Agreed. As a dog owner myself (3 of them!) I am completely offended by this behaviour. It’s also the reason I don’t allow pets. I don’t trust anything that comes out of other dog owners mouths…ever. “My poopsy is so well behaved and never (insert string of bad behaviours)”. Ya right. People will say anything in defence of their pet.
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That is hugely amusing. I love your description of certain dog owners. I also love it (hate actually!) when one EXPLAINS why her dog is barking, as if the explanation is somehow going to make the nuisance barking more tolerable. “Oh it’s just when a stranger comes near the house.” Or, “Something startled him.” I don’t care WHY, LADY!!! Just put the damn dog in the house–in a closet preferably! :)))))))))
Dog owners leave the gate open too, wow! My guests often leave the gate to my backyard open and let the chickens out, but luckily the chickens come back on their own. No daytime predators here in the city. They dig up everyone’s gardens though so we have unhappy neighbors when they escape.
I won’t let my guests anywhere near my flighted parrots because losing one of them is my worst nightmare. The guests stay in my MIL and are not allowed upstairs, where my inside birds and I live. If they want to meet a parrot I bring the hammy one downstairs for a meet and greet.
I’m with you, J. I enjoy meeting leashed dogs one on one because I feel in control, but I’ve been bit a few times and chased by packs of dogs, so I’m scared of off-leash dogs. My heart lurches when an off leash dog bounds at me, and my martial arts practice comes in. I lift my leg and use it to shove the dog away, and the owner acts offended I touched their dog.
I haven’t figured out what to do at the beach though, where I’m often sitting or laying down. Maybe I need to practice asking people to leash their dog! (Off leash is illegal here, as are dogs on beaches due to the poop contaminating the water.)
Then again, my first guest was terrified of my chickens and my tiniest parrot (about the size of a cockatiel). Maybe I look like her, to dog owners, irrationally afraid! (I also just hate rule-breakers. Leash laws are a good thing for public safety!)
Good idea!!! After one of those incidents happens I always think “what if?” What if that dog had been vicious and had attacked me? I couldn’t defend myself. I’ve had some close calls that could have been bad if the owners hadn’t stepped in.
…an unfriendly German shepherd can be pretty lethal, too :))) I’ve got the scars to prove it.
Good luck with that. Many in my area are quite defiant, even militant about letting their dogs run free in parks and on the beach. A few years back, after many years of trying, a dog beach was established. It’s not turned out well, especially in summer. This is a very densely populated area. There’s poop and pee in the sand, and owners of the hot dog stands are complaining because it’s created a fly problem.
Between the guests letting the chickens out, and the off-leash dogs, I’m surprised I haven’t lost a chicken to a dog attack yet. And pets aren’t covered by the host guarantee!
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Pardon me if you told us all before, but where are you? Sounds rural and very interesting for sure.
I haven’t said publicly because I’m paranoid of guests finding me on here, but I’m happy to share my city and listing in PM. I live in a city but used to ride my road bike in the country, where I encountered packs of dogs.
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Wow! I worked in Saudi Arabia and every once in a while a wild pack of dogs would show up out of nowhere and everyone would scatter. Terrifying.
Ya think guests would find their way here??? I hope not. Now you’ve got me worried about just a couple of comments I made. 
)
Some of the posts here were quoted in a journalist’s article maybe six months ago, and we’ve recently had a surge in new users, and I wonder if some are disgruntled guests or the AirBnB Hell crowd.
Not to get you too nervous, but @Sairey is one of my guests (January, 2017) and just joined the this board. 
I skimmed that article. Did it mention this web site? And, is there really a “black list” of bad guests?
In my defense I’m also a host which is why I found my way into this forum… @Mearns has a pretty unique rental, so it didn’t take much for me to realize his island is where I’m staying in January.
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question for dog lovers. I am on a promise to my 7 year old that when he is 10, he will be allowed a dog. Is there a type of breed that does not shed much hair ? He is under a respiratory specialist so she recommended waiting until 10 as he has a lung issue. He dreams of dogs,and 3 years can’t come quick enough
Here is a link to get you started. If you want more information; Google “dogs that don’t shed”. However, be aware that dogs that don’t shed need to be groomed. As the hair doesn’t shed it must be removed by being brushed. If you don’t regularly groom a non shedding dog their hair will mat and eventually will impede their movement.
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I recently read what I think may be the most effective defense of a charging off leash dog…throw a handful of treats in the dog’s face. They are completely distracted, and it might also make the owner stop and think a little, since he doesn’t know what you are throwing and might think it’s poison.
Easy enough to carry with you when walking.
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Well it finally happened. Someone who doesn’t like cats stayed at my house. The listing clearly states that we have 1) more than one cat and 2) there is at least one who wants to go upstairs and explore and maybe be friendly with you.
The guest left perfectly nice public feedback, but in the private feedback wrote an entire long paragraph about how the upstairs living room was “unusable” because the cat went up there ONCE during her 4 day stay. Oh, and the cat sniffed at her feet once when she was coming into the house with food. The horror!
I don’t understand why anyone would want to stay at a private home that has the type of pets they don’t like. If I saw a listing that said “see our large collection of snakes and tarantulas!” I would book somewhere else.
Since this guest left I have tweaked the description to say that we have cats who will want to love on you. Should I include something like “if you don’t like cats, maybe this isn’t the best choice for you” or just leave it?