Infuriating!!!!!

[nlavett]

I know this story has probably been told a thousand times, but I am so mad I needed to vent. My husband and I have been going to the Tradewinds Resort in St. Pete Florida for short weekend getaways for years now. We love it there. So you can imagine our excitement when they notified us that they have added on and and are now welcoming pets. If you pull up theie website, you see all the fun things available and pics of a guy and his German Shephard. Then you read their pet policy.

"Aggressive breeds are not permitted on property (Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Dobermans and Chows)"

Here is the email I sent. Jerks!!!!

Submitted to st. Petersburg Tradewind Resort, Monday, February 25, 2008

I was very excited to learn of your new accommodations for pets. We love traveling with our pet as she is part of the family. Our dog, Xasha has earned her CGC (Canine Good Citizen) and is currently enrolled in her third obedience class. She is also a Rottweiler. I believe you have the right to accept or not whomever you wish. I do not believe you have the right to label my dog as an aggressive breed. It is an uneducated statement that you have made and it serves the purpose of only furthering the ignorance about our breed among others. Be it a chihuaha or a doberman, bad behavior comes from the end of the leash being held by the hand of a human. Again, you have the right to refuse anyone. You should not have the right to further develop a warped mentality against a living creature.

As you can imagine, I have not received a response.

[Nishasmom]

What a shame; people are so racist! I hope you find a hotel that will let your Xasha join you; I'm sure she will love to swim in the ocean with you!

[DarinBongo]

I've gotten sick of fighting with hotels and resorts that now i just rent beach homes. Ends up being cheaper anyway.

[JoJo]

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! You should have added that you will now find another place to spend your weekends and MONEY in the future! I would imagine it was probably their insurance company who mandated this policy, for they mandate it to homeowners. By the way, good letter.

[lengel]

I worked for an insurance agent for five years. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this came from the insurance company. Tradewinds doesn't have a choice given the insurance company they have chosen (and/or the price they paid for their premium). There are many, many other breeds which are "lesser" known which are not on in their exclusion list. This list is ridiculous but otherwise they wouldn't be able to get liability insurance.

I've seen too much and I'm not a fan of insurance and/or risk liability companies. They have an insane amount of control over businesses. I take note of companies which hire certain insurance or risk liability companies and won't buy from them. It's the only defense a consumer has.

Good for you. Don't go there.

[nlavett]

I finally recieved a response thanking me for my comments and letting me know my message was going to be sent to the proper management team. Ha, ha. Whatever that means. I understand how their hands could be tied due to insurance. It's the labeling. They could simply state..."We do not allow the following breeds;" Instead, people who may have not formed an opinion about our breed among others read this and are like oh...these must be REALLY bad dogs. Oh well, what can you do?

[mschuessler]

people are so racist. It really breaks my heart as I deal with this everyday. Everyone asks me if my dog "is friendly?" just because he is a rottweiler. Would I have him off the leash if he was going to bite your head off? NO

[MarcosAnya]

make's me sick, ignorant idiots!

[tiphrehb]

I agree lengel i live in apts. and find it very difficult to find places to live and it normaly is not the bussiness itself it is the insurance company i do not agree with there policies however i do understand for example rottweilers are a much more popular dog than lets say a caucasisn mountain dog which are very large very powerful and are quote unquote agressive however you wont find any apts. that restrict this breed (except for maybe weight) however due to the fact that the rottweiler is a relatively common breed there are bound to be a few bad apples and of course those few ruin it for the rest of everyone in addition due to the rarity of this breed (causcian mountain dog) they probaly no nothing about the breed or never had a problem one atribuiting factor being that if someone puts that much work into finding and buying one of these dogs they will put the work into raising it right its a shame how the insurance companies work i use to do auto body work and the job pays far less then just about any other auto repair jobs out there why because it is exsclusivley controlled by the insurance companies anyway the point iam trying make is that it is not nescarily these bussiness fault if i was in there postion i would do the same thing. it is insurance companies that are to blame and in order to overcome this we as dog/rott owners need to change public opinion on these dogs obviousley the basics make sure your dog is well trained and freindley but we should take it a step further go through further training with your dog maybe get him/her therapy trained and visit local hosiptals and events etc etc iam not trying to be high and mighty i myself have not done any of this in fact i have to re leash train my dog i know exactly why he does it and know how exactly how to fix it its not evryone but me, who needs to do better it is me as well. one thing i have noticed on these forums is that everyone seems so concerned about who is right and who is wrong is it good to do this or that which is all fine but offer it as advice not as if you are an authority "United we stand, Divided we fall" we must work together if we are to see a change of public opinion. Another point i would like to make and this is my own personal opinion is that these dogs are not golden retrievers dont try to make something they are not there is a very big difference between an aggresive dog and a dog that protects its community it should be looked upon as a plus for example i recently moved to not the greatest part of denver didnt know that at the time and it is probaly not that bad just way differnet than fort collins (some of you may know what iam talking about) anyway my dog does watch are door very closely and barks very loudly at people he does not like (not just anyone) my neighbors have been recently burglarized i have seen 2 police chases in the past month less than a block away and many other things that i dont even know what happened my neghibours are very happy as well as local police with my dog as he is a very large detterant to crime in my area and as i said he knows who is who and what people are doing for example i was letting him out the other day 2 police officers who he has never seen before came by running looking for someone he did not bark or show any sighn of agression was completly calm same thing even with my old neighborhood in ft. collins espically after evryone got to know him they all grew to love him and knew he provided a sense of security in the community i have changed many peoples minds about this breed and it wasnt done by pretending my dog was sweet as pie which he is but he is weary of odd circumstances I truly belive to change the public opinion on this breed we need to embrace its natuarl charecteristics because nothing we do is going to make that go away, the dog itself but more importantly public opinion what we need to change is how that is a negative not a postive because many owners can turn there dogs natural charecteristics and turn it into something bad I hope iam making sense i do apolgize about spelling and puncation i do suffer from add and dyslexia so that stuff is real hard for me

[targonrotts]

a couple of years ago we had DACOF- a yearly agility competition here in florida in lakeland.
the hotels were fine, but a particular camp ground had the same policy.
they banned a few breeds all together.
every year we encounter more places banning certain breeds or all dogs altogether.
ps. check the new one out. florida wants to overturn the law that keeps individual cities from banning specific breeds of dogs.

[nlavett]

Tip,
As I stated in one of my responses, I understand that the resorts hands may be tied. It is an unfortunate truth. However, I have no access to the the name of their insurance company or I would send off a letter to them as well. I also, as stated in a previous post, wonder if they have the option to word it differently. I disagree that we should not be vocal to all involved. Be it the insurance company or the individual forced to use said company. Even with no recourse it makes people aware of our situation. My letter could have passed through the hands of an employee who might rethink their opinion. I would be thrilled with that.

Also, I (and I can only speak for myself) don't "pretend" my dog is anything other than what her breed is. I do not present her in any other fashion/form than she presents herself. Which just happens to be a big cuddly love. Would she protect myself and the rest of the family if necessary? Absolutely. I don't ever want to see that or see her put into such a situation.

I also believe that you will find on this forum exactly what you are asking for from all of us as owners. A singlemindedness to improve our breed as well the perception about our breed. The first advice given to any puppy owner is training, training, training. All areas of certifications and training such as CGC, therapy, etc. are given the highest support and commendations here.

Perceptions vary as our own mirrors do. It seems to me the people that get their hackles up here when given advice, or maybe I should say the people here who percieve rudeness when wisdom is shared generally are balking at the instruction rather than the words themselves. Most are being held accountable for more work than they intended to put into their "pet".

[Kawakaze]

Ok i can see myself getting lynched for saying this, please go easy on me.

Almost anywhere you will look you will see rottweilers at the number two spot of the most dangerous dogs in the world. I think that is crap, but it is done by statistics, by the way you are 3-4 times more likely to be attacked by a labrador than a rottweiler, its just that when a rottie attacks there are more serious consequences.

Rottweilers are not suitable for everyone, and sometimes you get the wrong people choosing them because they want a 'dangerous' dog, i think if poodles became fasionable as a scary dogs, we would see and increase in attacks/deaths because of brainless owners training them that way.

Don't forget that people are on the whole scared by any big animal, how do you think a family who hadnt kept any pets before would feel if they had to share a beach with a 50kg rottweiler? Im pretty sure the insurance company is behind this, but the hotel is out to make money not to be your friend, they are only looking out for the majority.

I am 100% sure the rottweilers bad reputation comes from a small minority of bad owners/trainers owners, but unfortunately we are all tarred with the same brush. It is tragic that this situation exists, but I can sympathise with the hotel owners. We can only do our best to make our dogs an ambassador for the species.

[nlavett]

[QUOTE=Kawakaze;806692]Ok i can see myself getting lynched for saying this, please go easy on me.

Almost anywhere you will look you will see rottweilers at the number two spot of the most dangerous dogs in the world. I think that is crap, but it is done by statistics,

Kawakaze....I don't understand the preface about lynching. Actually I'm not really sure what point you are trying to get across that you seem to think would be unfavorable. We are all in agreement as to bettering our breed and being the best we can be. I still believe in being vocal (in an appropriate manner). You never know who might be listening.....

Also, a family at the beach could be just as afraid of a large labrador if one is to work from your point of view qualifying only that it is a large dog.

On a side note, just because someone puts "statistics" somewhere doesn't mean it to be true.

[Kawakaze]

nlavett, ill clarify what im saying.

Statistically rottweilers are the 2nd deadliest dog (it actually varies, but its always in the top 10). Also from what I found there has never been a rottweiler attack at a dog show, or with a police dog turning on its handler. The point i was trying to make is the dog is only dangerous in the wrong hands. Unfortunately insurers do not make this distinction between a good trainer and a common thug who just wants a 'scary' dog.

I stand by my statement that rottweilers (or any other dog with bad press surrounding it) intimidate your average person. I have trusted every dog i have every had, but you cant expect other people to place their trust in you and your dog when they think your dog will kill them. The hotel will probably loose business if people know they are big dogs staying there. Its sad but there is a lot of bad press about rotties.

[jlaack]

Nlavett: I love your letter! I travel a lot with my dogs (more in the past than present). Anyhow, we have spent a lot of time in hotels but if given a choice we rent houses. It is more comfortable for all of us! I highly recommend this site to find dog friendly lodging: ..VRBO® is Vacation Rentals by Owner® Vacation Homes Rentals by Owner. The listings are private owners of houses.