Innkeeper dogs

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KimVan

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I’m looking for advice and opinions about having innkeeper dogs. Do any of you have a dog or dogs and what has your experience been? We are mostly concerned about our 3 year old lab who wants to say hello to everyone and gets very excited to do so. Plus we have concerns about barking. We can give her to family if need be. We have a miniature dachshund as well, but she is content to stay away from others. Thanks for any pros or cons!
 
If the dogs will be in the guest space then make sure the guests know this in advance. If you want to allow the lively dog to stay, get it trained. There is no real reason a dog needs to jump or bark. Our golden used to woofle when the doorbell rang at the beginning of the season, then after a couple of weeks she realized the doorbell was for us and not her.
If the dogs will be in guest space and they cannot behave, then they need to be kept away from guests, however you accomplish that.
I’ve stayed places where the dogs begged at the table and jumped on the furniture and barked like lunatics. Don’t do that to guests!
You don’t want an anxious dog, either.
 
Thanks, Morticia.
I agree with all you said, and we definitely don't want to do that to guests. I've had all the same concerns, and I know she would not be happy staying in our quarters only.
Thanks for the feedback!
 
Mort said it best. Either keep your dogs away from guests, or get them trained. Or both.
We had 3 dogs at one time (now down to 1). We kept them out of the guest areas.
Don't underestimate them as marketing tools. People love to see cute dogs. When we adopted our mini-shitzu Maple, we put her on our website and social media (yes, we get #MeetMaple to trend with our guests for a while). People always show up and the first thing they say (after "where's the bathroom?" is "Where's Maple?"
 
Mort said it best. Either keep your dogs away from guests, or get them trained. Or both.
We had 3 dogs at one time (now down to 1). We kept them out of the guest areas.
Don't underestimate them as marketing tools. People love to see cute dogs. When we adopted our mini-shitzu Maple, we put her on our website and social media (yes, we get #MeetMaple to trend with our guests for a while). People always show up and the first thing they say (after "where's the bathroom?" is "Where's Maple?".
Thanks! I appreciate your feedback. The marketing idea is great. I'm going to keep that in mind with our mini dachshund.
Kim
 
Hi! We are a dog friendly B and B and have a inn dog named Molly. People actually come to our inn to meet her and have their dogs meet her. Now most important is that Molly a standard poodle attended AKC training classes for over 3 years and earned her advanced canine good citizen and Therapy dog designations. She was trained to go into schools, nursing homes and hospitals and is licensed through the Therapy dog International group. So jump to s hang a 4 room b andI. Molly was trained to meet and greet and leave it. She knows all her commands and also participated in obedience and agility. Now as our Inn ambassador she is well behaved and very intuitive. She can tell when a guest is sad or has worries and tunes in to them. Guests love her and trust her but training is everything!❤️
 
There are guests out there who do NOT like dogs. I would not "market" my pet in too many pics on the website. I have seen B&B websites with the innkeepers cats and dogs on every 2nd picture - not sure if that helps raising the occupancy. We are in the market for a B&B and I was planing to introduce our Charley ( a Golden Retriever ) in the section "About Us" with a picture from him and the following text: ( I know, too funny, we don't even have a B&B yet but already setting up a website :) )
Charley
Assistant Innkeeper and former Head of Security

I used to be in charge of the Security Department but got fired. My boss says I am too nice and too cute for that job. How can I be too nice - I just love everybody, how wrong can that be ? Anyway, they hired some call center ladies from ADT instead - no sympathy from my side.
You won't see me inside the house as I am no longer allowed to hang around in guest areas but if you like I am always available for a play anywhere outside.
 
There are guests out there who do NOT like dogs. I would not "market" my pet in too many pics on the website. I have seen B&B websites with the innkeepers cats and dogs on every 2nd picture - not sure if that helps raising the occupancy. We are in the market for a B&B and I was planing to introduce our Charley ( a Golden Retriever ) in the section "About Us" with a picture from him and the following text: ( I know, too funny, we don't even have a B&B yet but already setting up a website :) )
Charley
Assistant Innkeeper and former Head of Security

I used to be in charge of the Security Department but got fired. My boss says I am too nice and too cute for that job. How can I be too nice - I just love everybody, how wrong can that be ? Anyway, they hired some call center ladies from ADT instead - no sympathy from my side.
You won't see me inside the house as I am no longer allowed to hang around in guest areas but if you like I am always available for a play anywhere outside..
You want those guests who are allergic or who don’t like dogs to self select OUT of booking with you. So marketing the dog is an excellent way to do that. Otherwise the guest shows up, sees the dog, gets mad, demands a full refund, then leaves a review about how you ruined their vacation by having pets they didn’t know about. (We had one innkeeper tell us he wrote off all the dog’s costs as a business expense.)
Our dog did not meet and greet guests but she did follow us all over the inn when everyone was gone so we had to let allergic guests know about her.
It’s great that you are planning ahead for your website and how you want to operate!
 
There are guests out there who do NOT like dogs. I would not "market" my pet in too many pics on the website. I have seen B&B websites with the innkeepers cats and dogs on every 2nd picture - not sure if that helps raising the occupancy. We are in the market for a B&B and I was planing to introduce our Charley ( a Golden Retriever ) in the section "About Us" with a picture from him and the following text: ( I know, too funny, we don't even have a B&B yet but already setting up a website :) )
Charley
Assistant Innkeeper and former Head of Security

I used to be in charge of the Security Department but got fired. My boss says I am too nice and too cute for that job. How can I be too nice - I just love everybody, how wrong can that be ? Anyway, they hired some call center ladies from ADT instead - no sympathy from my side.
You won't see me inside the house as I am no longer allowed to hang around in guest areas but if you like I am always available for a play anywhere outside..
You want those guests who are allergic or who don’t like dogs to self select OUT of booking with you. So marketing the dog is an excellent way to do that. Otherwise the guest shows up, sees the dog, gets mad, demands a full refund, then leaves a review about how you ruined their vacation by having pets they didn’t know about. (We had one innkeeper tell us he wrote off all the dog’s costs as a business expense.)
Our dog did not meet and greet guests but she did follow us all over the inn when everyone was gone so we had to let allergic guests know about her.
It’s great that you are planning ahead for your website and how you want to operate!
.
A good point. SO and I were going to stay at a Finger Lakes B&B until we visited their site and saw how much their cat is part of the decor. Since I'm allergic, we chose to go elsewhere, saving us and them grief.
 
LOL weare a totally dog friendly B and B in the Hamptons Ny. One of my favorite stories was having a Chinese’s family staying with us. They came to breakfast and the sweetest pitti was there with her owners. The Chinese family screamed and retreated from the dining room. Well we explained we were dog friendly. By the next day they were taking pictures together arms around this sweet dog. Win Win❤️
 
LOL weare a totally dog friendly B and B in the Hamptons Ny. One of my favorite stories was having a Chinese’s family staying with us. They came to breakfast and the sweetest pitti was there with her owners. The Chinese family screamed and retreated from the dining room. Well we explained we were dog friendly. By the next day they were taking pictures together arms around this sweet dog. Win Win❤️
 
LOL weare a totally dog friendly B and B in the Hamptons Ny. One of my favorite stories was having a Chinese’s family staying with us. They came to breakfast and the sweetest pitti was there with her owners. The Chinese family screamed and retreated from the dining room. Well we explained we were dog friendly. By the next day they were taking pictures together arms around this sweet dog. Win Win❤️
 
LOL weare a totally dog friendly B and B in the Hamptons Ny. One of my favorite stories was having a Chinese’s family staying with us. They came to breakfast and the sweetest pitti was there with her owners. The Chinese family screamed and retreated from the dining room. Well we explained we were dog friendly. By the next day they were taking pictures together arms around this sweet dog. Win Win❤️
 
Thanks, everyone! We already mention our little dog, Penny, in our social media and in our policies and such so people are aware.
Whittuus, I love Charley's job description! Very clever!
Now to figure out how to get notifications when people comment on my post. I thought I had marked that box, but I'm not getting the replies.
I am so grateful for this group! As new innkeepers, we are learning so much from the posts here.
 
Thanks, everyone! We already mention our little dog, Penny, in our social media and in our policies and such so people are aware.
Whittuus, I love Charley's job description! Very clever!
Now to figure out how to get notifications when people comment on my post. I thought I had marked that box, but I'm not getting the replies.
I am so grateful for this group! As new innkeepers, we are learning so much from the posts here..
Fixed my notifications! That was easy! :)
 
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