dog, but the owner.  She needed to communicate a plan with me.

So I just wrote her review.  It's long, as I feel the burden it puts on her receiving less than the ol' 5 stars and having this on her profile (and brevity is not my forte).  But, I can't let it go.  That's not good guest communication to park a dog in my cabin for 10 hours without letting me know, correct?  That's not going to bode well for others to have this scenario repeated.  Yes, I'm an idealist and I want lots of options for travel with MY dog. Lastly not good cleanliness to put a huge juicy meaty bone on my bedroom carpet.  I definitely need to steam clean now.  I would never do that to a host.

I would certainly allow these people--and little Larry--to return, but only with a fully-disclosed plan.  I feel a loyalty to other hosts to make sure they know they need to ask more questions of this guest.

Hope I'm not a jerk!

Emily