Pet owners: HELP!

[Gemme]

White carpet and pets, even the most well-mannered and trained, usually don't play well together. Hell, white carpet and I don't play well together.

I know you want to see your friend. You have to decide if you want to see her bad enough RIGHT NOW to have your stuff messed up. Pets are messy. Lovable and sweet (mostly), but messy.

If you do want to see her bad enough right now, versus delaying the trip for a while or until she can have someone stay with her dog while she visits, then make sure not to pull some passive aggressive stuff with her when an accident or some sort of messiness does occur. If you opt to let her come, then you have to be prepared for something to occur. If nothing happens and you have a good, clean visit....great! But I'd veer on the side of assuming that if she came, something, somewhere would get soiled and make the best preparations you could.

For the record, they now make pee pads that literally have a giant bullseye in the middle and they inject the pad with pheromones to help draw the pet directly to the middle to wee. That would help with direction but nothing will help if the poor guy is incontinent and becoming senile (which often leads to personality and behavioral changes in pets and humans alike).

[Soft*Silver]

your other option is to offer to put her up in a hotel that allows pets and when she visits, ask her to keep her pet on a leash while in the house. I never went to visit somewhere with a pet, where the pet was not on a leash next to me. My family adores my newfs, as big as they are, because they are leashed...next to me, sitting or laying. Unlike the other dogs of the family who run rampant in the houses during family visits and piss all over the rugs...even tho they are supposedly housebroken. Dogs are territorial and they will pee to mark territory, even female ones.

Pee pads are ok but many dogs will not go right on the pads. My chi, bless his damn little heart, will go on them, near them, next to them, and on corners so it spills over.

Also, is this a lapdog, one that never goes out of a purse or off their lap? If so, pads might work..but...

White carpeting and new wood floors...wow.

[PearlsNLace]

Will you tell us what you decide to do, and how it worked out?

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Why don't you visit your friend this time, instead? If she doesn't have room, you could stay in a hotel.

FWIW, I would probably cancel my visit if I were your friend. I wouldn't want to board a geriatric dog at the vet - it would be too stressful, and might expose them to illnesses. I might be willing to go on the trip only if I had a petsitter that would come to my house and that the dog already knew. If I were concerned about the health of one of my pets, I would never be able to forgive myself if something happened to them while I was gone.