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Hi all! I have a new idea (to me anyway!) after booking my second Airbnb with my little Maltese Poodle as a companion. We are off to Bondi Beach (12hr drive) and our last trip was to a castle in wine country (4hr drive).
Whilst itās amazing to find Airbnbās who take dogs, and Iām lucky I have a small fluff ball most people have not stereotyped as a āproblemā dog, itās still hard to find accommodation. I donāt even take dogs in my private room! Virtually no hotels or motels in my country take dogs.
What if pets, at least those that travel as guests, get their own profile on Airbnb, so potential hosts can see their age, vaccinations, behaviors, needs, pictures etc. Most importantly, after a stay hosts leave a review for the pet. If there are no problems then it might encourage other hosts to consider him as a good guest in the future.
This might work for hosts with pets too. A lot of my guests book because of my dog and many leave reviews that he was the best bit of their stay.
I told my son about my idea and he just said ābut you donāt run Airbnb mum, just a roomā. Duh
If others think itās a good idea or have improvements I might write to Airbnb about it.
I donāt have any comment to try to get Airbnb to have pet profiles. But Iāll join in the fun. This is a pet profile I would write for one of my friendās dogs.
Hi, my name is Manny. You wonāt have to worry about me leaving hair everywhere, as I donāt shed. But you will need to be concerned about me peeing everywhere. You seeā¦my mom will tell you I am a well - behaved, non shedding, small dog. I am really not well-behaved though. My mom puts pee pads down all over the house for me. Sometimes I use them, and sometimes I donāt. Iām not sure why I like to pee and mark all over the house. She never got me fixed and always spoiled me. So I do what I want. I refuse to eat regular dog food too. The only food I eat is what she is having for dinner.
I love this idea. Iāve considered allowing pets, but worry about the extra cleaning it could bring about. It would be great to know which ones are good travelers.
@KKC, thereās something about Bichons! My parents had one who marked in the dining room (where we didnāt often go) - completely ruined a persian rug and the wood floor underneath it. Never had such a hard time house training a dog!
The littles do seem more prone to difficulty housebreaking based on the anecdotes I hear. Marking is not related to house training though. Iāve had housebroken and dog door trained dogs mark in my house. Itās an innate urge to put their scent over the scent of others.
When I have an air guest with a dog I check for marking with my black light. So far no marking. Once that carpet gets marked Iāll replace it with tile or quit allowing dogs until I can tile the room.
We have two kelpies in Australia and allow dogs to stay. So far so good as long as they always take their dog when they go out.
We donāt allow dogs at our farm stay as they tend to chase our sheep. So Mulberry Cottage in Bellingen NSW is dog friendly.
It occurred to me that it would be a great way to ensure that service animals were properly vetted. Owners could send in their animalās service credentials and get a āService Verifiedā badge in the same way humans get the Government ID endorsement.
I like having the service dog credentials vetted then the host could verify the credentials match the checked in dog upon arrival.
Recently a guest requested a service dog included at my resort area condo reservation. I asked the guest to provide the credentials & the dog wear her service vest when outside. I also asked the renter to tell any one inquiring, she was a service dog & give them my phone number if needed.
I disclosed that some of the full time residents have made it a personal mission to find & report ārenter dogsā (HOA allows only owners to have pets on premises). Iāve been reported for having my dog on property by some one who did not know me.
Something felt āoffā about the request from the beginning. The guest cancelled the reservation request.
In the U.S. it is illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act to āverify the credentialsā of a service animal and/or to require that the animal wear a vest. There are no credentials for a service animal. Here is what you may do to verify that the animal is a service animal:
āIn situations where it is not obvious that the dog is a service animal, staff may ask only two specific questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform? Staff are not allowed to request any documentation for the dog, require that the dog demonstrate its task, or inquire about the nature of the personās disability.ā
I donāt mind 2:00 A.M. departures at all. Iām a sound sleeper and a guest leaving in the middle of the night means that Iāll have plenty of time to clean for the next guest.
Pet profile: Male yorkie, housetrained, 8yoa, considers napping a sport, not fond of children, 7 lbs of bark, hates loud noises but loves making them, thinks any people must have a dog in lap or nestled to the side, neutered but still flirts with any female dog, will steal slurps of white wine if glass within reach, in cold weather seeks 98.6.
The dog being requested was an emotional support dog thus not covered under ADA. I was trying to be supportive of a guest who had a need & volunteered that the pet had a service dog certificate & had a vest.
Since some localities do provide service dog certificates, it would be helpful if that was already āloadedā.
Q3. Are emotional support, therapy, comfort, or companion animals considered service animals under the ADA?
A. No. These terms are used to describe animals that provide comfort just by being with a person. Because they have not been trained to perform a specific job or task, they do not qualify as service animals under the ADA. However, some State or local governments have laws that allow people to take emotional support animals into public places. You may check with your State and local government agencies to find out about these laws.
I am amazed at the ability dogs have to sense pending seizures, low blood sugar, early cancer detection, calm confused adults, and much more. Service dogs & therapy dogs tend to wear the vests just to make it clear they are working.
This seems really unfair, not everyone can afford to buy and some tenants are long term and super responsible, with dogs being so beneficial to MH and isolated people and children (to develop empathy and responsible), what a shame.
You did well to sus out your renter too, lying (if they were) just makes it hard for others that have a genuine companion dog to get support to bring their pet.
By way of update to @Allison_H and all, sending the idea to Airbnb is on my task list for my annual leave in US and Iāll even offer to pop by HO or they can FaceTime me to discuss. Iāll keep you posted. Or Iāll just launch dogbnb and Airbnb can āHoover me upā (see other thread about hovering up a disability accom site).
@Emily
I think we are on the same page about not allowing renters to have dogs is shallow thinking. My dogs have been wonderful protectors & companions over the years. The rule was in place when I purchased in that neighborhood, since the condo was for STR & personal use, I decided I could live with it (but I donāt like it).
The STR I have in Winston Salem allows dogs. Several of the rentals were because it was dog friendly. My father occasionally stays in that condo so due to severe allergies, cats are not allowed (truth is I like cats but Dad needs rule!)
My partner and I are phasing out Rover as we start hosting. Our main rule to accept a dog was that they have to be housebroken, and they have to give the cat space. Weāve had too many experiences with dog owners saying āThey are housebroken, weāve never had a problem with them peeing indoorsā and then the dog goes and pees on a chair, carpet, or both the day they arrive.
One time we agreed to watch a large Newfoundland and made sure to reiterate multiple times how important it is that he got along with the cat and that he was house broken. As soon as he was dropped off, while his people were still standing in our living room, the dog lifted his leg and peed all over a chair and the carpet. We allowed him to stay after that, which was a mistake. That night, my partner got thick bloody rug burns on his knees trying to keep the growling and barking dog from attacking our cat. The owner said his usual babysitter has a cat and they get along fine. We called Rover and told them the dog has got to go, and they scheduled for us to drop the dog off at the regular sitter. My partner asked about their cats at drop off and they said āOh, itās an outdoor cat. The dogs never see them.ā
I think this is the main thing that makes us hesitant about allowing pets. Owners will say anything even if you are trying to be accommodating to them. I know not all pet owners are like that, but the ones that are really ruin it for the rest. We just have a bad taste in our mouth from multiple experiences like that.
I donāt have a cat anymore so canāt shine any light on that. The marking has nothing to do with if they are housebroken, itās just the smell in your house combined with the urge. But the marking will happen and itās hard to predict which dogs. Males are 1000x worse than females but that doesnāt mean that females will never mark. A couple of things you might do if youād like to continue dog boarding. Only take spayed females and small males. You can get belly bands to put on the males until you determine if they mark. I assume you do meet and greets but you could also institute one day trials so you can really see how they are with the cat before they drop them off for a week. Feel free to message me anytime for more info or a sympathetic ear.
I hadnāt realized that! Thanks for educating me!
Perhaps Air could ask the two legal questions and guests could optionally upload documentation (in the same way Iām not required to provide Govāt ID, but can?)
Anyway, I was thinking it could be a nice option to have on Fidoās profile.
I can see the difference between marking and being housebroken, thanks for pointing that out. We have a laundry list of various types of offenders! Fortunately, we have a handful of regulars that we LOVE, so we will keep on with those, and probably be more strict about new doggos. We do have meet and greets, but sometimes the client will cancel or are too far away for it to work. We just need to make it mandatory.
Maybe someday we will be comfortable with pets staying at our guest suite. Sorry if I went off subject, op!
(to me anyway!) after booking my second Airbnb with my little Maltese Poodle as a companion. We are off to Bondi Beach (12hr drive) 
and our last trip was to a castle in wine country (4hr drive)
.
