Let me set the scene: I've arranged a lsit of showing appointments for my prospects, Mom, Dad, their three year old baby girl and her parents came along too. This was back in an era before centralized showing services came into existance. I made the appointment to show by calling the listing office. "Ring Ring", "Hello ABC Realty? I'd like to show your listing at 1313 Mockingbird Lane this afternoon at 4:00 PM, Can I do that" The duty agent responds: "We'd love for you to show 1313 MockingBird at 4, let me set it up for you, please hold while I call the owner? 'Absolutely, I'll wait' "OK, back, you're all set for 4:00 o'clock. Theres a bad dog in the house, but they have him in a crate in one of the bedrooms, so don't worry about that" We get to the house and I've got five people standing in back of me watching me use the key on the car port door. I open the door and the little girl runs past me into the home. The parents and grandparents and I are close behind. She runs through the small kitchen into the adjoining living room. Then, we saw HIM. A snarling large animal with the hair on his neck straight up. He had come from the back bedroom where he had gotten out of his cage and was very unhappy to have strangers in his house. The little girl is between us and him. The parents, grandparents and I are literally paralyzed with fear. My only thought was "Dear God, help me". I saw a sliding glass door to my immediate right and I moved towards it with lightning speed and flung it wide open. The upset animal ran past the child, through the open door and into the back yard. I quickly shut the door behind him and everyone inside the home breathed a deep sigh of relief. We had averted a real estate version of the Cuban missle crisis. The dog was Khruschev, I was JFK and we had just averted Armageddon by showing "Khrushchev" that there was a way out of an unsavory predicament. What did I learn from this experience? Be incredibly careful when showing real estate where you're told a bad dog is "allegedly" safely secured inside it's cage. They can and do get out.
Quick thinking Thomas in throwing open the door, that dog didn't know you had permission to be there, all he is thinking is INTRUDER WILL ROBINSON INTRUDER!
Very quick thinking - I have run into listings where the animal that was contained was not, and it's a big surprise to everyone.
haha Rene, exactly. They may be dumb animals, but you've got to give them options. Kennedy gave Khrushchev a better option and he "blinked" . The world was saved. Reducing that down to the micro it's the same theory put into practice. Don't paint your adversary into a corner.
Had a Rottweiler sleeping in a place we showed who work up in the master bedroom as we weaved down a narrow hall and met him. He was groggy and little playful at first then realized hey, what are you doing in here. Boxed canyon meeting and lucky to get the couple and child out before Rover took a bite out of "mine".
Carol, I was frightened out of my wits. All I could see was the real possibility of this very scary dog tearing the kid to ribbons.
Fernando, for sure. Now, when I get a caution that theres a dog in a crate or in a cage I make sure that the cage is outside and not inside the house.
Sounds like this situation could have turned ugly. I'm glad you responded quickly and keep the situation under control.
Thomas: pets and selling homes never mix well.....beware of the listing that says "dog inside but friendly". You were quick thinking and deserve a pat on the back.
Might look you up when I come to gamble in Bossier City again!
Gwynn, give me some advance notice before coming. It's a half day job to unroll that red carpet. ;-)
Yes Tom I am the same Gwynn who had to correct her kudos...and you don't have to roll out the red carpet - just tell me which casino pays the most!
Gwynn, I think The Horseshoe caters to a nicer class of people. The cruisine in their steakhouse is pretty good too.
Tom, your life is full of danger and adventure. I've never thought real estate could be such a high-risk profession until I started to read your posts. Beware of those vicious dogs next time. I'm happy to hear this showing had a happy ending.
Liz, in another life I was surely a wild animal trainer... I have another dog story in me too, but I have to do some real estate work over the next few days before I actually sit down to write the next one. ( I'm tossing out juicy tidbits to keep my readers tantalized) :-) Tom
I am starting to think you are a Dog Wisperer. lol Very scary to be in that position. Great job resolving the issue and keeping a cool head.
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