Leaving dog in holiday cottage?

[ShoesJerry]

We recently acquired a retired greyhound so have had our first family holiday with a dog this year. I booked a lovely cottage which allows dogs, but was surprised to see when we arrived that all the cottage instructions state that the dog must not ever be left alone in the cottage.

Just wondering from more experienced dog owners whether this is the norm with holiday cottages that allow dogs? We have kept our dog with us at all times, but had originally expected that we'd occasionally leave her for an hour or so to do things like a supermarket shop or to visit a local place where dogs aren't allowed.

We certainly hadn't planned to leave her for any long stretches, but I was really surprised that we weren't allowed to leave her at all. In all other respects, the cottage we booked was really lovely, and I'd be keen to visit again but it's been a slight pain not being able to leave the dog even for really short times.

Any advice on whether this is standard practice?

The dog has had an awesome holiday, by the way, and we've so enjoyed having her with us for the first time. She has eaten doggy frozen yogurt today and thought she was in heaven!

Thanks, Walkers, she's awesome and we love her to bits!

We've been holidaying with our dog for ten years nearly and when I say holidaying I mean he's been everywhere with me and my son. I often joke that he's been more places than most people. We always make sure that we take him out in the morning for at least an hour so that he's had plenty of exercise. As long as your a responsible dog owner and you make sure that they've had plenty of exercise before leaving them while you go out for a few hours I see no harm.

Cottage owner here. Yes, it is a blanket policy for the agency we use, and for most agencies. That said, providing there was no damage and the dog didn't bark/whine I wouldn't have a problem with it (indeed I've left my dog when staying in cottages). It's a rule to prevent damage and not disturb the neighbours. If you are sure they won't apply to your dog, then I can't see a problem.

I never heard of this we stay in holiday cottages twice a year and have never stayed in one yet that you couldn't leave dogs, we always leave ours so i can take the kids to places where dogs are not allowed, always take her for good walk and she has been fine, she is use to being left everyday at home so nothing unusual for her

Standard practice. The owners of a cottage we use regularly explain it well in their welcome pack, stating that whilst you may know how your dog will be quiet and calm in his own home, the cottage is unfamiliar and he may become anxious and noisy and/or destructive. If you want to book somewhere but know you'll want a day or two without dog ask when you book if the owners know a reputable local dog sitter. We used a place where the owner told us that her mum (who lived next door) would look after our dog for a fiver a day. It worked out well, we had a trip into a city where the dc got to see a couple of things they were really interested in.

We used to stay in a lovely dog friendly cottage that had this rule. It was in the middle of nowhere (so no neighbours to annoy) and when talking to the owner they says to just use common sense and if you trusted your dog then give it a go.

My biggest concern would be how you stop a greyhound from getting on the sofa if you’re not there to enforce the rule... I had trouble even when I was in the same room!

Glad you’ve had a good holiday.

One of mine is a greyhound so the "no sofa" rule just isn't going to happen!! We take our own throws and make sure every piece of furniture likely to be occupied by DGrey is well covered! And hoover like made before we leave.

Oh dear - we've taken our dog to several holiday cottages and obviously never read the small print! It never crossed my mind we shouldn't leave her and she's perfectly happy to be left.

Not sure as lm not a dog owner

I just wanted to say lm glad she enjoyed her holiday. Especially the frozen yoghurt!!!!

I'll admit that we ignore the 'no upstairs ' and 'not in the furniture' rules and just clean up any hairs but I wouldn't leave my dog alone in a strange place.

We normally do any shopping where we can't take ddog one at a time, and check out dog friendly pubs on the internet before we go.

We are resigned to there being things we can't do with our holiday if we have ddog with us and there is just myself and DH holidaying. If DS comes then we may do a few things separately I.e 2 go out, one stays with ddog.

The thing is is you can't really stop it going on the furniture or upstairs if you don't supervise the dog

When you are renting a holiday cottage it is someone else's furniture and it's only fair you follow their rules about what you do in their house. Dogs on sofas can cause a smell that vacuuming simply won't get out, and if it's your own sofa that's fine but not someone else's. Don't be a twat and just follow the rules

If a dog is crate trained I think it would be fine to leave them in a crate for a bit. But not if they are going to go sit on the sofa etc. Nor fair on the owner of the cottage

My dog has never gone on the furniture and wouldn’t dream of going upstairs unless she was invited.

She couldn’t do it in secret either. Her world involves a lot of blonde fluff.

Never mind don’t be a twat, how about don’t make sweeping assumptions.

life don't be so sensitive. My post wasn't aimed at you

Its not a sweeping assumption when multiple posters have said their dogs have been on the furniture in holiday cottages

And it is twatty not to follow the rules in someone else's house.

We have just come back from Cwm Connell Holiday cottages in Moylegrove, Pembrokeshire. It was fabulous for us and doggy heaven for our pooch (enclosed paddock, walk along coastal path, doggy shower etc.) We didn't leave our giant pup but the owners stated they could be left alone if you felt they would be ok with it. They also provide dog sitting whilst you go out - don't usually rave about somewhere but this was fab 😁

I am not sensitive at all just have no time for judgemental folk - if you read my post I don’t follow the rules either, I leave my teenage dog who never barks or puts a foot wrong alone for a few hours just as I do at home, despite the rules.

We've just got back from Norfolk with ours. Said no dogs on furniture or upstairs but we had a barn that was split into 2 lets and our dogs were whining/barking so badly the 1st night we had to take them upstairs with us. We paid a £200 extra security deposit and £50 cleaning fee so I don't feel guilty about it.

I think keeping our dogs happy and letting our neighbours sleep trumped the no dog upstairs rule. But there is no way I'd have left them - our pup is 9 months and chews everything in sight

Life you can't expect no one to judge you for breaking the rules?! Sounds like you just don't like being called a twat for twatty behaviour tbh.

Most posters have presented a reason e.g span1els which sounds fair enough. You just want to do what you want without being called out on it.

🤷🏻‍♀️ Get over yourself - not twatty at all.

I have got an extremely well behaved dog I can trust .... I also allow dogs in my rental.

We often leave our dog unattended for a couple of hours on holiday... If a cottage says it's dog friendly and they don't make it very clear that they don't want them left, it wouldn't even occur to me not to leave him! I completely trust him not to damage anything, he's very good like that.

On a couple of occasions I've asked owners if they dont mind us leaving him with him in his crate, and that usually goes down well. And I think it helps calm dogs if they can retreat to their cosy little bunker in a new place. Maybe try crate training? It's good for old skinny lurcher types because you can load it up with cushions and drape blankets over it to keep out drafts and help them stay warm at night!

We have booked a cottage with this rule. Our dog is small, never comes upstairs at home. Sleeps really well in a big pen.

So if we had to nip out somewhere the dog couldn't go then I'll probably risk it for an hour. But only after a good few days of settling in.

I have left mine occasionally. He doesn't bark and won't chew or lie on anything. I have a crate that I can and have left dogs in when they were younger, but not when they reached maturity. It never really occurred to me that they couldn't be left tbh. I've never checked. I also travel a lot alone with my dog, so sometimes I have no choice but to leave him behind when it is too warm or cold for him to be left in the car while I go to the shop etc.

It’s normal but we have two small dogs that are crated when we go out at home, so we take the crates with us and they go to sleep in those, but we leave them no longer than a couple of hours at home or on holiday

I'm not a dog owner and I know this.

I would prefer to go to dog free properties but actually they can be pretty hard to find especially when I have already restricted myself down to needing to sleep 5.

But it does seem quite a standard policy whenever we have stopped somewhere that takes dogs.

As an owner of a holiday cottage this is the norm. Dogs are accepted provided :
They are not left unattended
They are not allowed on soft furnishings
They are not allowed upstairs.
These are rules set by many holiday let businesses and are in the contract at time of booking :)

Just occurred to me OP that I should add (whilst not self-catering) check out pets pyjamas for dog friendly hotels. We had a weekend in the Lakes at Easter with DDog & he could be left in room or brought with us to certain areas so we had a lovely dinner while he was snuggled up in bed, a couple of lovely breakfasts with him under the table (sausages may also have made their way under the table) & definitely a few drinks in the bar while he went around playing the cute card for attention and tummy rubs.