Air bnb owner ott or do we deserve to be chucked out?

[Pilloh]

We were forced out of our house due to a water leak in the house. The insurance company said we had to move out due to the severity of the work.

A bit of a nightmare for us as we have a large dog. He’s been called a wonderfully mannered dog by a qualified behaviourist outside the house who really doesn’t care about people/other dogs. But he is a breed used for guarding and therefore very barky at home (we have a command that gets him to be quiet but it doesn’t stop the impulse to bark initially). Not to make excuses, we were working on this with the behaviourist pre-pandemic but our progress stalled so we just manage the situation. Ie we have gates all around our house/garden, don’t allow strangers and the dog to meet inside the house (he’s totally fine with people when they are not on “his” property). Our house is basically Fort Knox and only DH and I are here so it’s all pretty easy to manage.

We told the air bnb owner that please tell the cleaner not to enter house or garden without telling us as dog will run up and bark at strangers. He agreed. We explained the situation and he said he understood.

Yesterday pm, cleaner comes into the garden when I was playing footy - she was fetching something from shed. Dog ran towards her and barked. I gave the recall command which worked initially but then my dog ran back to cleaner and barked. It’s no doubt intimidating. After 20 ish secs dog was in the house and I apologised. Recall is not full proof hence why we never rely on it. We would never have found an Airbnb where we were not assured we would be informed of any person entering the property.

Owner has messaged now saying the cleaner won’t return whilst we are here and that means we have to leave as the owner is not ok with the house not being maintenanced.

Cleaner has visited 4 times without incident as the right procedures were followed.

Who is being unreasonable?

I'm pleased you got sorted OP. I was going to say, AirB&B tend to side with the customers over the hosts and hosts get penalised for cancelling bookings (I'm not a host myself but I am part of an AirB&B Host group on facebook so info is second hand).

Make sure you leave an honest review, I personally would also mention about the cleaner because I would be absolutely furious with that.

The cleaner should not enter the property unannounced. What was the shed being used for? Was there more than one property and you had the cleaning shed on your property? Even so, that is not an excuse because you should be able to relax without having someone entering the property.

This has gotten really nasty, can mods not lock it or something? OP has been quite clear that she's vulnerable & that just seems to spur ppl to want to get the boot in further, it's vile.

It probably is possible to train a dog not to bark when there is some at the door, in the garden etc but why would you want to?

My dogs bark when there is someone around - literally the only time they do bark. It alerts me to the fact there is someone around so I can look and see who it is and where they are. I also want people to know I have dogs who will bark (and possibly bite) if they attempted to break in. My elderly neighbour was alerted to someone trying to break into her house when one of my dogs was barking and she went to investigate. She has always said she likes it that my dogs bark only when there is something to bark about

There is ONE person at fault - the cleaner. If you and others can't see that then, sorry, but you are idiots.

Personally I detest the foaming at the mouth dog haters on mumsnet

Personally I detest the foaming at the mouth dog haters on mumsnet

well! Who’s have thought that from your username 😂

Have a camomile tea and a cuddle with your dog

H'mm. Dog sounds a bit of a pain. At least you recognise that a dog running up and barking at you is scary. Could be traumatic for some individuals. The dog isn't properly trained, is it?
Bad luck though but the reaction of the owner is understandable.

Even the most highly trained dogs would not like a stranger to enter their property unannounced, how they react to that differs dog to dog, but it is an asset for a dog to bark in that situation, it is a warning to you that someone they don’t know has entered your property and it’s a warning to anyone entering your property that there presence is not wanted, that’s not a bad thing, it gives anyone up to no good second thoughts.

my dogs would bark in OPs scenario, if someone came to the house via a door or gate and I let them in they wouldn’t bark or seem aggressive in the slightest.

people should under NO circumstances be letting themselves into your property unannounced, the cleaner should have had more respect for OPs privacy, I’d be livid with anyone who did this.

You've just explained why the scrap man used the back door.

Everyone else parks in the back and uses the back door. You're the odd ones out here.

Maybe try adapting to the local customs?

There is no excuse for your surprise or irritation or bewilderment.

Your dog sounds dangerous. For goodness sake resume the training. However, if owner knew, and agreed then owner is to blame for not ensuring that cleaner knew. Could you renegotiate and arrange a certain regular time for the cleaner and make sure you are out or dog is secured in a non cleaner area?

I’m not sure why so many people are being cunts about this. OP was completely upfront and the owner had no problem. An unannounced visit has happened which obviously wasn’t agreed to and now the cleaner is being a baby. It’s a shit situation and hopefully you’re back in your own home asap.

Former Airbnb host here. The owner should have given the cleaner your phone number so he or she could phone you to let you know exactly when they would arrive and you could make sure the dog was out of the way.

Owner accepted you under very strict conditions. The behaviour of your dog was not acceptable so the owner asks you to leave. Anyway, how much time do you need to train your dog? Since you started before covid?

I think you should have said in your OP that this visit was unannounced.
I don't think there should be unplanned and unannounced visits by cleaners. It's the owner's house, but you're paying to use it as your home, and a cleaner shouldn't just turn up and let herself in.

No, the dog is at fault, unfortunately. Many of the posters who are telling op the truth- that the dog is the one at fault, and by extension, her- have said they own dogs/don’t hate dogs. I grew up with dogs and have had a few as an adult. I don’t hate dogs, but I don’t like untrained dogs and owners who refuse to train them.

He's a Bagel

Its against basic Air BnB rules for the cleaner to enter the garden unannounced.

Rules that she should always be following but particularly in these circumstances where the importance has been stressed.

Cleaner and owner are entirely in the wrong. Even as a non-dog person it’s obvious that the (understandable) widespread anti-dog sentiment is causing people to place all blame for everything on dog owners - even where it is entirely irrational to do so.

They aren’t strict conditions.

The cleaner isn’t allowed to enter the property (including the garden) without prior notice. That is the case for all whole-property air bnb bookings.

The need for her to follow the rules was even more important here, given that the OP had raised the dog issue. The landlord and cleaner weren’t required to do anything other than follow the basic rules but I guess one or both of them was too entitled or stupid.

I think you sound like a very loving and patient pet owner, and you have tried to manage this situation responsibly. But speaking as someone who is quite scared of dogs, if I were the cleaner this would be a big issue for me and I just wouldn’t be able to bring myself to visit the property again knowing he is there. If you have a phobia it’s really not easy to overcome and the cleaner may be genuinely frightened of dogs and totally unable to tolerate this scenario (for reference, I just almost ran out in front of a bus trying to cross the road to get away from a leashed XLbully but throw me in a room with a couple of spiders and I’d be totally chilled!)

The owner obviously relies on the cleaner to maintain the property, and has done so before your tenancy and will do so after, therefore I think they are right in prioritising them.

If it wasn't for the dog in this scenario the same ppl would be bleating for the cleaner to be sacked.

I voted YANBU because of this. I agree completely that cleaner shouldn't feel unsafe be expected to work in those conditions, but you didn't employ the cleaner, the host did.

You clearly stated the conditions of your stay and the host agreed and was happy to take your money. If you were as honest to the host as you've stated in this thread, the host is being completely unreasonable, has put the cleaner in an unsafe environment due to their carelessness and you are not to blame here.

What PPs have said about how well or not your dog is trained is beside the point - it would only be relevant if you had been dishonest with the host and they had agreed to you staying without being fully informed of the situation with the dog, but from what you've said, that's not the case.

I would be beyond livid at effectively being made temporarily homeless due to the host's greed.

I don't think you're in the wrong op, there were rules set out to prevent this and the cleaner didn't follow them. Some dogs do protect their homes but it's not usually a problem as people shouldn't be walking on to other people's property uninvited.
I have a German Shepherd that I always crate when anybody knocks at the door. She is wary of men and even though she has never bitten she does stare at them. Not all dogs are friendly to every person but it doesn't mean they aren't good pets, you just have to put measures in place to prevent anything from happening.
You sound like you're doing your best for your dog and to keep people safe.

Yanbu. You had an agreement, cleaner broke it.

I wish you the best - you're right, dogs are not disposable and I also have dogs after being unable to have children after losing 5 babies. My dogs are Border Collies and are truly like therapy dogs to me.

YABU. It is illegal to have a dog who makes people feel intimidated, and is not under your control. The air b n b owner has absolutely no responsibility to accomodate your dog.

Unfortunately I have met many dogs. The nice, well trained ones do not bark or jump when someone enters the home. I have friends with dogs that do not bark and I visit their houses happily. I also have a friend with 3 barking and jumping up dogs and I refuse to visit her home now.