colliehound Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Hi there Do you or have you worked in, or owned a kennel? Cats or dogs? I am thinking about getting into that area and would like to hear the good, the bad and the ugly of what you experience and face? Happy for you to stay annonymous or PM me if you prefer. I expect that the animals are the easy part.................?? Am I right?? Colliehound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra777 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 long unsocialable hours impossible owners Dogs with upset stomach because mummy gave them a nice big feed before they went to the kennels frightened dogs that bite frightened cats that bite and claw and pee on you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 worst part is the pay early starts late finishes lots and lots and lots of cleaning dogs with diarrhoea (however you spell that ) and then they walk in it and want to jump on you Cats that are difficult to move and handle and bite and scratch dogs that try to jump out of the bath and bite when brushed or have nails done But if you can live with that it can be great :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colliehound Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 I am seeing a theme here. So far sounds like nursing - be prepared to be shat on, peed on, vomited on and abused for the privlidge. :p Am I right so far?? Please tell me more about the "impossible owners". I have patience with animals - I have to admit my patience with people is not so good - what sorts of things do you come up against?? Colliehound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra777 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Could you take our little Fifi just for Christmas Day afternoon while their friends visit - they'd like to bring her in about 11am and pick her up say 3pm but maybe after dinner and if their friends stay could you have her for the night - this message left on an answer phone after listening to the message which states the kennels are FULL between Christmas Eve and January xxx and also CLOSED for pickups and dropoffs on Christmas day. My dog's fine, he doesn't have to be on a leash. Whoops, sorry he just peed on the desk. Whoops sorry he just jumped on that 427 year old lady. Whoops sorry he just frightened the living hell out of that cat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisovar Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Good...the animals Bad...some of the owners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandgrubber Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 (edited) My least favourite are ones who refuse to desex their mixed breed males and allow you to watch a dog become progressively more difficult to handle and more aggressive toward other dogs as it comes back on successive stays. Also unpopular are those who chisel hoping to get a refund or get someone to pay vet or grooming costs. Eg, had someone very upset cause their dog Border Collie (who had been in for three days) came home 'covered with dags' all down his back. We didn't notice dags . . . but there's no way a BC will develop serious dags in three days. People with undisciplined kids are also a pain. We let people come in and see where their dog will be staying and meet the dogs it will be playing with if it is to be socialised in the exercise yard. . . or choose which kennel run their dog will stay in. This often causes a bit of commotion, but makes the customer feel more comfortable. The exercise can get crazy if naughty kids are running around wanting to meet all the dogs, opening gates, etc. By in large, though, I find our owners are great people, and I consider meeting the owners, and especially seeing the reunion of dog and owner at pickup, to be among the positive things in kennel life. Edited January 22, 2010 by sandgrubber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 as an owner never ending money spent on maintenance. As already mentioned as an owner 24/7 365 days of the year . You certainly get many wonderful dogs & great clients but its hard work & often un thanked & people seem to treat you like sh*t as its an industry that many feel is beneath them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loving my Oldies Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 The people who think it outrageous that they have to pay you. Afterall you love animals don't you? You should do it for love then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 I work in rescue kennels every weekend - so don't have to deal with neurotic owners... a big plus! Adoption appointments can be "interesting" - some people rock up with the opinion that they are doing us a favour by wanting to look at or adopt one of our charges. We do not allow the general public to wander through our kennels to "select" a dog... Getting covered in anything that may be expelled from a dog is par for the course. If you get queasy easily, this is definitely not the job for you... *grin* Getting to interact with dogs of all sizes, shapes, ages, and temperaments is an amazing experience - they are all individuals, so learning their little quirks and seeing them become ready for great new forever homes is awesome. I am a volunteer, so I don't get paid to muck out kennels - my "reward" is that I get to interact with and nurture many dogs whose lives have taken a turn for the worse, and find them great new homes - and that is worth more than any financial remuneration IMHO. You know that you love your "job" when you know the names and personalities of every dog in your care - that can be fun when you are working with up to 100 dogs at any given time - and a constantly changing population to boot! I don't work with cats - I'm allergic... T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretel Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 The people who think it outrageous that they have to pay you. Afterall you love animals don't you? You should do it for love then. ;) Some people feel that way about childcare workers too ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all that glitters Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 The people who think it outrageous that they have to pay you. Afterall you love animals don't you? You should do it for love then. ;) What! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 The only thing i didnt like about the kennels was the way it was run. I loved the work and would one day love to own my own. I miss working with the animals so much ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loving my Oldies Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 The people who think it outrageous that they have to pay you. Afterall you love animals don't you? You should do it for love then. ;) Some people feel that way about childcare workers too ;) Exactly. So do you tell them: well you love them, stay home and look after them :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loving my Oldies Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 The people who think it outrageous that they have to pay you. Afterall you love animals don't you? You should do it for love then. ;) What! lol Yep, sadly that is true. The vet I had when I first got dogs used to tell me that. Also if a dog/cat/animal was brought in who had obviously been sick for ages (but just got sick that day of course) and no amount of veterinary skill was going to save the poor creature, the people would just not pay the account: You didn't save my dog, why should I pay you? Not all cuddles and smooches working with animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all that glitters Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 The people who think it outrageous that they have to pay you. Afterall you love animals don't you? You should do it for love then. ;) What! lol Yep, sadly that is true. The vet I had when I first got dogs used to tell me that. Also if a dog/cat/animal was brought in who had obviously been sick for ages (but just got sick that day of course) and no amount of veterinary skill was going to save the poor creature, the people would just not pay the account: You didn't save my dog, why should I pay you? Not all cuddles and smooches working with animals. What happens if you refuse to pay the account, you get followed up no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretel Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 The people who think it outrageous that they have to pay you. Afterall you love animals don't you? You should do it for love then. ;) Some people feel that way about childcare workers too ;) Exactly. So do you tell them: well you love them, stay home and look after them :D I'd like to some days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poocow Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 The only thing i didnt like about the kennels was the way it was run. Yeah that was my biggest issue to. As manager I had to adhere to the owners rules though. There was many things I would have changed if I could. The bad: - being vomited/shat on etc - dealing with unpleasant owners - long hours in all weather conditions - working weekends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandgrubber Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Another annoyance for many workers is the owner. I'm an owner. I don't make large profit margins and can't pay high wages. Most of the people I hire love dogs and would like to spend all their time working with the dogs. Unfortunately, I have to push them to do things like filling in and screening off the holes the dogs have dug in the lawn or cleaning up the kitchen. Not fun jobs. And there's always tension about how long it takes to do a task , eg, give a dog a hydrobath. I give free hydrobaths to dogs in kennels for more than five days. I don't intend that to be a 30 minute bath than includes grooming, cutting out gnarls, etc. Kennel hands often -- and I respect them for it -- want to do it right. Sometimes there are also tensions about dog welfare. Many kennel owners are more bloody minded than I am and define 'exercise' as letting the dogs run in a yard for 15 to 30 minutes a day while the kennels are hosed down. Many kennel hands see what this does to the dogs and find it really unpleasant to be part of the system. Bottom line: before you take on a kennel job, make sure you and the owner/manager have harmonious notions of how a dog should be treated. It's a rough trade, and owners are rarely skilled people managers . . . so turnover is pretty high and there are a lot of frustrations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayly Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 (edited) I work in kennels - mostly holidays as I am a full time uni student with a full 5 days at uni, occasionally I do weekends. I love it, but a huge part of that is my boss. She shows and breeds purebred dogs and is a wonderful, caring person. She is simply the nicest person I have ever had anything to do with. Because she shows and breeds we have a bit in common and she's always happy to talk about why she's done a certain breeding, why she's feeding this bitch this food, what is to be expected during the whelping/pup rearing. We help look after her breeding/show dogs too, which I love. I don't mind the poo! :D You get used to it. The dogs with hotspots or infections or something like that I don't particularly like but that doesn't tend to happen much. I love that it is manual work, but you also need to keep your eyes open, and keep thinking about things. I love seeing and getting to interact with so many different breeds. I think the thing I like the least is the naughty kids! Grrr! Don't deal with feral children well normally, but when they are running around the kennels we love and look after, and stir the dogs up, it shits me no end! Difficult customers the boss tends to deal with, thankfully, so I haven't had much of that. It's crap pay, but I didn't expect great pay. It was actually about 60 cents an hour better than my old job (retail award) which I was surprised and pretty stoked about! You will be expected to work weekends, don't expect many holidays during the peak times and often are asked to work public holidays. That doesn't bother me but I don't have kids or anything to worry about. ETA: I don't think I could run/own a boarding kennels but I love working in one! Edited January 23, 2010 by Lyndsay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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