# Do you leave your dog alone in Hotels?



## dogless (Jan 7, 2005)

Do any of you leave your dog alone in a hotel room while you are on vacation? 

I know my dog behaves well, we have done it many times, usually when going out to dinner, so not for long just an hour or so.

We usually take her with us all day hiking to waterfalls, then she is tired out, we go out to dinner and leave her in the hotel room. She just sleeps the whole time.

But now, for our upcomming vacation, I face the prospect of leaving her in the room for half or more of the day. The weather predictions for where we are going are for the low 90's every day we are there. It may just be to hot for her to handle any walking at all, and at those temps, we can't leave her in the car at all. 

So it's either don't go on the vacation or leave her in the hotel if she can't handle the heat.

I don't want to leave her in a kennel, and I have no friend or family that I can leave her with, we have always taken her with us and I really dont want to change that.

I just am not sure what to do now.


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## Wolfgeist (Dec 4, 2010)

Crate her in the hotel room. Leave him with a frozen kong and fun stuff to do. Walk her at night. That's really all I can come up with for your situation. Don't leave her loose in the hotel room, I don't even think that is allowed.


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## Clyde (Feb 13, 2011)

I assume she will be in a crate. I would definitely notify the hotel of this and ask there policy. Cleaning staff could end up coming in while you are gone.


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## holland (Jan 11, 2009)

I have never left my dog alone in a hotel room-some have rules against that-it might be ok to leave them in a crate-but for half a day _I wouldn't-I sort of try to plan my vacation around the dog-if I am eating I do take out etc-if the vacation doesn't involve the dog-I would board


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## Bear GSD (Apr 12, 2012)

dogless said:


> Do any of you leave your dog alone in a hotel room while you are on vacation?
> 
> I know my dog behaves well, we have done it many times, usually when going out to dinner, so not for long just an hour or so.
> 
> ...


A couple of things that you could do. One person on this board suggested maybe going to a groomer and bring your dog there for half the day. If there is a Petco or Petsmart, that might be an option. You could also look into a doogie day care in the area, maybe call them in advance to set it up if they have any requirements that you would need to fufill in advance? Hope you're going somewhere fun!


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

Make sure hotel allows dogs. Crate her when you are gone. Make sure to notify front desk so they can alert cleaning staff and leave a note saying you have a dog in the crate. If she doesn't have separation anxiety, she should be ok with a bone and kong. I've done it with 3 or 4 dogs at a time and it's always gone fine


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## dogless (Jan 7, 2005)

The hotel does allow dogs. There are no rules against leaving the dog in the room, crated or not.

When we travel with her, we put the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door. We just trade out our towels and sheets for clean ones, and take out our own garbage. The cleaning staff does not come in our room.

Our trips always include our dog, we always take her all day with us as said in my first post.

Just this time, she is getting older and slowing down (arthritis and some other issues), so we planned on leaving her in the hotel for short periods while we did the longer hikes.

Just today, I see the temps will be in the 90's and am not sure she can handle that. I don't want to get to our destination and find that she refuses to walk because of the heat and then I am stuck.

Would you cancel your vacation because of this, or accept the fact I might have to leave her in the hotel for longer than I want....I'm just not sure


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## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

Sounds as if your dog is used to staying in different locations, all without problems.

Would you leave her at home for this amount of time? If your answer is yes, and since she is used to hotel rooms, I'd say leave her in the room while you hike. 

I wouldn't cancel mly vacation as long as I knew she could handle the time alone.


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

Leave her in the hotel. It's for the best. Don't cancel. Enjoy your time and your pup will be there to greet you when you return


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## dogless (Jan 7, 2005)

She is usually left alone all day while my DH and I work, at home. She has traveled a lot, she has probably been in 20 different hotels, in many states. We have never had a complaint about her. 

I dont want to cancel, that seems extreme at this point, but I don't want a "I told you so" from my DH if I end up not wanting to leave her in the hotel ALL DAY every day of our vacation if for some reason I don't feel comforatble leaving her for that long.

I am just venting I guess....



Caledon said:


> Sounds as if your dog is used to staying in different locations, all without problems.
> 
> Would you leave her at home for this amount of time? If your answer is yes, and since she is used to hotel rooms, I'd say leave her in the room while you hike.
> 
> I wouldn't cancel mly vacation as long as I knew she could handle the time alone.


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## Bear GSD (Apr 12, 2012)

Bear GSD said:


> A couple of things that you could do. One person on this board suggested maybe going to a groomer and bring your dog there for half the day. If there is a Petco or Petsmart, that might be an option. You could also look into a doogie day care in the area, maybe call them in advance to set it up if they have any requirements that you would need to fufill in advance? Hope you're going somewhere fun!


Is doing doggie day care not an option if your DH is concerned with how long the dog will be left alone?


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

I've left Aiden crated in the rooms just to be on the safe side. Never had any issues.


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

I have never left a dog in a hotel room and will never do it. You never know if your dog is going to bark all day, get out of the crate, frighten the cleaning staff, or worse, have the cleaning staff do something to your dog.


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## marbury (Apr 3, 2012)

Double check with the hotel, you said they do not have rules... most hotels *do* have rules but don't necessarily post them everywhere. It's rare to find a hotel that does not require a hard crate and a plastic liner underneath when we travel to dog shows, but those hotels are affiliated with the host clubs. Most hotels I've worked with say that dogs cannot be left in rooms unattended with the exception of Red Roof Inn. Again, I only stay at hotels for dog shows when I have 3+ dogs so that's just my experience.
Bring a crate; it won't kill a dog to be crated for half a day if the dog is crate trained. Why would you make yourself worry all day while you wonder if your dog has done any damage or been walked in on by staff when you can have fun on your vacation with the knowledge that he's safe and sound in his crate?


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## San (Mar 22, 2012)

Our GSD stays at hotels with us several times a year, I would have to agree with marbury. Most hotels do not allow dogs to be left unattended, even if crated. I think we had one occasion, when a hotel staff told us that if the dog were to be left in the room unsupervised, we needed to let them know ahead of time so they could call us on our cell phone if they had any problems. 

I would not cancel your vacation, enjoy your time with your hubby, it will make your hubby love your dog more 

Given the choice between leaving the dog in a hotel room unattended versus boarding, I would choose boarding. Mainly because you never know what can happen to your dog in the room, you never know who can get into the room without permission. 

I've never hired one, but is there a possibility you can hire a house sitter?


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## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

I usually leave a note on the outside of my door saying do not disturb if the dogs are loose in the room. I have learned to put them in crates even though they won't tear up anything because I have had some housekeeping staff go in the room and let the dogs out while they are cleaning. It may also help to let the front desk know that your dogs will be unattended for a while in the room so that they can make a note of it.


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

Mostly nowadays I try to take vacations where we stay in a cottage or cabin so it's not an issue, but I did go on one vacation with Bianca where we stayed at a hotel a few years ago. We did not leave her alone in the hotel room though. We planned our trip in ways that we were able to take her with us, and we planned one day when we would do all the things where we could not bring her along, and we made reservations for Bianca to stay at a daycare/boarding kennel for the day and picked her up in the evening. It worked out just fine.
My previous dog used to go on all trips with us as well and we stayed at hotels more often back then. Once, we got a complaint from the hotel staff about our dog barking in the room. They said it must be us because we had the only dog that was registered there... During the time when they said our dog was barking, ALL of us had been out of the hotel for several hours with our dog! It turned out someone else had sneaked in a dog without telling the staff (silly, since pets were allowed with no fee) and left it alone in their room to bark...


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

The few places we've been to do not allow a dog to be left alone. Except once, we stayed at a Marriott near Disneyland with our previous dog. The shuttle from the hotel to Disneyland did not allow dogs, we were going to bring our dog on the shuttle and then board at Disneyland. One of the hotel workers whispered to us to just leave the dog in our room, everyone does it. So we did, with a do not disturb sign, came back to check on her at lunch, and then would do checks every couple hours. She was not the type of dog to destroy a room.

Some hotels can help arrange for care or pet sitting.


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## blehmannwa (Jan 11, 2011)

I'd use the dog as an excuse not to hike in 90 degree weather.


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## narako9 (Jun 29, 2012)

I'm about to go on a road trip and might pass by Vegas, from what i'm seeing that most hotels do charge extra for the dogs, I checked the day cares in vegas it seems like to be a viable option. Well depending on how long you're gonna stay of course, for me it would only be couple of days and the difference between paying the extra charge for a hotel and paying the boarding cost is not that much. plus she'll be running around with other dogs and having fun instead of just being in a hotel room all day long. If you don't want her sleeping there you can always leave her there for the day then pick her up at the end of the day.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

I would never leave an uncrated dog alone in a motel room. Seems to me being around your stuff crated should be less stessful than running around a room. My dogs always feel more "at home' when they have their crates when we travel.

Is there some issue with her staying in a crate?


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