Kennell/Boarding

[HeatherH]

Last year we put Dutch in a kennel to see what would happen. It was a disaster. It was a kennel where the get put in a room with a run. No interaction. I've never had problems with other dogs so I thought nothing of it. He was young and had never been away from us. He was so nervous he made himself sick and the runs to the point of bleeding.

I'm planning to go away for a week as long as I know he's (Dutch) comfortable.So I've been working with a different boarder for him. This one he gets to run in a daycare spend time with the owner who is wonderful with him. He was excited to work with a DS. For the last couple of weeks I'm been going there on my day off leaving him with the daycare and running with other dogs. He see's me leaving but no whining. A good sign. So this weekend I'm leaving him over night.

Fingers crossed.

Heather

[Dutchringgirl]

I had a distaster too when i left sadie for her first time. Now I leave them together. the kennel i use has beautiful out door runs for them. I have left them in a day care together too, but running all day is too much for Sadie's rear end.

[LyonsFamily]

The only times we've boarded Odin was at the kennel where he was fostered before we got him. It's a 3 flat and the owner lives on the second floor with the kennel on the first. I'm not a big fan of daycare with strange dogs, but he got structured play time with the owner's malinois, many he had lived with for 8 months, and she posted pictures of them out together all the time.

Luckily for us, we moved a half hour away from my parents and the Dutch go there and harass them and their 4 dogs.

[simbathedog1]

I understand your position. The first time we boarded Simba it was an absolute disaster as well. He was a rescue dog and we only had him about 7 weeks when we had to go out of town. At that time he was still pretty anxious and was terrified to go into a crate. There is a kennel we have used for 10+ years and felt good about the care he would receive. So we visited the kennel and did a trial run one morning--he stayed for a couple hours in a run inside the grooming room with a person present--and all was ok.

It came time to be boarded and I took him back to the same kennel (he knew some of the people because we had gone to obedience class there too). During the week we were gone they said he seemed really bored--not so much anxious--but bored. He chewed and UNCOILED the chain link fence to make a hole and stole some dog biscuits from the other side. He started at the bottom of the fence and worked his way up, uncoiling the pieces until he had a hole! He chewed up his dog bed. He made a hole in the fence and pulled our other dog's bed into his run and chewed it up too. He figured out how to open the gate of the run (inside a building thankfully). But the staff was patient with him and adapted his space for him.

The next time, we got him a bit of a sedative from the vet. They only gave him a tiny amount. He was in the exact same kennel and did much better. No destruction.

The third (and last time) he was boarded, no meds were used. He was absolutely fine. Again he was in the exact same kennel, his "sister" was in the run next to him, and the same staff was taking care of him. He had figured out his people would come back.

I think it is so important that they have some regular human contact when being boarded. Personally, I don't like the indoor/outdoor runs because then the human really never has to do anything other than feed and water them. Our kennel is the perfect set-up because they are taken outside into a large yard to run around and potty at least 4 times a day. That allows him some play time with our other dog too, but not strange dogs. I'm not a big fan of the kennels that allow play time with groups of dogs--ever since our golden retriever suffered puncture marks (? bite) on his head when boarded elsewhere...

Hang in there--check out the kennels in your area so you can find the perfect one for you both long before you need to go there.

[Dutchringgirl]

HAHAHAHAHAHA I could just picture him ripping the place apart.

[HeatherH]

I should put pictures on he had fun. No big damage he scraped the paint off his kennel, he did learn to open things there I don't know if the staff picked up on it but I did. He's been trying it at home too. Smart A@@ that he can be. He's going again this weekend over night. The problem I have is my husband tries to over compensate for sticking him in the kennel in the first place. So I need to work on both of them.

Heather