From: kte@INEL.GOV (Kathryn L Cook)
Subject: Re: Traveling with Fido
Reply-To: kte@INEL.GOV (Kathryn L Cook)
Organization: Idaho National Engineering Lab
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 17:17:13 GMT

In article <11DEC92.09254845@wums.wustl.edu>, trimpe_b@wums.wustl.edu writes:
|> Hi Netters-
|> 	This posting is somewhat twofold.  First- My husb and I are going to a
|> resort area over x-mas and are allowed to bring the dog:-). My question
|> is - any helpful do ahead hints?  We're taking his porter, food dish, etc. but
|> this is your basic hotel situation and am wondering if there is any etiquitte
|> or ideas from the net world; I am told the place will be almost deserted:-)  
|> We have a well behaved labrador.  This leads to my other question..in the 
|> course of making reservations etc I told every person at the hotel that I had a
|> large dog- "no problem". Well when calling to get instructions to the place I
|> suddenly learn that they have a weight limit of 15 lbs.  After talking to the
|> mananger etc. they agreed to let me bring him and all is fine there but what
|> is the weight limit for?  I get very annoyed at that because I find that owners
|> of small dogs have less of a tendency to train their dogs.  After all it's not
|> that big a deal if a Mini poodle jumps on you versus a 90 lb GSD.  Of course 
|> there is the "yappiness" factor too but I've known many a small dog that didn't
|> yap so please dont flame me--I'm talking generalities and stereotypes.
|> BT

If a big dog gets sick there's more mess on the carpet.  A small dog might
chew the chair leg, a big dog might eat the entire chair, the bed, the dresser
. . . etc. A big dog has more surface area, thus more hair to shed.  If a
big dog jumps on another guest she is more likely to knock them down then a
little dog. A big dog might scratch the entire door trying to get out if left alone, a little dog can only reach the bottom of the door. If the owner does
not responsibly clean up after his dog, the big dog leaves a bigger pile on
the front lawn.

This *IS NOT* a flame of big dogs, I've owned and/or lived with everything
from a Great Dane to a toy poodle and enjoy dogs of all sizes.  This
is probably just how the average motel owner sees things.  I don't understand
why motels don't just take a sizeable (no pun intended) refundable deposit
at check in and then give it back at check out if no problems have occurred.

BTW - IMHO one reason little dogs jump on people more is to be reached,
a big dog is naturally at petting level while a little dog has to stretch.

Personal Pet People Peeve:  People who cuddle, pet, and smooze my little dogs
when the dogs jump up on (despite my asking them (the people) not to) and
then turn around and wonder why my dogs jump on them. My dogs don't jump on me
they just kinda wiggle and dance around my legs and let me come down to their
level (well OK, most of the time not always) ;-).

Hope you and the pup have a great holiday vacation.

-Kayti 
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