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Hi Everyone!
I haven’t been around for awhile as so much has happened in the last few months to keep me busy. One of those being a puppy that I was boarding was abandoned and I was left with the responsibility of full time care of a 15 week old Pit Bull Puppy.
The owner decided she couldn’t handle her or the responsibility. She said that she would leave her with me as a “gift”. Haha! A 15 year responsibility gift. As I wasn’t prepared to take that on, I attempted to rehome her. Twice. Both times she came back for different reasons. In the first home, I became aware that the husband had plans to breed her and in the second, she just couldn’t handle her. She is a darling but she is ALOT. Lol. She is stubborn, already very strong, and very active. Not for a first time dog owner. So, I was done with the heartbreak and we have decided to keep her. She graduates puppy class tomorrow, has one on one lessons, has been well socialized etc. I am doing everything I can to ensure she is a good Pit Bull ambassador.
Anyway, the reason I tell you all this background is because I have been told (not by airbnb but another host) that I have to disclose to guests that there is a potentially dangerous animal on the property due to her being a Pit Bull. Does anyone have any info on this? I dont want to ask Airbnb as I dont want it on record.
Absolute poppycock. That other host knows not what he/she is saying. Or he/she has a fear of Pit Bulls founded on reading too many stories about dog fights and guard dogs. Nothing anywhere says you have to disclose a “potentially dangerous animal on the property because she is a Pit Bull”.
First, it’s training or the wrong kind of training or lack of training that makes ANY dog a “dangerous animal”. I know some folks who have an out-of-control (un-trained) rat terrier which could be classed as “dangerous” – dog ran across the room to attack me without provocation! Loves the husband and wife, attacks anyone who visits. That’s dangerous!
Many of us who host here in Florida would have to “disclose” that we may have dangerous animals because an Alligator could wander out of a nearby creek or pond; or a Black Bear, 16 ft regal Python, or Panther come out of a nearby swamp/nature preserve!!!
Is she dangerous? Is she agressive or predatory or does she have diseases that she can spread?
There is nothing about her breed in and of itself that requires disclosure. There is no mention of specific breeds or even specific species of animals and they can be wild or domesticated animals. It boils down to behavior and health as mentioned above. It may just be the other host’s opinion but there is not an Airbnb policy regarding any dog breeds.
If she’s not agressive, you can just list her under the disclosure of “Pet(s) Live on Property” and then you can describe her as a 15 week old pitbull puppy if you’re concerned. I don’t mention our dog’s breed, I never thought it about it, but she is a black shepherd and pitbull mix. What I say is that “her name is Lucy and that she is friendly but that you won’t have any interaction with her if you don’t want to”. More often than not, guests request a date with her and because we are dog friendly, she has playdates with the guests’ dogs. I know for sure that she is not agressive, not even in her own backyard.
What Airbnb says is (pretty lame), “A potentially dangerous animal is one that’s capable of causing serious harm to humans or other animals present in the listing. Both wild and domesticated species can be considered dangerous”. It’s lame because any animal, including your guest, is potentially dangerous. I think it calls for common sense. I know more than one person who’s lost a finger to a squirrel but I am not disclosing the little ground demons in my listing
Do you share a space with guests? Or do they have an entire space? If you share space, you may want to disclose by way of photo just because some people are really discriminatory against some breeds and should know before booking so that they don’t hassle you later. I hosted a host who rents several rooms in her home and she has a very large pibble. I can send you her listing if you’d like, she seems to have it integrated into her listing very well and her guests rave about the dog in her reviews.
I think it might be a good idea to have her in a few pictures of your listing so folks are aware that you have a bigger size dog. She looks very sweet. I’m glad she found her forever home with you.
Just curious if you’ve checked your homeowner’s policy and/or short-term-rental insurance policy. Some insurers specifically call out pitbulls (and a few other breeds) and either raise your rate or write in a liability exclusion. Not telling your insurer could, at a minimum, exclude liability coverage related to the dog, but in the worst case, it could void your entire policy.
What a beautiful girl!! Thanks for the “dog tax.” Post pics and say "interaction is only with owner’s permission and don’t disclose the breed. I have friends who rescue pitties and they’re the sweetest.
I see I am going to be the odd one out here, but pit bulls are, in fact, a dangerous breed. Not the dog’s fault, and I certainly know some folks with pit bulls that are not aggressive and very sweet.
But they have been bred as fighting dogs, it is in their DNA. They have powerful jaws that lock on and don’t let go. So even if the dog isn’t aggressive and has been well-trained, if something takes them by surprise, and they feel threatened, no amount of training is neceessarily going to prevent them from clamping those jaws on.
There have been plenty of cases of grandpa’s pitbull he’s had for years, that has never been aggressive, ripping the face off their visiting grandchild, etc.
There is a reason that people want a certain breed of dog, because their DNA make-up fits the owner’s lifestyle. Labs tend to be calm and gentle and good around children, and a border collie isn’t suitable for apartment dwellers who are at work all day- they have been bred as working dogs and have too much energy to be cooped up inside all day.
Personally, I don’t trust pitbulls, because they can’t help being what they were originally bred for, which is aggression and winning a fight.
I am absolutely going on the record to deny this. I have owned pit bulls and had friends with pit bulls.
A dog is like a child, they have to be taught hate. They are not born with it.
As I have aged, I have downsized my dogs. I now have mostly pugs - and they are the reason a lot of people book with me. They’re a fascinating breed, full of quirks and noises and people love them.
But I have a new rescue that has collie/lab/pit bull and he is the bomb. (The pugs would disagree). I don’t let guests do self checkin, they all get a personal introduction to the kids, and the biggest fear I have from Finn, the new guy, is that he will lick someone to death.
A dog attacking someone has absolutely zero to do with hate. Hate is a human emotion, not part of a dog’s psyche.
But like humans, how they behave is a mixture of nature and nurture.
My dog, a husky-type mix, has never bitten anyone or anything. She is an alpha female, and when she was younger, would sometimes attack other female dogs in the neighborhood. She woukd get them on their backs, stand over them snarling, with her teeth bared. You expected to see blood and fur flying, but it was just a big show of dominance- she never bit them.
She has always been gentle and friendly with humans, doesn’t chase cats, and has even caught a chicken without hurting it. She just doesn’t have a biting or killing instinct.
But one time I was standing out on the road chatting to some neighbors, and neither they nor I was paying attention to their 5 year old son, who was sitting on the ground behind my dog. I guess the kid was touching her around her backside, which she doesn’t like, and suddenly she turned around and snapped at him, which of course scared him. It never occurred to me to keep an eye on the child being next to my dog, as she had never done anything like that before or since. Had it been a pitbull, she very well might have clamped down on the child’s wrist or worse. Not out of hate, but out of instinct.
I still disagree. And I think posts like yours perpetuate the fallacy that pit bulls are inherently mean or bad. German shepherds, huskies (I’ve had 3) and other breeds are continuously given a bad rap for bad owners. It is not the breed.
I think you mean that all breeds that are large dogs with powerful jaws can inflict more damage for obvious reasons. Pibbles do have large mouths that can open up and swallow a whole face or hand.
I’m not an expert but I have been around a few dogs. The best dog I ever boarded here belonged to a friend, Baxter. He was a blue nose pit and was THE BEST DOG EVER. However, there was a back story. The pit bull before him was psychotic and unsocialized. He was bought by the older brother to be a guard dog. He wasn’t neutered either. There were some social issues to deal with. And yes he bit me and another member of the friend group.
When he passed this friend quickly got another pibble. I immediately said that he won’t be allowed here unless he is neutered and socialized here at 10-12 weeks. (He was adopted at 8 wks.) I’m going to give his early socialization a lot of credit. By the time I started dog boarding he was a model dog.
Anyway, I’ll cut it short. I take pibbles for boarding. I’m not a breed bigot. All large powerful dogs need to be evaluated and watched.
If you don’t disclose it in the listing it will be disclosed eventually in the reviews. They may be good reviews, saying how adorable your pit bull puppy was to them.
However, there are a few people like myself who would see the pit bull on the premises and leave immediately. Not your fault, I’m comfortable around most dogs, but not pit bulls. I would mention it in my review as the reason I cut short my stay.
You want guests that are comfortable around your family. If you disclose the breed you will lose possible guests that are not comfortable. Win-win.
Yes, you need to disclose dogs. A big part of why I added onto the house to make a separate room was because the dog boarding business was limiting my ability to safely host humans. Not because they were pibbles but because they are dogs.
That is a beautiful dog. Every story of a pibble, GSD, Rottie, etc that kills or maims someone seems to make it into the news. I don’t see breed bigotry as being much different than people stereotypes. A lot of people are afraid of pibbles. I was 15 years ago due to media coverage. We just have to deal with it and keep working to change it.
I never said nor implied that they are either of those. A dog’s, or any other animal’s instinct is not a matter of being bad nor mean. It is simply instinct. Just as it was my dog’s instinct to snap at the child who was touching her behind. She felt nervous about it and was protecting herself.
I’d venture to say that any creatures other than humans and possibly cetaceans don’t “think” in a way that we understand as thinking. They operate on instinct and if they are domesticated, training. I don’t believe a dog consciously thinks, “Oh, I’d better not chew her shoes, she’ll get mad”. They have just been conditioned to associate chewing shoes with a punishment.
I have no doubt that there are thousands or millions of pit bulls that people keep as pets who are nothing but sweet and have never nor will ever hurt anyone. But I stand by my comments.
Yes, I’ll agree with that. I once read that standard collies, even though they are large, always lose in a dog fight, because they have been bred over the years for that long narrow snout. Their jaws just aren’t designed for biting or fighting.
But as a person who has more interaction with many different breeds than most, wouldn’t you acknowledge that dogs have been bred for hundreds of years to exhibit certain characteristics? And that dogs bred for their aggression and ability to win a fight, are going to require more training and vigilance to counter that DNA than dogs that have been bred over centuries to be calm little lap dogs, or working dogs?
Some breeds have a natural instinct to herd, some to protect, some to hunt, and some to fight, that’s a fact.
We have had a couple of Malamutes. No guarding instincts at all!
The US Army tried to make them a guard dog….complete failure.
Some one locally tried to get one into pig hunting……she wouldn’t learn so she was rehoused with us.
The only people she really didn’t like were the door knocking mormons.
She actually chased one off the property and we haven’t seen one since😄
I had a malamute, too. They can frighten people simply because they are large, but mine was also useless as far as being territorial. Any stranger could walk into my yard and up to my door and he’d just lie there, barely even bothering to look up. Come to think of it, I don’t recall that dog ever barking- he was a totally silent dog, but I know he wasn’t deaf.
I got the dog by answering an ad in the paper. The guy said he’d been working up in the Yukon, this dog wouldn’t pull the sled, so the mushers were going to put him down- the guy took pity and brought the dog back with him, but he already had a German Sheperd who wouldn’t accept the new dog.
Love the story about the Mormons. I once saw the Jehovah’s Witnesses coming up my walkway while madly getting things ready for a camping trip. I said to my then teenage daughter’s boyfriend- “Hey Nick, the Johos are here-I can’t deal with them right now, can you answer the door?” He went to the door, dropped his pants around his ankles, opened the door like that in his boxers, and screamed, as if in terror. They never came back.
