Dog Friendly Accommodation - House Swap for Holidays

When you own a dog or two it can often be very difficult to take holiday and many people go without. House swaps for holidays can be an excellent way to take a holiday with your precious pooch

This is Richards and Delphine's story when they organised a house swap for the first time with their four dogs.

We have four very loving (some might say spoilt?) rescue dogs, and we also operate dog friendly tourist cottages. However, when it came time to take holidays ourselves, it was always separately, so one person could stay at home with our dogs. We have no qualms about guests bringing four or five dogs to our cottages, but didn’t feel others would be so open minded towards us.

Recently we decided to see if house-swapping might work. The operation was a huge success and we would have no hesitation in recommending it to others. We took a 2 week holiday with our four dogs, and spent one full week house swapping. The other week paying for accommodation at dog friendly cottages. We were fortunate to swap one of our holiday cottages, with seasoned house-swappers from Victoria. It was a step of faith on their part, as they bravely allowed us to bring our 4 dogs to stay at their house, in return they brought their little Molly dog to our property.

Having our dogs with us meant they would not be fretting, while we were off having fun. We knew we wouldn’t have as much freedom to go out to dinner etc, but we wanted to see if we could make it work. I felt happy and content having our family with us. We were still able to eat at outdoor cafes, cook regular meals at our house-swap home away from home and take the pooches with us on sightseeing drives, although they usually slept most of the time. The dogs enjoyed exploring new back yards, beaches, parks, sitting under the table at coffee shops, not to mention all the new scents. A highlight was a Tuscan style setting, outdoor lunch, on a sunny day, under a large shady tree with the dogs, surrounded by vineyards at Yarrawood Vineyard.

One evening, we hired a pet nanny to mind our dogs, and went out to dinner with friends. The Pet Nanny was amazing. When we arrived home, there was our normally nervous terrified rough collie sitting contentedly on her feet, and our tiny Maltese x silky rapturously fast asleep in her arms.

Being a new house swap convert, I’d like to encourage other Dog owners to come on board and sign up for a free holiday too, swapping their dog friendly home, or holiday house or weekender. We listed with Aussie House Swap www.aussiehouseswap.com.au – they have a good set up, and with a little lobbying, they may set up a special category exclusively for dog friendly properties.

Also if you'd like to see Richard and Delphine's Holiday cottage site check it out

Richard and Delphine requested to stay in our house as a house swap recently. They have four dogs and I was a little nervous about having that many dogs in our house. But having spoken at length to Delphine and knowing she catered for people holidaying with their dogs I thought it would be OK. Well the dogs were very well behaved, the garden was fine and there was no digging or doggie dos, the house was beautiful when we arrived home. I would have no problems what so ever in recommending them as a house swap couple with their lovely well behaved dogs.Their place was a quiet cottage in the beautiful rolling country near Bega NSW. The view is magnificent, the bird song in the morning is very special and the kangaroos grazing in the garden at dusk was quite a sight. It was a lovely relaxing time reading books and taking in the view of the mountains. We visited a couple of the local beaches and explored the area.

Molly at her holiday house swap