Holiday with two Large Dogs

Joe10000

Hi,
We want to get away for a few days, maybe a week, but we cannot get a sitter for our two large dogs.

I see quite a few self catering options allow pets but I was hoping for some recommendations based on experience, I'm happy to go anywhere in the country or possibly across the Irish sea.

Many thanks.

borderlinemeath

I have booked self catering in Ireland through www.imagineireland.com

I have one medium sized dog and it wasn't a problem. What breed do you have that you can't get a sitter? What about home boarding if you're not interested in kennels?

ppink

We had travelled quite a bit around the west of Ireland and these 2 places I found excellent.

http://www.charliescottage.com/ this is in Mayo, not far from Ballina....great woods there! We do a lot fo walking and I was busy all the time with our dogs betweent he swimmin in the lakes and the walking. At the time the house was not fully secure for the dogs (no run) but I tied ours out for a short while...otherwise they were indoors or in the back of my jeep travelling for walks. Quiet area.
It was a lady who ran it then and she was very nice and we had no problems at all.

We also stayed here:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186612-d213145-Reviews-Gleann_Fia_Country_House-Killarney_County_Kerry.html
FANTASTIC is all I can say. It is a B&B, great grounds on the outskirts of Killarney. they totally welcomed our dogs and they stayed in our room with us. Really lovely place.
Also in Killarney we used kennels another time we were there. the dogs stayed with the kennels at night and we took them off all day. It was Beaufort boarding and they were really good with our dogs also.

Stayed in loads of place but these we particularly good.

Joe10000

Thanks for the replies, we have a bernese and an alsatian.

Just looked up home boarding, never heard of it before. However my OH would never agree to leave her "babies" with strangers.

Thanks for the suggestions, any more specific places would be appreciated.

Jelly2

Joe10000 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, we have a bernese and an alsatian.

Just looked up home boarding, never heard of it before. However my OH would never agree to leave her "babies" with strangers.

Thanks for the suggestions, any more specific places would be appreciated.

We stayed in www.pax-house.com in Dingle, and our dogs were made very welcome. I am not sure whether really big dogs would be, but the owner's dog is quite big so he might not be concerned! Pax is a brilliant B&B - we even had an outside patio area with access to the lawn, which was a great plus.
Also, we stayed here www.waterfronthotel.ie when we went to Baltimore. Again, I am not sure whether really big dogs will be allowed, but they are dog-friendly in general. It is also a lovely place, but is a bit more like a small hotel. They did let our dogs into the bar though!

borderlinemeath

Joe10000 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, we have a bernese and an alsatian.

Just looked up home boarding, never heard of it before. However my OH would never agree to leave her "babies" with strangers.

Thanks for the suggestions, any more specific places would be appreciated.

:oI know the feeling. Our neighbour looks after our dog when we're away, he's brilliant with her, he collects her first thing in the morning, she spends the day with him and she gets 3 walks a day. She goes home to her own bed at night then.

One night my OH closed the gates after a visitor but they didn't close properly (electric). I let Coco out to go to the loo and a few minutes later my phone rang. It was our neighbour saying he heard a scratching noise at his back door, opened it, there she was standing there wagging her tail! Just popped down for a visit! Luckily it was about 10.30pm at night and there was no traffic about

Says it all really!:D

Joe10000

Jelly2 wrote: »

We stayed in www.pax-house.com in Dingle, and our dogs were made very welcome. I am not sure whether really big dogs would be, but the owner's dog is quite big so he might not be concerned! Pax is a brilliant B&B - we even had an outside patio area with access to the lawn, which was a great plus.
Also, we stayed here www.waterfronthotel.ie when we went to Baltimore. Again, I am not sure whether really big dogs will be allowed, but they are dog-friendly in general. It is also a lovely place, but is a bit more like a small hotel. They did let our dogs into the bar though!

Thanks very much, I will check them out.

Joe10000

borderlinemeath wrote: »

:oI know the feeling. Our neighbour looks after our dog when we're away, he's brilliant with her, he collects her first thing in the morning, she spends the day with him and she gets 3 walks a day. She goes home to her own bed at night then.

One night my OH closed the gates after a visitor but they didn't close properly (electric). I let Coco out to go to the loo and a few minutes later my phone rang. It was our neighbour saying he heard a scratching noise at his back door, opened it, there she was standing there wagging her tail! Just popped down for a visit! Luckily it was about 10.30pm at night and there was no traffic about

Says it all really!:D

He must look after her well

borderlinemeath

Joe10000 wrote: »

He must look after her well

He really does, he's a retired widower so he's on his own so she's great company for him. He's very active, always out either walking or gardening. We usually come home to a weeded garden and cut lawns:o

It really makes a huge difference to the holiday knowing that she's happy at home. She really didn't like kennels as she's got so much space and freedom at home and she gets an off lead run every day as we're in the country. Put her in a kennel run and she thinks she's being punished for something.:(

Zapperzy

http://www.donegalholidayhome.net/ Cannot recommend this place enough, the garden is huge and fully enclosed the whole way around (I have a houdini so that was a major plus), the dogs are allowed all downstairs and they have a babygate on the stairs to stop them from going upstairs (only 1 bedroom and a huge playroom upstairs anyways). Lovely beaches within short driving distance and loads of the usual touristy things in the area are all dog friendly (well I have only 1 small dog but I don't know if that made a difference). Giants causeway is only a ferry and a drive across and there was loads of dogs when I was there with mine.

Only downside I had with the house was that along the back fence there was a few bullocks in the field, mine hates cows but eventually got used to them. Thats the only side that only has a post and wire fence (about 4 or 5 ft) so he could see through it to bark at them and chase them along the length of the fence, the rest has a ordinary big wooden fence (5 or 6 ft).

kylith

This is a very nice lady near Loch Lomand in Scotland, definitely dog friendly. Tell her Kilyth sent you.

kildareash

Just seen this thread on the homepage

http://www.doolincottages.com/Home.aspx

Could not recommend them highly enough. We hired two cottages and had three furry friends with us.
The owner was mad about the dogs.
We stayed in the cottages about a five minute drive from Doolin and the two cottages had either flagstones on the floor or wooden boards - very convenient for out hairy fellas.
The houses were surrounded by fields, so if we were going somewhere that I couldn't take the dogs, we were able to bring them for a good long run to tire them out before we left.

boomerang

Ballyhoura Forest Homes, on the Limerick/Cork border. We've stayed there two years in a row now. Not only are the cabins dog friendly, but it's doggy walking paradise down there, there are so many beautiful trails!

Ballyhoura Forest Homes and other dog-friendly self-catering available through www.tridentholidayhomes.ie

Biker3

http://www.self-catering-breaks.com/Properties/Prop45587.htm

We stayed here last year with our 3 dogs, a cocker, a collie and a pointer. The house is down a very quiet country lane and the garden was huge. We liked it so much that we are going back this September!

http://www.eastrustoncottages.co.uk/index.htm

We stayed in The Old Forge this July with my SIL and her family. We had 6 dogs in total. Very, very dog friendly with loads to do and see in the surrounding area.

teacherspet

Have a look at this place and see what you think.
http://www.ardnagcapall.com/testimonials.htm

Joe10000

Guys wow thanks a million, will check all these out over the coming days and let you know which may suit our two monsters.

Thanks very much.

Denval

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