Dogs and Gites - following on from Lori's post

[Maddie]

Having read Lori's post about her absolutely terrible experience with the "child" I wondered what other Gite owners do about dogs, whether they advertise the fact, add the details onto booking forms etc.

I have two labradors and I did not initally say anything about them.  I was confident that I would be able to exercise the dogs well outside the times guests were up and about or when they were out and guets are advised in a welcome note that the dogs are exercised first thing in the mornign and last thing at night.  Both dogs are spoilt rotten so are more than happy to be indoors if I am with them or settle down and sleep when we are out so there is no problem with disturbing guests.  However, I have a lot of agility equipment (jumps etc) set up in my garden (4.5 acres so there's still plenty of room for guests!) so it is a bit difficult to hide the fact that there are dogs on the premises.  They don't have their own fenced in enclosure as they would bark the plac down if they knew I was indoors and they were shut outside and, technically, we all share the same garden (though the dogs are not allowed in the guests seating or garden area).

Several guests with children were desperate to meet the dogs and it was only after a number of very sucessful introductions (on leash) and lovely comments about them that were left in my guest book (which is also on my website) that I "came clean" and added photgraphs of the dogs.  I've since had at least 3 ten year olds doing the agility course with my labrador and having a wonderful time thrilled with the fact that they can get the dog to do what they want it to (she's mad and just adores jumping so there's no real skill involved!!! )

95% of my business comes via the internet - so everyone has access to the details, pictures of the dogs but I don't put anything on paper. 

What do other people do and do you think I should do more? 

[Jhc]

Hi - I really do not like dogs at all and am never persuaded by owners telling me that their dogs are ultra friendly etc.  In fact I am not into any pets of any kind!!  (and I don't want any replies telling me I am a very sad person - its just how I am!).  So - I would not stay at any gite that clearly showed itself as having dogs on the premises - however, if there was some sort of note saying that the dogs were kept entirely separate from the guest areas then I might be persuaded to book if the gite looked great in every other respect.  There is such a wide choice in gites out there that you may be putting folk like me off from making an inquiry about your gite and therefore getting fewer inquiries overall, unless you assure potential customers that the dogs will remain separate.

[Motorhead]

You could run dog agility courses (for the humans that is) and don't listen too much to folk like Jhc. People like that are in the minority, especially amongst those who like rural holidays.

In a former incarnation I owned a pet shop for really far too many years. The shop dog was a large Rottweiler and some folk would just not come into the shop because of him (many would still take deliveries though) however far more came specifically to see him. He was the most popular and well known dog in the town. I went through 4 different premises (bigger each time) and folk would come in and say "Did you used to be on such'n'such a street. I don't remember you but I remember the dog".

Go ahead make a selling point of it.

[Maddie]

Thanks Motorhead!

Whilst I appreciate that there are folk who don't like animals I would rather advertise that fact that I have animals than to have someone arrive and be horribly disappointed.  I personally don't feel it would put off many people.  And the ones it does I probably wouldn't want staying anyway (sorry jhc, no offence intended) as any animal would sense that they were hostile towards them and, in all likelihood, be hostile back!  As you say, in a rural "gite", to come across a place where there are no animals whatsoever is highly unlikely - the French love their animals and are not well known for keeping them confined!  You don't go to stay in the country if you don't like or are afraid of animals, sorry.

Can't run agility courses (not officially anyway) without the necessary French paperwork/insurances.  Already looked into it .  Too risky to run without as I live next door to the Maire!

Come on, Lori and I can't be the only gite owners with dogs/animals?

 

[Coco]

I don't think I'd book at gite with dogs at it either, and I know my husband most CERTAINLY wouldn't.  We run a B&B and we don't allow dogs either.  I know that we have lost several French bookings this summer because of it but we just don't want them.  At the moment we have an old cat so it just wouldn't be possible, but even if we didn't have him we wouldn't take them.  That's what we have chosen and that's the way it is.  We may lose some bookings because we won't accept dogs but there again, we may have some unhappy customers staying with us if they discover other guests have a dog on the premises.  You just can't please all of the people all of the time, so you have to decide what is right for you and go with it.

Personally, I have decided that next year we are not taking people with children between 1 and 7.  I know I will lose business but quite honestly I find them more hastle than they are worth.  We originally said we would not take children but then realised we would lose a hell of a lot of business, especially in August.  However, having taken them (reluctantly) for the last 3 seasons I find that they are noisy - disturb other guests; parents let them run riot in the garden - makes me edgy in case the fall and hurt themselves; throw up all over the brand new bed linen (Friday night), mum cleans it up with two white bath towels, which even after two washes at 90 degrees still have a couple of stains on!  I know that you have to expect this kind of thing if you are running a business involving the general public, but I have decided it's not worth the hastle.  When we let our house out as a gite, we had this same age restriction and the couple who did our turnround always said how lucky we were with our guests; our house never needed the cleaning that the others they looked after did, and never had the damage that others incurred.  At the time I put it down to the fact that we didn't take children (and we were never down on our bookings, just appealed to less, or a different clientele).  Now I'm convinced that for us it is the right way to go.

So back to your dogs Mrs MDW.  I don't think you can really do any more than you do.  If it deters a few people but doesn't have too much of an impact on your business then I shouldn't worry.  You've got to have a life too!

[Christine Animal]

Most French hotels, etc. accept pets.  Many of them have their own wandering around.  There don't seem to be any problems...?

[Teamedup]

Those it'll suit'll be fine with it. I wouldn't be. Although the paradox as I have said is that I would always ask if we can have our dog with us. We have sometimes had problems finding such accommodation and our dog has been put in kennels.

 

And Motorhead, not a million pounds would have got me into your shop if a rottweiler was there.

[Lori]

Well, I suspect you all know my views on the subject.  But, I did want to say that I think it is good to let your prospective guests know you have pets on the premises.  This way, folks who don't like dogs or cats or whatever, can avoid choosing your rental.  I agree that owner and renter would not be happy if owner has dogs and renter hates dogs.  Only way to avoid that is to state that you have them, before a booking is made.  We have never accepted pets on the property (other than our own of course).  The rental has never had an animal in it as so many people are allergic.  The same goes for donkeys too, we have an absolutely adorable donkey who lives a bit up the road and he loves to talk.  I, personally, love it, but who knows, I'm sure there are some people out there who wouldn't like his sweet eee/orrrs at midnight.

As for children.  In the beginning we said only children over the age of six years.  Due to our current situation, we have decided not to rent at all.  We have some friends who have a lovely rental home, very nicely decorated, etc.  They had a family with two youngsters (don't know the ages) who splattered jam all over their custom made curtains.  They were permanently stained and the parents denied their kids did it.  Said it must have been there before.  These friends also decided to no longer accept children.  We have other friends who have had the guests of kids engrave filthy words into their swing sets.  Again, denied by the parents.  They still reluctantly accept kids.  I think it was Coco who said that those who state they don't accept children simply cater to a different clientele.  No better, no worse, just different.

As has been said, it is impossible to please everyone and if you LIVE on the same property where you rental is located, you have to do what is right for you.  After all, it is your home.

 

[Maddie]

Thanks to those who have replied.

Personally I would not accept children either.  I like them but could not eat a whole one ( ) and never having had any myself just cannot see the attraction.  So far I've found the very worst culprits to be our own family members with kids, everyone else's kids have been as good as gold!  We're lucky in that we only have one "gite", attached to our own house and we don't rely on the funds from it to live.  Our accommodation is not geared up for children (no swings etc) though we have found having a TV, video and DVD player to be a huge attraction for both parents and kids.

The dogs have NEVER been in our gite, so furnishings etc are completely dog free nor do we accept dogs staying (assistance and guide dog excepted of course) simply because I know one of my dogs is very wary around dogs she does not know.

As for food spillages - that is a fact of life.  I've only furnished my place with stuff that's fully machine washable and I have a washing machine big enough to wash duvets and sofa covers so the odd jam spillage, though annoying, is not the end of the world.  I know what you mean about white towels though! They look great but mark easily - again a good old squirt of vanish or something similar usually does the trick for me.

[Owens88]

And the list goes on. We don't live in our Gite so we don't have co-occupancy problems.

However the problems with dogs, smokers, undiciplined children, sneaky guests etc. is that they might leave problems behind them that are not always picked up before the deposit is returned.

 

If I advertise it is OK to smoke is it ok to leave the place renching of tobacco/nicotine ?

If I advertise it is OK for dogs would that put off somebody with allergies ?

These are honest dilemma (or is that dilemmae ?)