What the Seller should do with the Dog at Showings

Dogs should  at least be crated for the showing if no one can watch them. I would never show my house with the dog loose. That could be dangerous.

Karen

As a pet owner I have to say the pets need to out of the home, they become a distraction

Good luck and success

Lou Ludwig

I have always been able to have the sellers have a neighbor put the dog up in a pen or on a leash while the home is being shown. I have one that has has a cat and requests to not let the cat in when showing. Some employers may not let the dog come with them to work, check to see if neighbors could care for the dog while they are at work.

Dogs are definitely a distraction.  If they cannot be chained in the backyard or crated, they should be taken to the Doggy-Day Care that you mentioned.

Yes, keep the pets out!  What a pain they can be.  But even worse, the owners or tenants.  They are the ones who really hurt the showing process.  I think we need to send the to seller daycare.  When you have a showing, isn't there something you can do for 30 minutes, while the perspective buyer is in the home?

great blog- the sellers need to take them away from the house..most of the homes here for sale are bank repos so we don't have to worry about that..

They should be removed during showings or crated. I have had one too many "friendly dog that wor't bite" turn out to be otherwise. Same for cats that like to try their claws on my nice dress pants.

Thanks for sharing Karen. Dogs should always be removed from the house before showings. If that is not possible, putting them in crates is the next best thing. I have found that barking dogs are a huge distraction, especially to potential buyers that hate animals.

I am definitely a big dog lover, but you are so right.  I always worry about how well my sellers will handle their pet issues when realtors are ready to show their homes.  And we all know that many of these agents have clients who decide at the "last moment" that they want to go in a home to see it.

Good luck to you.

Carole Lhuillier

Crate / cage, long walk, neighbor's/friends/relatives house.  I used to arrange Doggy Play dates on a regular basis for my former pooch.  Not that it had anything to do with showing a house, it was fun for him (an me too!).

Also, when the house is being inspected, please keep your friendly neighborhood home inspector in mind!  Nothing worse than half your body under the kitchen sink and the sellers dog either trying to get a "looksie" with you or "sniffing you out".  Even the smallest and friendliest of dogs need to be arranged for.

I allways encourage my clients not to have their dogs there during the open house or showing.  I have one client who not only has multiple dogs, birds and has now added a pig to the mix. Any ideas on where to keep the pig.

Karen, I am a dog lover, but I agree that the house needs to be the center of attention, not the pets. We recently sold our house. We would crate our 2 dogs, if we got a showing call, one of us would try to go home and pick them up and drive around until the prospective buyers left. We also picked up dog bowls, toys, etc so that they would know that the house was well maintained. Luckily we sold in 3 days so it wasn't to much of a hassle. Rick, we did remove them for the inspector (an excellent point.) 

It would make showing the home alot easier if there were no pets at home during the showing