Dogged by Rude People

Regarding Carole Wade’s letter (“Fur Flies Over Hotel,” Sept. 9): She certainly is justified in complaining about the barking dogs in the hotel room adjoining hers at the Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara. But the conclusions she draws are myopic.

To say that “dogs do not belong in hotel rooms” because a few of them create a disturbance is also to say that humans do not belong there because most noise in hotels is the result of human activity.

What is really at issue here is human behavior.

We travel mainly in France, where dogs are some of the better-behaved guests. But dogs, like children, need training and guidance to understand how to behave.

PETER DAPRIX

Ojai

*

Any problem with a hotel room should immediately be brought to the management’s attention. Rather than seething the entire weekend, it would have made sense to rectify the problem as it happened. I’m sure the Biltmore would have given the unhappy guest another room.

“Dogs do not belong in hotel rooms” should translate to “unsupervised dogs do not belong in hotel rooms.” The same sentiment can be applied to children.

As for Wade’s statement that “dogs are not paying guests”: I’d be happy to supply copies of hotel bills showing the additional charge for my quiet, supervised pets.

LISA CURLAND

Santa Monica