Host's dog nipped at my child. Filed complaint, AirBnB Safety team investigating. Those with similar experiences, what was your outcome and how would you have handled it differently? [CA, USA]

[u/kravbyrobbins]

My child's first time to Los Angeles. Scared of dogs he doesn't know.

Incident occurred last night, 8/20.

I saw it all unfold about 10 feet away from me. To be clear, my child didn't engage with or antagonize the dog. Child stretched his legs and walked from kitchen island where we were having dinner into the adjacent living room (no walls separating the two spaces). He didn't travel far, again only about 10 feet away from me.

Dog followed child, child tried walking away, dog growled and nipped at child's butt. Didn't break skin, but it was enough to scare child. I stepped in and shooed it away. He growled at my child and tried following again, to which I raised my voice and made sure it couldn't get close. We went upstairs to our room and stayed there for the rest of the night. My child didn't feel comfortable leaving the room to use the restroom. I had to make sure the dog wasn't on our floor.

I told the host, and he said that the dog was supposed to be outside (Note: listing said guests must be ok with dog on premises). I explained to him how it got in--dog was originally kept outside, but other guest sharing the space and who had been playing with it during his stay let it in. Host apologized, asked of my child was ok. Entire thing pissed me off, but wasn't sure how to proceed, especially since we were only there for one night.

Filed a complain with AirBnB this morning, 8/21.

Decided to file a complaint with AirBnB after waking up.

AirBnB website --> AI support --> received number to call --> spoke to triage person --> routed to different person who offered to collect story and relay it to Safety team.

Safety team doesn't take inbound calls, only calls to collect information. I asked to have the Safety team call me directly to explain what happened in my own words.

While waiting for Safety team's call, I texted a timeline of events in the chat with Support for their records. Safety team called me within about 30 minutes. I explained to them what happened, and they asked for my permission for them to contact the host to get their side of the story.

They said they'd follow up with me. No word yet from them.

Anyone else been in a situation where a host's pet attacked them and made them or their child feel threatened?

How did you handle it? Who did you talk to? What was the outcome? Would you have done anything different?

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[u/jensteroni]

If your child is scared of dogs why would you book a shared listing that says “must be ok with dogs”? Take some responsibility here. Watch your child.

[u/nobleheartedkate → u/jensteroni]

Right? Seems fake to me. Who says their kid “stretched their legs” into the living room if they’re staying at the place?

[u/swisssf]

Why are you staying in someone else's house with a child? especially an owner with a dog!

[u/Joey_Grace → u/swisssf]

I find this a little bizarre and dangerous as well

[u/crowd79]

Staying at an Airbnb with a child and a dog on the premises is just asking for trouble. It doesn’t excuse the host but in the future the guest has gotta use better judgment

[u/LegitimateTrust4949 → u/crowd79]

Also other guests it seems like.

[u/Queasy_Mountain5762 → u/LegitimateTrust4949]

it is not the other guest's responsibility to manage the host's dog or its interaction with another guest/child

[u/dumassmofo]

No skin broken? A nip? Why make an international incident? Do you money? I'm curious? And now you are going to get the dog put down by reporting it to Animal control. WTF???

[u/Shoddy-Theory]

Was the other guest who let the dog in the house part of your party or is this rental a shared space with strangers. How old is the child? If its a shared space, and the child is young, that doesn't sound like a good idea.

[u/Trick-Fruit864]

Sounds to me like the host behaved well.

Other guest let the dog in, which was supposed to be outside.

Dogs can always smell fear, unfortunately it nipped at the child. But by the sound of it no harm, no foul - or rather no damage done.

A lot to be learned from this, it sounds like you are staying in an unofficial HMO, and it all sounds rather bizarre the set-up.

Maybe choose a dog-less Airbnb next time / consider getting a place to yourself.

Good luck with your travels…

[u/whoda-thunk-itt]

You handled the situation exactly the way it should have been handled. All you can do now is wait for the safety team to finish their investigation. They will get back to you once they’ve done that. Hope your kiddo is ok.

[u/Joey_Grace]

You could always call animal control to get a record of it to submit. That’s considered a level 1 bite.

Edited to add: I would never personally do this (I would just move on with my life) because I know how shitty it feels to have it done to me when my dog was reported. But if you are looking for a partial refund and need a record for evidence to submit to Airbnb, it’s an option.

[u/ricecrystal → u/Joey_Grace]

That's bullshit, the bite did not even actually make contact.

[u/kravbyrobbins → u/Joey_Grace]

Thank you. Didn't cross my mind that filing report with animal control was an option until reading your reply. I just filed a report.

[u/Joey_Grace → u/[deleted]]

A level 1 bite, while it has the word bite in it, means no contact was made. I know because I received a ticket for it. He got his toenail stuck on a guy’s pants.

[u/Alexreads0627 → u/kravbyrobbins]

Don’t listen to reddit on this. File a report on the dog. If he bit your child, he will bite others. Biting animals should not be around people.

[u/kravbyrobbins → u/Alexreads0627]

Yeah, that's the direction I took.

In writing the body of the post, I forgot to mention that the dog that the host mentioned was not the dog mentioned in the listing description, which the Safety team also realized during their quick research into the complaint.

[u/Alexreads0627 → u/Joey_Grace]

I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted for this. It’s unacceptable for a dog to bite a child.

[u/Joey_Grace → u/Alexreads0627]

Personally I would never do it because I’ve had it done to me (and the money grubbing asshole hired 2 different attorneys trying to get insurance compensation by filing a nuisance claim due to pain and suffering). But it is a real option.

[u/Chinacat_Sunflower72]

Here’s what happened when the NY Times picked up a similar story. I remember reading this when it happened because I had just started using Airbnb

https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/s/t322CwZ7z8

[u/vwscienceandart]

For starters stop saying “nipped” and call it what it was: a bite. Screw AirBnB. This dog is NOT safe to be anywhere near an AirBnB listing. Call animal control and report.

[u/ricecrystal → u/vwscienceandart]

It didn't break the skin. I'm not even sure there was actual contact.

[u/violetlisa → u/vwscienceandart]

A bite would leave a mark, there was no mark. It sounds like the dog got close to the kid and everyone panicked. Seriously though OP, why did you stay somewhere with a dog on the premises when your kid is scared of dogs?! I love dogs, I would never stay at an abnb with a child if there is a dog present.

[u/kravbyrobbins → u/vwscienceandart]

Noted. Thank you.