Lock Your Pets Up!

I’ve seen quite a few posts regarding seller’s and their pets and want to share my most recent encounter.

It started out very normal, I called the owners to set the appointment for my buyers and I to come tour the house – I saw on the listing, “call first pet” so I asked if the animal would be locked up. “Oh yes, said the owner. We have a small dog and he will be in his crate in the laundry room.”  We arrived to the house right on time and I accessed the lockbox and opened the door. The next thing I know I was greeted by a dog attaching himself to my calf. There were no warning signs, no barking – nothing. I’m about as animal friendly as people come and recognize warning signs but, there just weren’t any, I didn’t realize there was even a dog near the door. Fortunately, as I yelled at the dog he released and backed off.

We promptly shut the door to the house locked it and assessed my leg. I’ll of course be fine but, the damage is significant and could have all been avoided. I called the listing agent to request the dog’s vaccination records as a precaution. I happen to have worked with her before and she couldn’t have been more apologetic or professional but, what really threw me off was the owner’s response. He took it upon himself to call me directly, still having my number from when I set the appointment. There was no apology, no are you okay – nothing. The first thing he said “what did you do to him?” I beg your pardon sir? He went on and on about how nice his dog is “he’d never bite anyone” etc…etc…etc.  I let him talk and then I let him have it. Number one your dog did bite so never say never and number two I didn’t do anything except access a house that I’d set an appointment for under the agreement the dog would be in a crate. Your dog is protecting HIS house and when you’re not there that instinct is multiplied.

The point is pets need to be locked up or removed from the house. I understand if owners don’t want to put them in a crate if that’s not what they’re used too but, that means the owner needs to be prepared to remove them from the house for every showing! It’s not the dog’s responsibility to act accordingly it’s the owner.