They didn't buy the fridge, said the deck repair is not urgent and inquired if I feel them as "challenging tenants". 

The issue is the dog.

Contact bird dogs.

(which is a huge goal), and in the case of Gates and Ford, the tail did not wag the dog, as it is in your case...you have no plans...

Dog Bite Coverage - This is a typical exclusion under most investor GL policies. 

You discover his unauthorized dogs tore up the carpet in most of the rooms, scratched up doors, and dug up the yard.

I've been primarily looking around the Indianapolis, St Louis, and Dayton areas and I intend on moving to the area I'm buying into - I'm currently just traveling in an RV with my dogs and have visited each of those cities recently and enjoyed my time at all of them.

If you have a more urgent reason, you can always consider cash for keys - but I tend to think with rehab cost/risk, and vacancy cost you probably shouldn't do this.I do maintenance walkthroughs a few times a year and I give my tenants notice that i'm doing this regardless of whether they plan to stay or go.  

I'm a firm believer in "don't let the tax tail wag the dog."

Also the issues that he brings are " my kids are threatened by neighbors dogs".