First of all, I am a dog lover and a cat tolerator.
The worst part about cats is that I am allergic to them.
The unconditional love and the desire to be part of my pack are two big reasons why I love dogs. They make me laugh, too. My ex used to practice his saxophone in the house, and my standard poodle, curled up by feet while I was blogging, would howl when Peter played the blues. The dog didn't have the blues and it was not a howl of protest, he was accompanying the music. Loved it!
Anyway, I wrote this part to assure you that I am not against dogs, but unfriendly or barking or, horror of horrors-a loose growling dog coming at you during a showing? Once, my buyers and I scrambled out the door in escape, and just as the door slammed behind us that meaner-than-a-junk-yard-dog of a dog,kept attacking and barking at the door even as we escaped in the get away car.
Kenneling your dog can be good. Right? Felix, another buyer and I, toured a cute bungalow, and yes, the dog was in his crate so that we did not fear for our lives, but it barked incessantly the whole time we were there. Miracle of miracles, this is the house Felix wanted. It was insane during a three hour inspection when the dog never stopped to take a breath or a sip of water but barked from beginning to end of our deafening time there.
What to do? it is difficult with employed home-selling dog owners with real jobs.
But Mr. and Mrs. Sellers you do want to sell you house don't you?
Felix was the exception and he did look past all this and still wrote the offer and is now nicely settled into his new home. He has two cats.
So here are Barbara's Top Ten Ideas
about what to do with with your pooch during showings when you are hardly ever home:
- Doggie daycare.
- Grandma.
- Other relatives.
- Unemployed friends.
- Try contacting neighbors to see if one of them could walk Poochie around the block a few times.
- Craigslist or neighborhood newsletters can help you find a dog sitter for hire. Either searching the ads or placing your own ad.
- If you are actually able to leave work but you don't really want to: DO IT ANYWAY. Why did you list your house for sale in the first place.
- Turning down showings and trying to re-schedule a showing? Only in an emergency. I have found many buyers on a tight time-frame don't reschedule or have found their dream home before they get back to your.
- If the buyers' Realtor calls me-the listing Realtor, with "my very qualified and motivated out of town buyers who really want to see this house ASAP and have to get back to the opposite coast on a 6 am flight the next morning" for heaven's sake, I'll pop over and get the dog out.
- if your dog is thoroughly tested, 100% guaranteed friendly to strangers and you have talked with showing agent in detail and the buyers are not fearful of dogs in general-SOMETIMES, you can get permission and leave the dog inside for the showing.
So, you warm fuzzy lovers of animals, do not let Fido contribute to your home being on the market longer than it should by turning off or sending buyers away. Fido will be happier too.
Bow Wow.
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