As the owner of a bed & breakfast in Oaxaca, Mexico, I frequently receive inquiries from travelers planning to visit the city who intend to bring the family dog or cat for the holidays. They initially ask if pets are allowed on our guest level and then after receiving a negative response, in a second email they ask for names of alternative hotels or other accommodations that accept pets. The advice is always the same, but the questions keep coming.
This pet lover and brindle boxer owner is not a pet psychologist, nor does he profess to know intimately what is right or wrong when it comes to decisions about the family dog or cat (or one’s children for the case, God knows we have made and will continue to make mistakes raising our daughter), nor the impact that leaving a pet might have on the pooch or his “parents” or “siblings.” However, there are certain factors that should at least be considered before you definitely decide to take Fido or Tabby along for the ride.
Yes, some hotels and Bed & Breakfasts in Oaxaca accept pets, including dogs and cats.
Of course, virtually every major tourist city in the civilized world includes the odd hotel, guesthouse, or bed & breakfast that accepts pets, at least dogs and cats. Oaxaca is no exception. For example, a couple of members of the Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast Association are happy to extend invitations to all fours. But most avoid the idea of a cat meowing or a dog barking and thus have to deal with complaints from guests who don’t have pets. There are certainly exceptions; but what might it reveal about the quality of accommodation if the landlord is struggling to rent rooms to the point of feeling forced to accept dogs, cats, rats, parrots, snakes and lizards?
Your choice of accommodation is drastically reduced by restricting the selection to accommodations in Oaxaca that accept pets. Are vacations for Homo sapiens as a family, or for canines and felines?
But think of the poor pet, no matter how attached he is to the family, he insists.
Believe it or not, family pets are, in fact, different from human family members, no matter how much we treat them the same way we treat ourselves, no matter how much they sleep with us in our beds, no matter what they choose in our emotions and even thoughts. After the first few hours of the road trip to Oaxaca, won’t the pet be less patient than the children? Is he able to play board games in the car? Would you be happier if you were cared for in a quality facility in your home country where you can have fun with your own kind?
When we go on vacation, we approach Tito with a dog trainer. Now, seven years later, every time we start gathering up his food and water bowls, and choke strap and chain for the ride, he becomes unimaginably excited, feeling like he is once again going to the country club. .
Pet owners with a companion dog or cat in Oaxaca are otherwise restricted
Many ruins and cultural sites do not allow pets, leashed or otherwise. Yes, the dog or cat can be left in the car, with the windows ajar. But do you want to risk going back to the parking lot and finding that Fido has fled the hit with the help of a Oaxacan eager to convert the catch into currency? Do you want to be constantly obsessed with that possibility instead of spending all your energies enjoying Monte Albán, Mitla or a market? Bringing the pet will severely restrict your ability to enjoy a number of priority tourist attractions.
If you are still not convinced, consider lodging the pet in Oaxaca and compare costs
It’s true that shipping costs in the US and Canada are prohibitive for most of us.
Accordingly, as a last ditch effort to convert the otherwise committed, consider tackling the beast here in Oaxaca. The advantages of doing so include:
• The cost is about a quarter of what it costs at home.
• Your vacation will have no restrictions on the places you can visit.
• Hopefully you’re not constantly obsessing about the state of your dog or cat; and you won’t have to incur long distance calls to make sure.
• Your pet can still enjoy spending quality time with the rest of the family driving through the American Midwest.
• You can stop by every day and exchange stories about how the day went. Most boarding facilities have posted visiting hours.
• You will have the best vacation of your life and maybe even learn a little Pet-Spanish.
• You will not have such restrictions to select a hotel or B & B, and consequently your vacations in Oaxaca will be much more relaxing and pleasant.
Since pet boarding facilities in Mexico invariably have canine psychologists on staff, you can kill the proverbial two birds with one stone: use the first half hour for the dog to deal with his stress and the other half hour for you.