Ultimate Guide to Making Your Property Dog-Friendly

If you don’t already welcome dogs to you holiday home, do give it some thought!  From our stats, dog-friendly properties usually get two to three times more interest than non dogs welcome cottages.  So, if you start welcoming man’s best friend to your holiday home, you may do wonders for your bookings!

 

So How Do You Make a Holiday Home Dog-Friendly?

If you are thinking of welcoming dogs for the first time, you may be wondering, how do you make your property truly pet-friendly?  Here at Country Cottages Online, we’ve put together some guidelines to help you to get your holiday home truly pet-ready.  Read on for our overview.  If you want a detailed guide we recommend you read our guide  on creating a dog-friendly holiday home.

We’ll guide you through; dog-friendly features to maximise on including outdoor space, accessories for dogs, ways to make your holiday home feel truly pooch-friendly, how many dogs to welcome and which breeds, and provide you with tips on how to optimise your pet-friendly policy.

 

So Which Dog-Friendly Features Should Holiday Homes Focus On?

•    Offer a secure outdoor space and ideally a garden for dogs to run around.  Remember to do a bit of research and make sure that your plants are pet-safe and non toxic to dogs.  Common flowers like lilies, foxgloves and daffodils are a no-no as they are toxic to dogs.  You’ll also want to make sure that your garden is dog-proof so that pooches can’t escape. Make sure there are no gaps under your fence panels that dogs can squeeze through and have a fence height of ideally 1.5 metres.  Self-closing gates can also be ideal so that gates don’t get accidentally left open by the two legged friends!

 

•    Provide added dog-friendly extras like a dog bowl or dog toys (that can be easily cleaned).  Outdoor doggy shower areas are increasingly popular too.  If you don’t offer a doggy shower as such, a hosepipe or outdoor tap for muddy paws is useful.  You may want to include a supply of dog poo bags for guests, in case they forget these.

•    If you want to keep dogs out of upstairs areas, having stair gates can help to achieve this.
 

 

How to Make Your Property Feel Truly Pooch-Friendly?

How holidaymakers feel about your property can be oh so important.  Guests with pups want to make sure that their prized pooches are as welcome as they are.  So, if you offer a welcome pack, consider doing a pooch-friendly version too with some dog treats to help four legged friends feel special too.

Dog owners usually also appreciate those extra touches like an information folder or booklet with a list of nearby dog-friendly pubs, eateries and beaches to help guide their activities.  Also consider adding extras like emergency vet contact details to help provide guests with peace of mind.
 

 

How Many Dogs to Welcome?

Another key consideration if you’ve decided to welcome dogs, is to decide how many you will welcome.  Many owners just welcome 1 or 2 dogs, but properties welcoming multiple dogs are very sought after and popular so if you want to maximise on bookings, then accepting more dogs can be a great idea.

 

Which Breeds of Dogs Will You Welcome?

Some owners have rules like only small pooches like pugs or chihuahuas allowed, whereas others welcome large dogs like Alsatians.  Listing with Country Cottages Online you are free to welcome whichever size and breeds of dogs fits with your property.

 

 

How to Optimise your Pets Welcome Policy

To make things easy and clear for both you and guests it’s essential to have a clear and easy to read pets welcome policy.  If you don’t allow pets upstairs, it’s recommended that you put that information as one of the very first points on the list.

If you charge an extra fee for dogs, make sure that any fees are clearly shown at the booking stage so there are no surprises or upset customers.

 

Insurance Considerations

If you decide to change your holiday home to become pet-friendly do give your insurers a call and check whether you need to make any amendments to your policy.
 
 

Boost Your Bookings Once you have a Pooch-Friendly Palace

We've covered the key areas: essential dog-friendly features to highlight, tips to make your holiday home truly welcoming for four-legged guests, how many and what type of dogs to welcome, and how to fine-tune your pet-friendly policy. If you want even more information read our pdf guide on creating a dog-friendly holiday home which breaks down our hints and tips in to even more detail.  From everyone at Country Cottages Online, we wish you the very best of luck as you open your doors to happy owners and wagging tails!