OSoSwift

We live 750kms from our nearest major centre. Many of the dogs I board are because people need to go there. I know that in a trip like that you can have issues or run a little over time. I have no issues with this. I am reasonable and will work with people as much as is possible. I have an insulin dependaent diabetic dog who comes in. She has booked her in over the last two weeks of the school year. There are many things on after school hours. I told her that I cannot guarentee I could give her dog her insulin at 8am and 8pm during that time as some nights I would be at school stuff. She spoke to her vet to see what we could do, we have arrived at a plan that will work for both of us. I am not unbending but I have to draw a bit of a line or I would get burned out and unhappy.

I do think that is being unreasonable.

In cases such as yours I will and have worked out a convientient time to suit. I am not an ogre but I do have to stick to my hours when possible or I would never be able to do anything else. I would be less annoyed about the hours than living in poop for a week Surely no kennel would do that, that is terrible I am in a regional area not a city so the longest it would take even from the oteehr side of town is half an hour. There are farms that are further out of course. I am pleased to say most of my clients are wonderful but some days I shake my head. There are otehr thinsg that happen like people calling at 5 in the morning or 10 at night and expecting an answer or sounding suprised you are not actually sitting at the kennel computer to check for booking dates. I now switch my phone to silent and check messages

I get many referrals from our local vet hospital as I have the knowledge (Vet nurse for 15 years) to be able to look for potential medical issues, can medicate as required including injecting Diabetic dogs, one of which is a regular. I look after the dogs as though they were my own and clients leave them with me knowing that. I have taken dogs to vet hospitals as/when required if I am not happy with how they are going, or if in the case of a DCM dog they had a small amount of fluid on their abdomen, to a dog that fitted - no previous known history - moments after I had brought her inside. I have stayed with dogs at vet hospitals well into the night and on one occassion stayed with a dog that had to be euthed due to ongoing medical issues that we could just not control to allow her owners to get back. I take dogs that have previously shown to be difficult to manage in a kennel environment - generally due to aggression - and so far all cases have either decided I am actually quite okay or we have an understanding and all goes smoothly. I do not charge anything for these things as I believe they are part of my service. If there is every anythign I do not believe I can handle I will tell the owner so. I guess that is why I am frustrated, I do give so much of myself for "my" dogs and share their highs and lows with their owners and cry my eyes out if one passes. I do still need some time for my family and my life and animals.

Okay, today has been a tad frustrating for me. I have set opening hours, I tell people what they are, they are on every email and my website and I think reasonably easy to find. After hours drop offs and pick up are available by prior arrangment for good reasons, but not just because you would like to leave for your holiday at 6am for example. I have set hours for a number of reasons, it helps dogs to settle and reduces issues such as GDV in prone breeds as I know when we shut and then settle the dogs then feed. If people rock up an old time I might have just fed dogs and then they get stirred up run around and we have a high risk situation. Also I have young children, the hours work aorund getting kids upa nd ready for schoola dn the school bus and also picking them up off the school bus. Sunday mornings we are not open for routine drop offs etc. We do open out of hours in case of emergency or in cases of a local fishing tour operator goes out at 8.30am so they have to drop dogs off by 8am so we have no issues with the. My evening opening ours finish at 5.30. I am down there later as I do all the settling and feeding after then so I am flexiable when required. My husband gets called in some times on short notice and works shift work so I cannot rely on him being able to get kids to the school bus/pick them up. Today I had one person want to drop their dog off at 2.30 just becasue they hit town earlier than they thought, another failed to estimate how much time travelling with dogs would take and wanted to drop them off at 7pm, then when I said no sorry wanted to drop them off tomorrow morning when we are not open. I work 7 days a week and have young kids. They need to have their tea before 8pm+ at night. I have these hours to try and achieve a home work life balance and if I stick reasonably to those hours it works well. Due to the kennels being on my property many think I shoudl eb available when they think I should be, they fail to understand that you do have a life and that you do need to shop and got to appointments. Sometimes if I am lucky I get to go to my kids school stuff. I know their will be people on here that think I should be available from 6am to 7pm as I have had it said before on my posts while researchign kennels and peoples expectations. I know for that person they see it as you going out of your way once. Just today I would have gone out of my way 3 times, and not for emergencies. I have no issues with opening up the kennels at 10.30 at night should I have a situation as I did not long ago where a family member was dying and the people needed to leave asap to drive 7hours to get there. I do not think I am being unreasonable when I expect people to try and work to opening hours when possible. I don't rock up to the supermarket at 8pm when its not late night shopping and expect someone to serve me.

Funny how one is seen as maiming and the other as routine, who cares. Well said DA

I know what you are feeling, I lost my horse and I really really wanted/needed another to fill that gap. I seaarched high and low and got very depressed, I had one lined up to be ridden/visited by a friend but an unchangable event meant I didn't have the finances right then that I needed to purchase this particular boy. His owner was amazingly fantastic, but I had to let him go. My husband kept saying don't force it, the right horse will happen when you least expect it. I did have to agree he was right. 4 weeks later I got offered a stunning boy from a friend and he now graces my paddock and is amazingly perfect. Whilst I understand your almost desperate desire to fix things, sometimes we just need to sit back and see what pops up. It has always seemed to work best for me when things happen that way.

Yes Jules this is why I say small and to meet the other requirements it probably needs to be leggy. I would love a border collie. My first dog was a border collie of sorts but I acknowledge they are too high energy for me. Whippets are certainly athletic dogs but I thought they had a high prey drive. I think a mini poodle is probably what I want. Now I just have to find one. Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I have three Whippets with cats, livestock and have had Guinea pigs - which actually got tipped out of their house accidentally one day and they were bolting around the legs of my free Whippets. Mine are taught a recall from day dot, and taught leave it from day dot. One good roar from me and they both backed off and left me to catch piggies. The cats rule the roost and one in particular is tiny but they know if they push her she arcs up. Whippets do need training but they can be very reliable.:)

Mini Poodle or Whippet. Bitches are around 18 to 19 inches, and about 10 to probably 13 kgs. Boys are 20 to 21 inches and around 13 to 15 kgs. Obviously these are averages and different lines will differ. You can get gigantor Whippets. there are some Whippets training and trialling very successfully in many and varied dog sports. They are often - unfortunately - in rescue. You may also find a nice older young dog that is being moved on from showing etc from a breeder. The go really fast for a short time. They love a walk but don't care if they miss a day or three here and there. Personally I like mine to be very fit so they free run every day. The are very trainable using positive reinforcement but will shut down with check chain type training. Mine do obedience, rally and agility. They would have more titles if it wasn't so hard to get to trials. The boys are more velcro and more willign to please, girls can work very well but are a little more independant and whats in it for me types. My girls works really well but you can't push her too hard. My boys would drop from exhaustion before they stopped working for me. I was never a boy dog person I now have two males and will always have Male Whippets now. I like velcro dogs but if you don't like sitting on the lounge with at least one part of them touching you at all times then maybe a girl suits you better, they will sit on the end of the lounge quite happily.

My dog gets it all the time she has been on monthly to three monthly for a few years now. A previous dog and cat were on it monthly for years with no issue. In your boys case he obvious now has an anaphylactic response so yep, no more. I also give mine rosehip vital with a lot of success

LOL. Feeling your pain!! Then people get frustrated when you won't let them advance at the rate they think they should.......the scary thing is that these are the good ones who actually have their dogs out and are doing (or trying to do) something with them. I did pps for 7 years, other levels of dog obedience for around 15years. No more!

I used ot teach PPS, I used to teach dog obecience and basic agilty. I now do not teach any of it as I have to keep doing the same stuff over and over and people frustrate the shit out of me and I can't handle it any more.

Yep and look at how much breeds have changed over the years. Back onto whippets for me. They were supposed to be small enough to hide under a poachers coat, and silent when they hunted so as not to draw attention to themselves or their owners. I wonder how many whippets could be hidden under a coat now. MIne could

Sounds just fine to me :) Stop stressing

Try The Paw House. They are a boarding kennel and a very good one. Claire and Leigh Jensen

If she is willing to mate do it, if not, its all done.

Yep they may well have been covered. I wouldn't take them to theMPW at that age, too mnay numpties. But I would take them out and about.

I have been trying to find the groomers FB page. Any links please??

I just wrote a letter outlining why I wanted mine. Didnt cost me anything. Yearly rego applies

There are other infectious diseases to worry about apart from rabies! Apparently the US is currently having an outbreak of canine influenza, would be just great if they brought things like that here. If my dogs were in that salon I would be on the war path. The idiot owner is a moron!

The potential for a major disaster is just huge. I wonder if she has thought about the health and saftey of the dogs who were in her grooming salon at the same time as these dogs? HAve their owners been informed? do they now require some sort of Quarantine?

oh oh, no luxuries for those little munchkins. Doesn't he have enough dosh to charter a plane for them or use a private one of his own?

He MAY have made a genuine mistake. However if I am going to go to a different country - especially when it involves dogs I would look up what the requirements are to ensure I don't end up with euth'd or locked up dogs out of the blue. The only reason he even got caught was the fact they were seen being taken to a groomer. How many eepople knew about those dogs and not one of them said anything??? How long have they been here wandering around?? How many dogs have they been in contact with either directly or indirectly?? Ignorance is no excuse. I fail to see how you could live here for 10 years and have a dog and not realise we are rabies free as you would never have been asked about rabies vaccinations and if they were up to date.

What an aresehole! Its not like he didn't know he would be filming or that it was a last minute thing. I am sure he has plenty of staff to ensure all regulations could be met before bringing the dogs in. Now of course the dogs suffer.

Alpaca are good with foxes but are no match for a pack of roaming dogs. If the dogs got shot there would be an uproar. People need to get thei shit together! If they were on my place and caught they would not leave.