Service dog damage?

@KKC the “service dog” didn’t end up staying… so I think they decided it wasn’t worth the risk of damage and it must not have been a real service dog :woman_shrugging:t2: BUT I’m so glad I gathered this feedback because it will likely happen again with another booking one day!

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I’ve only had two people claim their dog was a service or support animal out of the hundreds of pets I’ve had here. Maybe they would have if they knew that made my pet fee moot or if I didn’t allow pets. But it’s good to be prepared because it’s upsetting to have people try to game the system and take advantage of hosts.

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The pet damage left at my place has been spilled water from a dog bowl damaging the hard wood floors, metal crate marks left on wood floors due to spilled water and the crate paint transferred onto the floors leaving long black marks, and a urine stain that bleached out a section of a rug because I didn’t realize that it was wet. I’d suggest providing old towels and blankets to place under bowls, crates, etc. and I’d carefully examine the rugs right away as it isn’t such a big deal to clean up the urine if caught not long after. I’d leave some grocery bags too for them to clean up after their dog outside. Good luck!

I leave a small inexpensive fleece throw for guests to put on the bed if they allow the dog on the bed. I tell them to just take it with them because it’s not worth trying to wash them. I also leave pet waste bags on a hook with a small flashlight. If they have a cat I leave a small dust pan and broom with extra garbage bag so they hopefully sweep some of the stray kitty litter. Finally I put a bowl of water on the porch by their entrance.

I just have small ensuite room, not an entire house. If I had a whole house with multiple night stays I’m not sure I’d be so welcoming to pets.

Good ideas and suggestions, thanks KKC! I also leave a small flashlight as the property isn’t well lit at night.I’ll have to look for some of those fleece throws at my local Dollar Tree.

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Some Walmarts have them for $3 each but I buy mine at IKEA and have them shipped to my house at this time due to the pandemic. I never thought to look at Dollar Tree or any of the similar stores.

LOL - yeah so obviously NOT a “real service dog”!

Air has caused a real problem with their bs policies in this area. The vast majority of people claiming SA/ESA are totally full of crap.

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Yes, there certainly seem to be an enormous rise in people who “require” emotional support and service animals.

Kinda like how many Airbnb guests seem to have so many more extenuating circumstances in their lives when they want to cancel than the general population has. How many times can your uncle die?

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Honestly, I’d be more than happy to host someone with a service dog. I once met an amazing dog who supported a vet with PTSD and it was extremely well trained and had an important role. But I can’t understand why there isn’t any registration requirement so folks don’t try to game the system. It’s unfair to hosts and to people with legitimate service animals.

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They don’t, by law, have to tell you they are bringing a service animal. But if they show up with a service animal and did not tell me they will not be allowed to book my house again and I will mention the service/emotional support animal in my review so future hosts won’t be blindsided.

If the dog is well behaved that would also be mentioned in the review.

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Another question- I know it is not allowed under AirBnB’s ToS to collect a “fee” for service animals. But can you request a hefty deposit before check-in that will be refunded if there are no damages?

No. Service animals cannot be treated differently than any other guest, in fact they cannot even be treated as animals. If you want to have a hefty deposit on your listing, you can do that, but it would be the same for all guests and it would be the one that Airbnb “collects” and is in control of. However, they made a change last year that does allow the deposit (and the host “guarantee”) to cover damages made by service animals (but not regular pets).

Thank you for sharing that update! We don’t usually have a pet deposit since we don’t allow pets- but if the regular deposit should cover damages that works just as well

There’s no pet deposit on ABB. We accept pets at our own risk. But, the regular now covers service animals - if you can get ABB to pay it out.

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That’s because the law was written by the same people who are full of crap. Forcing restaurants, landlords and every establishment to accept ESA who are obviously not trained. They totally gave the middle finger to the people who have allergies, fear of animals. They basically said you have no rights. If someone needs an ESA around them 24/7 then they should be made to pay fees or security deposit set by the establishments they attend. That will deter the fraudulent ones.

Why should the people who genuinely need service animals and emotional support animals be required to pay anything for them? They aren’t the ones who are causing the problem.

I was proposing a refundable animal deposit, not a fee. Unfortunately the way it is set up currently with AirBnB in the US there is no way for hosts to know which are genuine support and service animals (and therefore well trained with vital roles). Obviously my guests did not have a real support animal as after letting them know of some basic requirements (like being housebroken and not leaving the animal alone in the space!) they didn’t bring the pup.

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I agree with this. I don’t have allergies but I do have a phobia (okay, some call it a fear, I like to make it posher) against a certain type of animal.

If I was on a plane and a passenger had one of these, I’d freak completely. The type of animal in question would be a ESA as I’ve never heard of this particular creature being a service animal.

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That’ll be those emotional support unicorns causing fear and alarm again…

Little buggers that they are.

:unicorn:

JF

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Augghh, yes, all sparkly and everything (shudders).

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