Problem Pets!

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

Problem Pets!

I love my guests but ever one I host makes me a bit harder with my rules!

From now on I am absolutely done with guests bringing their pets. A previous pet request was for a cat that the guests assured me would remain caged. Well it managed to smash a vase in the cottage! No big deal, the guest just considered it a casualty of having a pet, but I lost a vase.

As we have a dog, Betts (An Aussie Shepherd) and I allow pets, my most recent guest asked, on bookin, if they could bring a couple of dogs. I asked what size the dogs were and she told me about the same size as our Betts. I thought about it for about one hour before I responded and in the end agreed provided that the dogs remain the rear garden and under no circumstance enter the cottage. They agreed and late yesterday afternoon, after driving all day from Melbourne (about 840Kms), they arrived with these 2 Bernese Mountain Dogs. I had never even heard of them before but, they are the size of a St Bernard with three colours. Although young, each dog would have weighed at least 60 Kgs (132lbs) and they proceeded to do what big dogs do!

We have a beautiful cottage garden which we put a lot of effort into and doing the rounds this morning there is at least $400 worth of destroyed plants and it will take months for the garden to recover from this. All the guest said was……”Hope the dogs weren’t too much of a nuisance” and with that, was gone!

So that’s it, absolutely no pets again, I don’t care what it is….I won’t even tolerate a goldfish in a bowl. Every time you try to help and work with a guests needs….you get your backside kicked!

Not feeling like cheers.....Rob

19 Replies 19
Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

mountain dog.jpg

I am so sorry for the garden damage. They are knows as one of the giant breeds, nice dogs but hey, they are BIG.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Sandra126.... @Jess21......Yeah...that's exactly the dogs Sandra!!! I tell you, these bloody dogs are the size of road construction machinery......and they did about as much damage as aforesaid equipment would do.

I now fully understand that when a mother says her child is a little angel, you can absolutely bet it will tax every element of your being, both physical and mental. And when someone says their pet is well behaved, they mean it hasn't hospitalised the postman in the past fortnight! They will just benignly smile and watch as their treasure deposits a terd the size of a can of Fosters on your violet patch!!

They will tell you, that vomit patch that you just trod in and proceeded to track around the house must have been something their little dear found in your garden.....yes,I know it is......it's my bloody flowers!! Just a pity it wasn't 'poison ivy'!

 

I won't ever take someones word again about a pet...twice I have accepted and twice I have had cause to regret that decision.

 

There, I think I have got it out of my system....until I look at the damage again in the morning!

 

NO PETS.....Cheers.....Rob

i do love a well worded rant 🙂

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Sabine42.......Ahh but Sabine, that’s the joy of having the English language at ones disposal. English can be so incredibly descriptive; you can actually put the full force of your feelings to print. Other languages appear to be very much more limited in the range of emotion one can show.

@Andrea9 will no doubt correct me but about the worst thing you can say in Dutch is ‘Godverdomme’ which literally means  ‘D*mn to God’ or God D*mn! When my thumb has turned the colour of that Pink Floyd album cover, ‘Dark side of the Moon’ because I managed to give it a belt with the hammer, there are a few more descriptive expletives that spring to mind before I would  resort to bringing God into the conversation!!!

Anyway, I did need to have my say. It was disappointing because they were such lovely guests, we had a really nice evening and we will each leave the other a good review. But I will just make sure that the next time they come (and they are booking again in February) I will make sure that the leg count is less by eight than it was this time!

Cheers…..Rob

Andrea9
Level 10
Amsterdam, Netherlands

@Robin4

Ah, but  ‘Godverdomme' only sounds mild when the G is pronounced in a normal way, but the satisfaction when it is pronounced in true Dutch fashion as that pretty gutteral CHHHHHHHH..., and when one is really mad or disgusted, the full expletive rests deeply and satisfyingly on that 🙂

Interestingly, it's not being bleeped out in the text.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Andrea9 Yes, yes, yes! I leant that in my youth Andrea...I was a keen ten pin bowler and bowled in three leagues and a Peterson Classic each week. One of leagues was a Dutch league, and when one of my fellow bowlers rolled a gutter ball he would scream out 'HHHHOOVffffredomme' and then turn and 'slink' back to his seat around the scorer and proceed to blame the wind direction, the relative humidity, and that ever so slight shift in the earths crust....... for his gutter ball!!!

Thankyou for reminding me of that Andrea...

Cheers.....Rob

Andrea9
Level 10
Amsterdam, Netherlands

There you go, @Robin4, with that mental memory image, go out into your poor ruined garden and scream  that out to the 'g...v...d' dog beasts and hope it'll at least make you feel a bit better!

Cheers!

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Sandra126 @Andrea9....I have been hoping that some of our steam rolled plants would recover from the four legged intrusion.

In the backgound is a small bulb area that generally looks great about this time of year...

CAM02304.jpg

 

Well, after two weeks it still looks like this...I think it's time to cut the brush cutter out and wait until next year!!...

CAM02377.jpg

 

Have a great 2017 Sandra....cheers....Rob

Andrea9
Level 10
Amsterdam, Netherlands

@Robin4

What a sad bunch of plants... probably suffering under trauma vegetalis too (nah, don't search online, I just made that up on the spot...). Otherwise, a very lovely garden. Certainly no more four leggeds in there! I could imagine a goldfish pond, though ;D

 

Wishing you too a great 2017!

 

 

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Andrea9....Hey, it's really no big deal! The garden will recover, it's just a matter of time and it's no good saying 'D*mn to God' over.

I have always been a somewhat impulsive person but Andrea, look what I have just recently done!

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/How-about-this/m-p/290770#M67386

Andrea, this is not a 'dress rehersal' for something to come....it's here and its now! We are given one opportunity to make the best of this life.....we make good decisions, we make poor ones but....I am somewhat proud of this one!!!

Cheers.....Rob

Jess21
Level 10
Austin, TX

Haha not even a goldfish.. I feel bad for you, but thanks for making me laugh with that comment! 

Monica4
Level 10
Ormstown, Canada

I stopped accepting pets three years ago and now have more people that book my house saying that they cannot stay with relatives because they have allergies! So what I thought would be a big decrease in bookings because I no longer accepted pets actually worked in my favour instead.

 

When I allowed pets....

- a dog (left alone against the rules) chewed a chunk out of a 150 year old big plank window sill.

- a dog locked in the sun porch (against the rules) wrecked a screen window and chewed the neutral wire insulation off near an electric control panel....hard to reach but he found it.

- a small dog chewed off the front of the rockers of an antique rocking chair.

- a dog bit through my leather couch.

Rocky6
Level 2
Wales, United Kingdom

I never accept pets reason it's hard to clean and not cost effective for hosting 

Zacharias0
Level 10
Las Vegas, NV

What a hoot! Not even a goldfish in a bowl. I'm with you on this one. I don't take kids or pets. I don't care if its a seeing eye dog. Animals will be animals and kids will be kids. I cant fault either category for being who they are, but that doesn't mean I have to allow it in my house. Although, after 2 years of hosting a dad and his 10 year old kid managed to show up in my house. The dad never said he had a kid with him in his messages and I was a bit taken by surprise. The kid was well behaved aside from running up and down the stairs, but I let it slide.