As “extreme dog lovers,” we enjoy traveling with our three large dogs.  They go pretty much wherever we travel by car or RV.   This most especially includes our trips to Bisbee, Arizona, where we have a vacation home rental which welcomes adults with dogs and children.   The key here is our tall fenced yard with a locking gate.

For those of us with dogs, there is a huge difference between staying in a hotel (even one that permits dogs – we certainly don’t try to sneak in 70-80 lb. dogs) vs. staying in a rental home which allows and is set up for dogs.  What we find with hotels that permit dogs is that 1) they are pricey for what you receive and 2) they are often unclean.  In addition, having to take a dog outside many times a day (and sometimes in the middle of the night) is a nuisance.  You certainly can’t leave your dog behind in a hotel room and go out for a meal.   Most hotels forbid leaving a dog alone.

Back in 2013, when I first wrote this post, I found myself outside of a hotel in Green Valley, walking my large lab mix Jack in the middle of the night because he had to go out.   I was out there in my bathrobe.   I was not thrilled.

Also, getting dogs in and out of hotel rooms, especially when you have two or three large dogs, is a pain in the rear because they not only want to sniff everything in sight, they want to check out all of the other dogs.    There’s always a lot of pulling and “Yes, he’s friendly!” involved.

 

Renting a fenced vacation rental, now that’s a different story!   We have rented vacation homes all over the U. S. and in Europe, and few have fenced yards.   But the vacation home rental we own in Bisbee is fenced.  Not only does it have a sturdy  tall fence, it has a locking gate.   We bought that house in particular because we loved the yard at first sight.  It’s private.   One of the first things my husband did was rip out the plastic “fencing” and install the new wood fence.  The colorful gate followed.

What does this mean to us, and to people who rent from us?   It means no walking the dogs in and out of the house on a leash all day long.  We typically prop the front door open so our dogs can go in and out at will.   One recent renter told me that her dog Bailey loved the yard and appreciated being able to be off-leash outside in the yard.   We often have 2-3 dogs visiting at a time because, let’s face it, we dog people love our dogs and want them to be part of our vacations.

We’ve had a large number of guests with dogs at the house, and all say the same thing:  they love the house and the yard.   This year, we’ve had several visitors there for months  at a time – all with their dogs.

In the winter, we do have to let the dogs in and out (to keep the heat in the house), but we don’t have to go outside with them.   We just keep an old towel by the door to dry the dogs off.   Plus, the porch is covered, and the doors have plastic door protectors to protect them from dogs’ paws doing the “I need to go outside” scratch.

 

The house has refinished hardwood and saltillo tile floors.  They’re very dog-friendly (no worries about scratching new hardwood or wrecking expensive carpeting).   Although we suggest people keep their dogs off the furniture, we know that sometimes that doesn’t happen.  We keep spare, old linens in the house to cover furniture with sheets to keep dog fur off.   Our housekeeper is excellent and does a great job of cleaning the house after every visit.  With 70+ 5-star reviews on VRBO, we know people think our house is clean-clean-clean.

If you’re looking for a place in Bisbee that’s dog friendly, you’ve found it with abisbeevacationrental.com.  Several other vacation rental homes in Bisbee boast about being dog friendly, and I’ve stayed in two of them (both are quite nice).  Most vacation rentals either don’t have yards at all, or they’re not fenced, or they’re fenced but are shared and are not secure.  Not ours.   It’s the perfect place for dog lovers and their dogs.

 

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in 2013  and has been updated for 2018.