As the proprietor of a bed & breakfast in Oaxaca, Mexico, this writer frequently fields inquiries from travelers with plans to visit the city, intent upon bringing the family dog or cat along for the vacation. They first of course ask if pets are permitted in the guest house, and then after receiving a reply in the negative, in a second email ask for names of alternate hotels or other lodging style accommodations which do accept pets. The advice is always the same, but the inquiries keep coming.
This pet lover and owner of a brindle boxer, Tito, is not a pet psychologist, nor professes to intimately know what’s right or wrong when it comes to decisions about the family dog or cat (or one’s children for that matter – lord knows we’ve made and will continue to make mistakes raising our daughter), nor the impact that leaving a pet behind could have on the mutt or his “parents” or “siblings.” However, there are certain factors which ought to be at least considered prior to deciding definitively to bring Fido or Tabby along for the trip.
Yes, Some Hotels and Bed & Breakfasts in Oaxaca Do Accept Pets, Including Dogs and Cats
Of course virtually every major tourist city in the civilized world includes the odd hotel, guest house or bed & breakfast which accepts pets, at minimum dogs and cats. Oaxaca is no exception. For example, one or two members of the Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast Association are happy to extend invitations to the four legged. But most shun the thought of even the possibility of a cat meowing or dog barking, and therefore having to contend with complaints from pet-less guests. Of course there are exceptions; but what might it suggest about the quality of lodging if the owner is struggling to rent out rooms to the extent that he feels compelled to accept dogs, cats, rats, parrots, snakes and lizards?
The point is that one’s choice of lodging in Oaxaca is dramatically reduced by restricting the selection to accommodations which accept pets. Is the vacation for the homo sapiens sapiens, or for the canines and felines?
But Think of the Poor Pet, No Matter How Attached One Might Insist It is To the Family
Pets, even dogs, are in fact different from the human members of the family, no matter how much we might treat them the same as we treat ourselves, no matter that they sleep with us in our beds, no matter that we know that they pick up on our emotions and thoughts. After the first couple of hours of the car trip down to Oaxaca, will the pet not be less patient than the children? Is he capable of playing Scrabble in the car? Would he not be happier being boarded in a quality facility back home where he can frolic with his own race? When we vacation we board Tito with a dog trainer, Fernando Rivas, and now, six years later, whenever we begin to gather up his food and water bowls, and leash and choke collar for the ride, he becomes unimaginably excited, sensing that he’s off once again to the “country club.”
Pet Owners with a Dog or Cat Accompaniment in Oaxaca are Otherwise Restricted
Many ruins and cultural sights do not permit pets, leashed or otherwise. Yes, the dog or cat can be left chained to a post, or in the car, windows open. But do you want to run the risk of returning to the parking lot and finding Fido has fled the coup with the help of a Oaxacan anxious to turn the pooch into pesos? Do you want to constantly be obsessing about that possibility, rather than expending all your energies enjoying Monte Albán, Mitla or a marketplace? Bringing the pet might dramatically restrict one’s ability to enjoy a number of internationally acclaimed tourist sights.
Most Mexicans think of dogs as guard dogs and nothing more, often keeping them on the roof of the home or business 24 hours a day, or on a short chain enabling them to go no further than seek shelter in an old oil drum. While interacting with Oaxacas, if accompanied by a dog, most will be initially frightened by your pet, and / or think you a bit unusual and certainly eccentric, tourists traveling thousands of miles to give the hound a holiday with the rest of the family.
If Still Not Convinced, Consider Boarding the Pet in Oaxaca, and Compare Costs
True enough, the boarding costs in the US and Canada are prohibitive for most. As a last ditch effort to convert the unconvertible, consider boarding the beast here in Oaxaca. The advantages of so doing include:
- The cost is about a quarter of what it costs back home
- Your vacation will have no restrictions in terms of the sights which can be seen
- You hopefully will not be constantly obsessing about what or how your dog or cat is doing
- Your pet can still enjoy spending quality time with the rest of the family driving through the American mid-West
- You can drop by to see him daily and exchange stories about how the day went
- He’ll be having the vacation of a lifetime, and perhaps even pick up a bit of Pet-Spanish
- You won’t have any restrictions on selecting a hotel or B & B, and accordingly your vacation will be that much more relaxing and enjoyable - for the entire family.
Please, at least consider the downsides, and alternatives - for you, the rest of the family, and the pet.
Alvin Starkman - Alvin Starkman runs Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast. He is a paid contributing writer for Mexico Today (http://www.mexicotoday.org).
