Okay, the dog wasn't really bad: the owners were't so responsible, though.
We had a couple stay with us who had nothing but glowing reviews. They stayed with us for one night, and they left a mess. There muddy dog paw prints on everything: the couch, the futon, the bed, the floors were disgusting, and they wiped the dog's paws off on our bathmat and towels, including facecloths. It was just gross. We do have rags and other cloths available for this kind of thing, which they obviously didn't use at all.
What also gets me is that they didn't apologize or even mention it. I'm still kind of annoyed a few days later, and I keep writing the review then not posting it because it feels churlish, but it was so dirty! We've hosted many dogs, and no one has ever left a mess like this, even during the winter when there is snow, or when the stay has been weeks long. It just feels like they were extremely disrespectful.
So any tips? I don't want to use "better suited to a hotel". So far, I have:
Blank and blank communicated well. They were okay guests overall: there was some extra cleaning after their one-night stay due to their dog, with muddy paw marks left on soft furnishings and other amenities. I would host again without the dog, or if more respect was agreed to be given to the space.