New to gite owners!

[talbotjem]

We are hoping to move to the Ducey area of Normandy this summer to run a three bedded gite and two bed rooms in the main house as B&B's.

As we breed dogs, obviously the animals will be a big part of our business and our advertising will reflect this.

Also our USP will be that we are child friendly, having five children of our own this would be difficult to disguise!

We would appreciate any comments, negative or positive, to help us with our initial set up and advertising.

Are we making extra work for ourselves, do we need to be so diverse? 

[ChezShells]

Hi

Good luck with your business and new life but it doesn't sound like a quiet getaway.

I think a holiday gite plus breeding dogs need to be seperate, I wouldn't mention it on your website (if your to have one), seperate sites I think.

With the right advertising you could well make a go of it.

 

Regards

[talbotjem]

Hi, thanks for the advice, after reading the forums last night we realised we have a lot to learn!

We don't think it is going to be easy but we are willing to take advice and adapt accordingly.

The area of England we are relocating from has poor schooling for the children and an appalling crime rate- this is one of the main reasons we are coming to Normandy.

We purchased a small cottage in Brittany in 2003 as a holiday retreat and are always saddened when we have to return to England as the French lifestyle is much more family orientated than the life we have in England.

 At the moment we work very hard as we both run our own businesses, by running a ' hands on' business we will be able to share both the work load and spend valuable time with the family.

We will keep the dog breeding and gite business separate and we believe webs sites are essential for the networking of our businesses.

[Just Katie]

Hi just a quickie, what dogs do you breed.

[Cerise]

Hi there

I run a B & B here and am a former dog breeder.  I don't know what sort of dogs you breed, but if they are a bigger breed you may wish to think hard before you continue here.  In most parts of France there is not a general culture of large dogs as pets - this makes selling puppies difficult and also means that the homes they go to may not be what you are used to.  I personally could not bring puppies into the world to be chained up all day or left roaming the streets.  The law regarding dogs is very different and breeders have absolutely no say in what happens to puppies once they have left home, and many 'breeders' here are more or less what we would call puppy farmers in the UK.   Not all I might add, things are changing slowly, but things are not viewed in the same way - no one thinks there is anything wrong with a bitch having a litter at virtually every season for example and the Société Cantrale do not control that sort thing as the Kennel Club tries to in the UK.

I still have 2 dogs and keep up my interest by being a member of the breed clubs both here and in the UK.  I think you will find that most holiday makers would not find dog breeding an attraction to your gites, so I would keep the two things separate if I were you and definitely not mention it on gite advertising - barking dogs really put people off.

Not trying to sound negative - just realistic.  If you do decide to continue with the dog breeding, you will need to have export pedigrees for all dogs you bring and to register them here - plus take dogs you plan to breed from to show for confimation.  If you want any more information please PM me.

Good luck

Maggi

Wretched software edited my posy - suppose I should have said 'lady dog' - how quaint[:)]

 

 

[Russethouse]

Surely you HAVE to mention dogs, it would pretty unfair to your customers not to say anything, they may be allergic or just not like dogs.

One member here with dogs had such a terible time last year, with one family who rented her gite, that she gave up letting the gite at all.

 

[Gastines]

Adding to the dogs and Gites aspect.I believe if you look at the Gites d'France brochure,you will be hard put to find a gite advertised that takes dogs,or admit to it.

Regards.B&B St.Malo

[Just Katie]

So they may have a gap in the market??

[Beryl]

Will you be far from ferry ports? Could you offer a kennel service for Brits who perhaps cannot take their dogs back to the UK when visiting friends and relations? 

 

[Teamedup]

I think that the dogs should be mentioned too. Especially if you are breeding them. What about the noise from them.

[Beryl]

I am not a big dog fan and I am quite nervous around them.   I really don't like it when dog owners expect me to enthuse over their animals whilst it has its nose where it shouldn't.

Some people who may use your gites may be a little like me, I wouldn't avoid your gites because you breed dogs but I wouldn't expect them to interfere with my holiday either.

[talbotjem]

Hi katie,

I breed lhasa apsos, I have two girls which will have pups this year, Milly and katie.

I also have two dogs which are just pets, Digby, a lhasa and Poppy, a rescue collie cross.

[talbotjem]

Some really good information, Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply.

Thoughts now!

My dogs are pets and I would certainly not breed them if there was not a demand for the pups. The dogs will live in our home and be kept seperate from the holiday guests, of course, they will be visible as they will be excersised regularly as they are in England.

The property we are interested in has a fair amount of land with it should be relatively easy to keep the two concerns separate.

Did I mention we have two cats as well!

And Dave would love to keep chickens! (We'll put that idea on hold just yet!)

We are quite near to the ports and had given some thoughts to kennelling services, but we ruled that out as we did believe there would be noise concerns. Our dogs are not big barkers.

USP- We are child friendly and aim to provide an environment that will have hands on fun for the children, both ours and the guests, ie. weekly games evenings, egg painting mornings and a baby sitting service should the parents wish go for a relaxing child free meal.

Any thoughts?

 

 

[Quillan]

[quote user="Gastines"]

Adding to the dogs and Gites aspect.I believe if you look at the Gites d'France brochure,you will be hard put to find a gite advertised that takes dogs,or admit to it.

Regards.B&B St.Malo

[/quote]

When GDF were with us we mentioned we didn't want other dogs here as it upsets ours. They told us we can't stop people bringing thirre dog (children either but you can set a minimum age...... on the children that is)  and to do so is against the law (their words not mine). Interestingly enought she went to a page on her form where it said about bringing dogs and ticked the NO box. So you tell me what that was about, I lost that bit completely.

[Coco]

I agree that you should most certainly let it be known that you have dogs on site (like Beryl, I'm not overkeen on them when they jump all over you or demand attention) but I wouldn't necessarily mention that you are dog breeders.  As for the cats, I'd also mention those.  We have a much loved family cat and it didn't occur to me in a million years that I should make our guests aware of his existance.  But I have been really surprised at not only how many people don't LIKE cats but just how many are actually SCARED of them.  Fortunately, for this season we will have a separate part of the house from guests and we will be able to keep our cat out of their part completely.  However, if this were not possible then I would start making mention of him on our website because I feel that some people have been really unhappy about him being here.

[Pip]

Hi Talbotjem

The last Gite we stayed at was similar to the one you have in mind to set up.  While there we had a wonderful time.  The owners two dogs and three cats adopted us and spent as much time in our Gite as they did in their own home.  The owners also kept ducks and poultry and we were able to watch baby ducklings hatch.  Here in blighty we are unable to keep pets because of work commitments and look forward to the time when we can do so in France.  Meanwhile we would always look for a place like the above to indulge our love of animals and France.  I'm sure we are not alone and other holiday makers would love what you are offering.  I wish you every success with your venture

[Judyc]

Hi Talbotjem

We run three gites in south west France and also have our pet golden retrievers living here (there were two until recently, have just got another puppy). 

Following the thread last year of the lady with gite guests who were petrified of her dogs, and having also experienced ourselves a couple of children who were  frightened of dogs, I decided that I needed to mention we had dogs but rather than make a big 'thing' about them in our write-up, I would put their picture into all of our adverts.

I have subsequently taken three bookings from people who have said they specifically chose us because they love dogs! 

I am sure that anybody who is frightened of dogs would take one look at the photo and chose somewhere else, which saves both us and the guest any problems. 

Winners all round!

Judy

www.faysselle.com

[Lori]

Russethouse et Judy - yes it was ME, the one with the guests from outer

space last year.  It really was an awful situation for two solid

weeks.  Terrible screaming at the sight of our collie (and he has

to be the most gentle thing on earth).  Our collie was always

mentioned on our websites as we wanted people to know he is here. 

We realize some people are allergic or simply don't like dogs.  We

do have a totally separate closed garden for him on our property, but

we do let him have free run of the yard every early morning and late

evening (I say do - we don't rent anymore, so he is always free to run

in the larger yard area).

Anyway, there are lots of different types of people out

there.   These folks never said anything about the child

having such an intense fear of dogs, even when given the tour of the

property and an introduction to the dog (adults not kids).  There

were other problems with this family, not just the dog.  But, in

the end, we decided that we would take a break from renting our

home. 

As said by someone else here, it might not be two businesses that work

well together - just my opinion.  Some people are great with

animals and they make their stay even more "homey."  Many of our

guests loved having our dog near them as they missed their own

dogs.  Others can be quite the opposite.

Either way, good luck in your planning.