Dog Boarding - Ugh.

[SouthernThistle]

Originally Posted by SouthernThistle

It's a couple that have always had dogs got tired of boarding facilities and their "quirks" so they went out, bought a horse farm, and turned it into dog training/boarding Heaven.

The above came with great reviews. I went and saw them last week, and the woman seemed great. I saw the indoor runs, and I saw the attached outdoor runs. I told her, "they are both puppies, and they like to wrestle/play tug, etc." she said, "oh well there's no problem there. We know how rough puppies can play. We're dog people."

"They're fed a raw diet. We pre-package and label their meals with the date, AM or PM, and their names. We also give them Vit E, Fish Oil, and a blob of yogurt, but we always print out feeding instructions as well."

"That's fine. Many of our boarders feed raw so we're definitely familiar with it."

I take her out to my car, and I introduce her to both dogs. She said, "okay see you Saturday!"

We drop the dogs off for overnight boarding. We give her the printed instructions:

Grimm: AM and PM feedings (same): 1 x bag of raw meal, 2 x Fish Oil caplets, 1 x Vit E caplet, 1 TB plain yogurt.

Gidget: AM and PM feedings (same): 1 x bag of raw meal, 1 x Fish Oil caplet, 1 x Vit E caplet, 1 TB plain yogurt.

They both play rough - not aggressive. Potty regularly. If toys are soiled or damaged, just discard - no worries.

We go over the above instructions with her. She even enters the info in the computer and reads it back to us.


We drop them off, and while we're completing everything, the owner asks, "and what time will you be picking them up on Sunday?"

"What time are you guys available for pick up? What time do you open?"

"We open at 4pm."

"Okay - well we'll see you at 4 then."

****** Pick Up today at 4pm ******

Andrew looks at invoice, and it says, "extended check out." He asks what that is for. She replies, "any pick up after 2pm is charged an extended check out." Andrew says, "we asked you what time you opened and when we could pick up, and you said 4pm."

"Well, anytime after 2pm, including Sundays, is charged an extended pick up."

"What is this note here? Excessive play?"

"Yes, well. The two of them. They play excessively."

"Did they do anything bad? Were either one of them hurt? What happened?"

"Well...it's just really something you need to keep an eye on. They can get pretty rowdy."

(Yes, we know this. We told you this when we came to check out the place. Neither one of them hurt each other - they just play, and then they get pooped and pass out on each other. Standard puppy stuff!)

We see that there are vitamin E capsules and fish oil capsules left. (I had them measured out for each meal - exactly.) "Why are there leftover capsules?"
"Oh - there are?"
"Yes. They were actually pre-measured for them."
"Gosh - I don't know. I'm sorry."

(What the heck?!)

We asked for two playtimes for both of them...only one playtime was given.....to GRIMM. Gidget never got out of the run unless she went outside on her own. (Maybe because she's a Pit Bull? which they knew about before we dropped them off there.)

This place came highly recommended - we read their BBB ratings. We read their online ratings. A dog trainer at a training facility (where they also board) said, "shhh, I board my dogs there...not here."

What gives? Our dogs are not hellions. They're easy to take care of. We would have had our friend nearby come take care of them, but she was gone this weekend. We give them typed out feeding instructions that are NOT difficult to follow.

[SouthernThistle]

P.S. I am more than open to ideas on what YOU guys do when you board your dogs and need to leave feeding instructions. Is there any particular format you write the information down for others to read? Is there a certain way I need to break down my instructions? I don't think it's that difficult, but apparently it is

[Chicagocanine]

I have not boarded very often but when I have boarded or had someone watching my dogs at home, I usually put the supplements in with the food if possible. I measure out each meal into a separate baggie and put the supplements in the baggie with the meal (assuming you have a dog who will take the supplements that way.) Then I mark each baggie with a day of the week plus AM or PM and the dog's name. If the supplements can't be mixed with the food ahead of time I put them in a separate baggie marked AM or PM and the day of the week.

[BlackPuppy]

Originally Posted by SouthernThistle

Andrew looks at invoice, and it says, "extended check out." He asks what that is for. She replies, "any pick up after 2pm is charged an extended check out." Andrew says, "we asked you what time you opened and when we could pick up, and you said 4pm."

"Well, anytime after 2pm, including Sundays, is charged an extended pick up."

What the heck!

Now you're scaring me. I've been looking for a place to leave my 2 guys when I go to Germany to pick up my puppy this summer.

[doggiedad]

after reading your post there's no question, you should definitely
go back to the old place. you should report the new place to the authorities.

Originally Posted by SouthernThistle

I plan on calling the boarding manager tomorrow and discussing my concerns, but I'm aggravated. Kinda makes me wonder if we should just pay the increase and go back to the 15 hour access outside place.

[SouthernThistle]

Originally Posted by Chicagocanine

I have not boarded very often but when I have boarded or had someone watching my dogs at home, I usually put the supplements in with the food if possible. I measure out each meal into a separate baggie and put the supplements in the baggie with the meal (assuming you have a dog who will take the supplements that way.) Then I mark each baggie with a day of the week plus AM or PM and the dog's name. If the supplements can't be mixed with the food ahead of time I put them in a separate baggie marked AM or PM and the day of the week.

I do that already.

I don't mix the supplements with the food as they are capsules and prone to become sticky/dissolve when in contact with the moisture from the raw meat.

We take one baggie and put the vitamin E in it.
We mark on the baggie:

Grimm: (AM and PM) x 1
Gidget: (AM and PM) x 1

On the Fish Oil, we put them in a separate baggie, and mark:

Grimm: (AM and PM) x 2
Gidget (AM and PM) x 2

Then we pre-package their meals with their names, date, and AM or PM.

The worst part is I gave written instructions, AND she entered in the instructions to her computer before printing them out for whomever fed...and read them back to us before we signed off and left.

I like how the statement, "we asked what time we could pick them up, and you said 4pm," was answered with, "anytime after 2pm for pick up is an extra charge." We said it again, "but before we left them, and you asked us what time we were picking them up...and I asked what time we COULD pick them up....you said 4pm."........."anytime after 2pm for pick up is an extra charge."

Aggravation.

When I counted out the remaining Vit E and Fish Oils, they are the exact amount for one feeding so now I wonder if the kids missed a meal (?)

[Aryg2461]

I have worked at two kennels and I can tell you if I had seen the instructions you left I would have had no problem feeding your dogs they seemed very precise and left nothing to chance. I would recommend a pet sitter maybe for next time or possibly looking at some other places making sure you tour the place and ask lots and lots of questions.