How To Find A Good Boarding Kennel ?

[littlelabrador]

Hi.

We are wanting to go away mid year for around 10 days. Its too long to leave Molly at the vet for boarding, as that is just cages (taken out to wee, etc).

I want to find somewhere that she will be well cared for, happy, and is a good environment. Somewhere that has indoor/outdoor runs (if thats what they are called), so she isnt locked in a cage and can walk in an outside area, etc.

To be honest, i have no idea what I am supposed to look for to know if a kennel is good or not - hence my question. I will probably have to supply her food as shes on a more expensive brand.

Molly will be about 11 months, if that makes any difference. What do i look for, what is important to ask prospective kennels ?

thanks !

[litlbit]

which area are you in

[shellbyville]

I have only had to use a boarding kennel once, as I have lots of family that look after my animals if I go away.

However the time I did use a kennel, I asked if I could inspect the facility, which they allowed me to do. They showed me the sleeping kennels, runs for exercise, gave me the schedule (times allowed for exercise, on lead exercise etc.) I took my food for my dogs with written instructions on what they had and they were quite happy to stick with that. The place looked clean, other dogs looked happy etc, people were very friendly and didn't mind my 100's of questions. I didn't have much choice in kennels as I live in a rural area, so was just very glad that it was nice. It was also run by a vet, but I gave my vets numbers in case of emergency as well. It was comforting to know that the person was a vet though in case something terrible happened. When I picked up the dogs they were clean and seemed very happy and content, not stressed at all!

So I would find a place in your area, and ask can you inspect it! You said you were going away mid year so have plenty of time to look at a few until you find one you are happy with. If they don't encourage inspections I would look elsewhere!

[morgan]

You'll find that quite a few kennels these days do use expensive brands of dog food, especially Royal Canin. My rep said that the number of boarding kennels using it has quadrupled in the last year.

Ring different places and talk to them - you have to feel comfortable on the phone about a place before you go to look at it. If you pick a place with exercise runs separate to the kennel area the advantage is that the dog gets more human contact and has the kennel cleaned out while it is out exercising. Some places simply gerni kennels with the poor dog still inside.

But do go and look, preferably when it is a bit quieter - I know some people advocate looking at places during school holidays to confirm that no "double stacking" occurs, but staff will often be too busy to answer questions properly and you might get the wrong impression of the place. If the place seems a bit too quiet for the number of dogs, be careful - there is still the occasional place that drugs dogs to keep them quiet. You want to see some dogs jumping up and down and barking their heads off when they see someone

[BarneyMacRosie]

Choice Magazine covered things to look for in an article here:

http://www.choice.com.au/viewarticleasonep...=100008&p=1

cheers

Katie

[Sandra777]

And to pinch an idea someone else on here had a while ago - when you go and look; if the big grass exercise runs are all pretty and green and tidy then it's a fair bet that dogs hardly ever get to go in them! At this time of year I would expect to see bald patches and dust and maybe even the odd little hole, but obviously not mountains of dog poo!

Inspect - and if you are not allowed to inspect do not even consider leaving your dog there. A lot of places are fine with inspections any time during opening hours, but some places have specific inspection times. Whatever you do - don't turn up OUTSIDE opening hours and expect a warm welcome :-) It might seem like a lovely cushy job but kennels (especially at this time of year!) are busy and demanding places - the staff and owner/manager get little enough down time as it is.

[Poodle wrangler]

Inspect the place.

They should welcome inspections, though it's normal for restricted times for drop-offs and pickups.

Also recommendations.