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Boarding Kennel


fuzzy82
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I will be letting them know when we pick them up that because of how he behaved the dogs will never stay there again. Dunno if I'm allowed to post the name of the kennel, but if anyone wants to know you can pm me.

How he behaved? To you or the dogs?

Personally I'd be waiting to see how my dogs were before writing the place off. If they come out of kennels, fit well and happy then I'd forgive a proprietor for being blunt. Its care for the dogs you're paying for.

And I'd have thought others counseling never to use this place might suspend their judgements until then too.

What's better, a brusque kennel owner who cares wonderfully for the dogs, or someone who blows smoke up your @rse to make you feel good about leaving them and gives the dogs minimal care and attention?

Seriously some folk should think twice before recommending blacklistings based on a one sided version of events with an as yet unknown outcome. The amount of misguided, uninformed moral outrage on this forum is gobsmacking.

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I will be letting them know when we pick them up that because of how he behaved the dogs will never stay there again. Dunno if I'm allowed to post the name of the kennel, but if anyone wants to know you can pm me.

What's better, a brusque kennel owner who cares wonderfully for the dogs, or someone who blows smoke up your @rse to make you feel good about leaving them and gives the dogs minimal care and attention?

Too true. There are PLENTY of these types of kennels around that are great at marketing and customer service and you would be sick at how the animals are treated.

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I know which kennels they are, and refuse to leave my animals there. I use the pet resort at Rothwell. My dog has separation anxiety and I was concerned about leaving her as she had a really bad experience at another kennel on the southside. When we picked her up from Rothwell, I dont know if she really wanted to come home, lol. She was real happy and looked healthy and clean. They do playtime and walks and other things with the dogs so they have plenty of human time everyday.

Im sorry, but try not to worry, they will be fine and have a wonderful holiday!

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I will be letting them know when we pick them up that because of how he behaved the dogs will never stay there again. Dunno if I'm allowed to post the name of the kennel, but if anyone wants to know you can pm me.

What's better, a brusque kennel owner who cares wonderfully for the dogs, or someone who blows smoke up your @rse to make you feel good about leaving them and gives the dogs minimal care and attention?

Too true. There are PLENTY of these types of kennels around that are great at marketing and customer service and you would be sick at how the animals are treated.

Yep. I know a few. Crash hot websites, staff that sugar coat it for owners and pets that go to straight to vet when picked up.

How anyone can casually consider damaging the livelihood of a business based on what's written here is a bit scarey. You'd think if the place was THAT bad, the OP would never have left her dogs there.

Edited by Telida Whippets
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I'd be wanting to see the kennels before hand too. After all we pay alot of our hard earned cash to leave our dogs in these places and I think as customers we have a right to see where the dogs will be.

Shouldn't their public liability insurance cover anyone on the premises?

I was once thinking of opening a dog/cat boarding business but a neighbour beat me to it.

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I'd be wanting to see the kennels before hand too. After all we pay alot of our hard earned cash to leave our dogs in these places and I think as customers we have a right to see where the dogs will be.

Shouldn't their public liability insurance cover anyone on the premises?

I was once thinking of opening a dog/cat boarding business but a neighbour beat me to it.

Beforehand doesn't have to mean "at the time of drop off".

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I will be letting them know when we pick them up that because of how he behaved the dogs will never stay there again. Dunno if I'm allowed to post the name of the kennel, but if anyone wants to know you can pm me.

What's better, a brusque kennel owner who cares wonderfully for the dogs, or someone who blows smoke up your @rse to make you feel good about leaving them and gives the dogs minimal care and attention?

Too true. There are PLENTY of these types of kennels around that are great at marketing and customer service and you would be sick at how the animals are treated.

You mean the places where 'exercise' consists of being kicked out of their runs for 15 minutes while they hose down the kennel? The places that look like no dog ever dug a hole in their lawn . . . cause no dog was out long enough to?

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I will be letting them know when we pick them up that because of how he behaved the dogs will never stay there again. Dunno if I'm allowed to post the name of the kennel, but if anyone wants to know you can pm me.

What's better, a brusque kennel owner who cares wonderfully for the dogs, or someone who blows smoke up your @rse to make you feel good about leaving them and gives the dogs minimal care and attention?

Too true. There are PLENTY of these types of kennels around that are great at marketing and customer service and you would be sick at how the animals are treated.

You mean the places where 'exercise' consists of being kicked out of their runs for 15 minutes while they hose down the kennel? The places that look like no dog ever dug a hole in their lawn . . . cause no dog was out long enough to?

Yep. Or they just hose the shit out from under them while they're in there. I've seen tiny dogs drenched to the skin :(

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Then a guy comes out with leashes etc and says he's taking the dogs in. I said "I'd like to walk them in please" and he said "it's too wet" to which I replied "I don't mind". And that's when he became horribly defensive and rude, saying that's not how they operate, it's "against the law" for me to come onto their premises, and asked me "are you gonna be funny about this?? Either I walk them in, or they don't stay here". He had to pick them up because he claimed the ground was so wet going to the kennels (it's behind trees and bushes, so you can't even see it from the reception area).

The guy made some comment about how he's been breeding and boarding dogs for 45 years, and "don't you trust us??". How am I supposed to trust someone who is that defensive about having their kennel inspected??

While it is true that much can go on behind closed doors that people would be shocked about first impressions count & as a business owner this person did not give a good first impression or make the owner feel confident or comfortable about leaving their dog there. The lack of sensitivity or courtesy shown to the owner has to make one wonder how he would be with the dogs in his care.

The owner has gone away upset & worried.

While I agree that over reaction & people getting ripped to shreds can happen on a forum in this case I can understand why the poster is upset.

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Christina:

The lack of sensitivity or courtesy shown to the owner has to make one wonder how he would be with the dogs in his care.

It might make you wonder. Talk to enough vets, kennel owners and groomers and you might form a different view. They're there for dogs and they'll do what ever it takes to keep the dogs calm and often that means owner out of the picture ASAP.

A no fuss departure where the dogs are taken from you is pretty common for a lot of such businesses. A teary owner saying fond farewells stresses a lot of dogs and acting to prevent such a possiblity would be pretty common I think.

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Last time I boarded my dog and cat was about two years ago.

Guy came out and helped me with them, he carried the cat in. We left the cat in her travel cage in the office while we took Snowy out to his run. The whole time he chatted, he even gave me a run down on how Snowy would spend his day and who the dogs were next to him! We then did the same with the cat.

When I went to pick them up, we did the same thing.

Over the years I have boarded my animals several times at different kennels and have never had a problem, it has always been the same experience as above. I think that I would be a bit taken aback if I had the experience the OP did.

I am sure they will be fine though.

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I had a similar experience once. Years ago. Lead was ripped out of my hand (literally) and dog dragged away. Definitely increased my stress levels and I left in tears. Unfortunately in that case the dog came back to me in not a very good state :mad . All my other experiences with boarding kennels have been good and all have let me walk the dogs in and put them in their kennels. As a result departures have been calm for all of us.

As a result I can understand fully why the poster was upset. Leaving your dog in a kennel can be stressful enough (even for the calmest person) without adding to it in this way. Even if the dog is well cared for (I am sure it will be...) it would not encourage me to take a dog back.

Edited by espinay2
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Christina:

The lack of sensitivity or courtesy shown to the owner has to make one wonder how he would be with the dogs in his care.

It might make you wonder. Talk to enough vets, kennel owners and groomers and you might form a different view. They're there for dogs and they'll do what ever it takes to keep the dogs calm and often that means owner out of the picture ASAP.

A no fuss departure where the dogs are taken from you is pretty common for a lot of such businesses. A teary owner saying fond farewells stresses a lot of dogs and acting to prevent such a possiblity would be pretty common I think.

I have worked in groomers & have a few friends with kennels & seen the good & the bad.

It didn't warrant this kind of behaviour or lack of manners to keep the dog calm in this case.

If the owner is a wreck or neurotic it needs tactful handling anyway not rudeness & abruptness, which is basically what you are excusing when there was absolutely no need for it in the first place.

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The OP is currently overseas, and the dogs cannot be moved from this kennel - spare a thought for the OP when you are sharing your horror stories because they will most likely just make her super stressed over a situation she cannot change.

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I've only ever used boarding kennels a couple of times, but I was always allowed to walk my dogs to their yards and go into the cattery area. I would have been upset too.

I do understand though about the 'clingy/needy' owners who just won't go away and they do make it so much harder for staff and their dogs. When I first joined DOL I was surprised by the number of people who say they insist on watching while their dog is in surgery. All the vets I've worked for would never allow that. I think it would put more stress on the vet and personally I wouldn't want to do that to the person operating on my pet. The policy was always that those kind of owners had to sit in the waiting room until surgery was over.

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Christina:

The lack of sensitivity or courtesy shown to the owner has to make one wonder how he would be with the dogs in his care.

It might make you wonder. Talk to enough vets, kennel owners and groomers and you might form a different view. They're there for dogs and they'll do what ever it takes to keep the dogs calm and often that means owner out of the picture ASAP.

A no fuss departure where the dogs are taken from you is pretty common for a lot of such businesses. A teary owner saying fond farewells stresses a lot of dogs and acting to prevent such a possiblity would be pretty common I think.

I think there is a difference between a no fuss departure and being rude to the owner.

In my experience, it is usually explained to the owner that it is not possible to accompany the dog to the kennel as it upsets the other boarding dogs and can be more traumatic for their dog as well.

Most owners are understanding and there is no need to resort to rudeness or lack of understanding/courtesy.

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Christina:

The lack of sensitivity or courtesy shown to the owner has to make one wonder how he would be with the dogs in his care.

It might make you wonder. Talk to enough vets, kennel owners and groomers and you might form a different view. They're there for dogs and they'll do what ever it takes to keep the dogs calm and often that means owner out of the picture ASAP.

A no fuss departure where the dogs are taken from you is pretty common for a lot of such businesses. A teary owner saying fond farewells stresses a lot of dogs and acting to prevent such a possiblity would be pretty common I think.

While I agree these business must be there for the dog, with every dog there is an owner. If the business wants repeat customers and to gain business through word of mouth they need to keep the owners happy - the dogs arn't paying the bills!!!

They might have had a very valid reason why they did not want the OP to come in. All they needed to do was explain this. If it was me, I would have also felt very uneasy.

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When I first joined DOL I was surprised by the number of people who say they insist on watching while their dog is in surgery. All the vets I've worked for would never allow that. I think it would put more stress on the vet and personally I wouldn't want to do that to the person operating on my pet.

I don't insist that I watch in surgery but have asked if I may come in for ceasarians.

If the vet is confident & doesn't mind it is an honour & absolutely fascinating & wonderful experience.

My first time it went wrong, not the surgery but the condition of the pups. I was sad but didn't panic or anything.

For me its not lack of trust or confidence in the vet its just so interesting to watch.

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+ 1

Christina:

The lack of sensitivity or courtesy shown to the owner has to make one wonder how he would be with the dogs in his care.

It might make you wonder. Talk to enough vets, kennel owners and groomers and you might form a different view. They're there for dogs and they'll do what ever it takes to keep the dogs calm and often that means owner out of the picture ASAP.

A no fuss departure where the dogs are taken from you is pretty common for a lot of such businesses. A teary owner saying fond farewells stresses a lot of dogs and acting to prevent such a possiblity would be pretty common I think.

I have worked in groomers & have a few friends with kennels & seen the good & the bad.

It didn't warrant this kind of behaviour or lack of manners to keep the dog calm in this case.

If the owner is a wreck or neurotic it needs tactful handling anyway not rudeness & abruptness, which is basically what you are excusing when there was absolutely no need for it in the first place.

+1 :thumbsup: Edited by Ozshep-Bracken
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