Would You Be Annoyed?

[tommygirl]

Just want to see if others would feel the same as me...feeling pretty annoyed.

Boarded my 3 BT's over the weekend (friday morning to sunday arvo). I go to pick them up on Sunday afternoon, and while my two adult dogs are all ok, my 7month old looks like shes run into a cheese grater. Literally when I saw her I did a and 'OMG WHAT HAPPENED TO HER FACE!!!!!'. The staff looked at me blankly and said oh we didnt notice it...now these scratches on her face are deep thick scabs, not little tiny surface marks. It will take at least a couple of weeks to clear up. I had her booked into shows over the Easter weekend, which in all honestly, I cant show her when her face looks the way it does. Shes white also, not dark coloured and some stage there would have had to have been blood, considering there are now some decent scabs.

At the time I was so shocked, and could tell the staff there on a Sunday were so young that they probably had nothing to offer me in the way of information. I dont know if I should formally complain or just let it go and put it down to experience and not board them there again. They so very rarely go to kennels, in fact the pup was her first time away from me since she was born, so I was already stresssing and then to come home to that well....

So- what would you do? Formally complain or let it go?

[dandybrush]

gosh i dont know :/ i would maybe call up and talk to the manager, or some kennels give you a survey to complete you could put your complaint on that either way definately do not use those kennels again

[Leelaa17]

ABSOLUTELY COMPLAIN!!! Don't let it happen to someone elses babies. That is effing ridiculous - I would have gone absolutely ape s**t if I came back from a weekend and saw that.

Think about it - when we get scratched or (for eg, me today - my toe got sliced by a high heel on the bus) and we are in pain. Its the same with dogs - your poor girl was probably in pain for a while because of what happened... and they did absolutely nothing about it.

I would EXPECT from a boarder that if ANYTHING were to happen they would call me and tell me about it - same with day care centres when a kid hurts themselves etc. I would be ropeable if no one told me and I came back to that.

I would absolutely complain. And never go back there. And tell EVERYONE you know to stay away from them.

[poodlefan]

How do you think the marks occured.. if she was chewing or rubbing her head against wire, its difficult to determine what the kennel owners might have done about it.

Was she kennelled alone? Did she have any interactions with other dogs (not yours)?

[Mumsie]

If you haven't already I would take photo's of the marks and take them to the kennels and ask them to explain!

[Bluefairy]

I'd complain too....

I put my Aussie Bulldog in Kennels for 2 nights. We left her there, and she was let into a largish area with a GR who was having fun playing with a ball. The other dogs were in their kennels. I told the owner she isn't used to lots of dogs, so she said she would only have her in with one, maybe two dogs.

When we came back to pick her up, her brand new collar was chewed beyond keeping, she was covered in mud, and sopping wet. We had to dry her off so we could get her in the car. She was very lethargic....but I thought she'd had a good run so was tired. We got her home and she went to her bed and stayed there for 2 days, she was limping, and looked so sick. We ended up taking her to the vets where they said she must have caught a chill, and was running a slight fever. She was given ABs for it.....after 6 months of constant limping on the same leg, the vets xrayed her and she had the start of arthritis in one hip. They said it was more than likely from the cold cement floor she was laying on in the kennel (didn't find this out until later). I will never recommend this kennel to anyone. I always felt guilty for putting her in there, I will never again leave my dog with anyone.

BF

Edited April 20, 2011 by Bluefairy

[all4addy]

Jeez, thats horrible!

Considering how annoyed I was over an incident that was a lot more trifling than yours, I would complain, big time! The poor baby. What on earth did they do to her? Some dog maul her or letting her play in brambles? Its sounds shocking.

I, like you, don't use kennels hardly at all, I try to avoid them whereever neccessary. We were planning to take our girl to a family kennel for her weeks stay (during a hectic move) but ended up deciding on a more commercial bigger one that was closer.

When we picked her up, the guy was complaining that "all she wanted to do was play in the pay area, and didn't want to go back in her cage" he was whining, and honestly, could you blame her? All she wanted was to run and have fun, not stay caged in a small area. Never, ever using that place again, I mean, its in her genes to want exercise, lots of it, I thought they understood that when they took her!

So if I was in your place, I would do as others said, take lots of pics, explain from one professional (show person) to another (business owner) that this sort of thing does not make a place look professional and now you are out one dog for showing. I would pobably be absolutely steaming in your place.

A good kennel is worth is wait in gold, and unfortunately, I have yet to have seen one.

[Staranais]

Depends what you think caused the marks. If it's likely she has gotten nipped by another dog a few times, or rubbed her head against the bars a little, I think that's all part of going to a kennel. On the other hand if the marks are so serious that they must have been caused by her getting seriously beaten up, or being seriously distressed and self traumatising, then I think you'd be in the right to complain & ask them to explain the marks.

Also, did you tell them she was a show dog with shows scheduled when you took her to the kennels? My dog has come home from the kennels or daycare with scrapes and nips before, I'd rather she got those than had a boring time sitting by herself all day. If you didn't tell them that it was imperative your dog stayed pristine, they may have assumed you were an owner like me and didn't care if your dog got a bit chewed up so long as she had a fun time.

[dancinbcs]

If you haven't already I would take photo's of the marks and take them to the kennels and ask them to explain!

Good idea. If it was caused by running her with another dog then I would be complaining and expect some sort of compensation because it should not have been allowed to happen.

If she did it by chewing the wire in her run then you can't do much about it except realise it will probably happen if you kennel her again. Some kennels won't take BTs, Amstaffs or Pitbulls because they can so easily chew straight through chainwire. I have seen a chainwire run completely detroyed overnight by a BT at a boarding kennel and it caused quite a bit of damage to it's face in the process. The only safe enclosure for one that wants to escape is solid heavy duty weldmesh that is too thick to chew.

[tommygirl]

This is why I am sitting on the fence with having a proper complaint- because I really don't know what happened. I was supposed to recieve a 'report' on each of them when I picked them up but got nothing. Shes in a kennel run at home during the day that has dog mesh on it and she's never hurt herself on it before...plus all the cuts are up more between her eyes, not around her mouth or end of nose if she had been biting or scratching at the door. Honestly I think that another dog has had a go at her and they haven't done anything/said anything about it. I don't know anything else that would make such deep cuts on her face and so high up. I did tell them she's a show dog and asked for her to be alone.

Its hard enough for me to trust people with my dogs now I am even more paranoid!

Took some pics on my phone last night to send to a friend for their opinion, so I might just write an email with picture attached and say I'm disappointed I didn't get reports on how they went and this is what her face looked like and see what I get back.

Frustrating when you pay people to look after your beloved pets and you get below average service

[Diva]

Complain

[Sandra777]

Ring and ask to speak to someone in charge. If she did it to herself then at least the staff should have NOTICED!!!! Dogs in new places and situations do things they wouldn't otherwise do, so it could be just one of those things that can happen, but no one noticing - grrrr

If it looks like marks from another dog, complain big time (assuming you specified she was not to run with others)

[Dogsfevr]

We run kennels & the staff should have noticed something,even if they didnt see how it happened .

I will say we board a number of Bullies that head butt the fencing,there beds basically use there head to move,bash or pound

Haven't had a fence eating one yet but as sais many kennels no longer take Bullies,SBT,AM Staffs because of the damage they can do or do to themselves whilst boarding.

I would certainly call the owner because the staff should have noted it on the sheet & certainly informed you

Nearly all the Bullies we board have strong war wounds over there heads & face from there antics at home ,most are alos chronic eaters of beds

[gwenneth1]

Complain-I'd be distinctly unimpressed about the lack of communication. It doesn't matter if the staff were young or not on duty, it is up to Management to keep clients up to date and informed of any changes that occur with dogs in their care.

[Bundyburger]

You were meant to get a report when they left.. but you didn't.. that on it's own is a reason for a please explain, even moreso for a dog with injuries she didn't have when she arrived. They surely should be able to give some information!!

[Sherlot]

I'd complain more so at the fact they where not honest about it!!

[~JessyBee~]

I would be annoyed too. My view is that either she has injured herself somehow, or she was injured while playing with another dog, either way the point is that it wasn't noticed or reported to you by the staff.

Not good enough.

Call and talk to the owner/manager and ask if anything was noticed, and if so why didn't the weekend staff let you know?

[Little Gifts]

I don't care who is on duty when I come to pick up my dogs. I would expect any injury, even small ones to be noted on the cage door or on some kind of record for my dogs, as well as the reason behind it and any treatment that was provided. If you left your car somewhere for safe keeping and it got a little scratch you would expect the person caring for it to tell you how it happened so why should it be any different with your dog? Anything that scabs up will have leaked blood so someone should have noticed and been able to estimate how it happened based on where the dog was at the time. And as a puppy surely you would pay more attention to it anyway? I'm really unimpressed by this place and disagree with an earlier poster who talked about her dog getting scrapes or nips from other dogs at day care. If it bleeds it is not ok, even if it happens accidentally. Face wounds on a BT can stay very visible due to the thinness of the hair there and a tendency for the hair to grow back in a different colour.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience.

[OSoSwift]

I would be annoyed, yes at the injury but more at the fact no-one seemed to have an idea or care. I would expect some info about it at pick up and what was done at the very least.

I would be photographing and asking for a please explain.

[minxy]

I would be annoyed and complain too. I think it's very unprofessional that they didn't notice or seem to care, or give you a report as promised. Fair enough if they don't know how the scratches got there, but I would expect that they would inform you that they noticed scratches and that they had either applied xyz ointment to it, or determined that they were superficial and didn't need treatment at this point in time but to keep an eye on them... etc etc.