Urgh - Boarding kennels - they just aren't worth the money :(
 

Hiya all

I'm feeling quite grumpy atm, I just got back from Vegas, after a 30 hour journey rushed off to pick up the dogs from the kennel.
(I don't usually use boarding kennels but my full time dog sitter has moved and it was too dangerous to leave them at home to be fed by my friend due to the bad bush fire situation here)

Hex has chipped 2 of his bottom incisors and has a massive hot spot on his bum :( And scabs on top of his muzzle.
So we went for a trip to the Vet this afternoon, got some anti biopics and ointment for the spot. The teeth are not too bad so we're just gonna keep an eye on them - any changes they will have to be removed :(

What annoys me is you pay those people at the kennels so much money but you just don't know what happens to your dogs.
Hex must have been biting at the wire, and hot spots always seem to crop up after he's has a stressful experience of some kind.
Mojo seems to be fine, she's pretty easy going they both had a bath and seem to be happy to be home :)

Sorry for the sook, I think I'm just tired and emotional LOL being awake for 36 hours straight will do that to me :mad:

Aw, I'm sorry that happened to your Mojo. That's the thing about kennels...you take a risk leaving your dog with them and they aren't likely to care for your dogs the way you do. I'm having this debate at the moment. Any time we've gone away, I've been able to leave Juno with a relative and her routine has stayed the same. But eventually the time will come when I will have to go abroad to visit my family. And now I have two GSDs, not just one. The relative who has looked after Juno is getting older, and I don't feel right just dumping two very active dogs on her. So I've been keeping an eye out for good reports and experiences with different kennels from other dog walkers, that I meet along the way to hopefully suss out a decent kennel for when I will need it.

What happened with Mojo seems a bit extreme. Did you say anything to the owners of the kennels? Surely they would have seen that he was hurting his muzzle during his time with them?? Did they not give him any exercise time?

The teeth are not really bad, no blood etc - I only noticed it after we had left, he was sitting in the car panting and I noticed his middle teeth down the bottom were smaller than they should be :(

Annoyingly that kennel came recommended by a friend - I have worked in a boarding kennel myself and I know exactly how often the dogs don't get all the well cared for.

They pretty much fed them and lead them in and out of the exercise yard - I doubt they would have noticed the hot spot under all his fuzz.

Oh well they won't be going back there again.

I'm very fortunate to have had a very good first time experience with a kennel. But it stinks this happened to your dog!

Urgh - Boarding kennels - they just aren't worth the money :(
 

I'm sorry that happened to your babies and i hope they feel better soon.

I dread when we move back to the states and boarding Avery when we go on vacation. The kennel associated with our training facility is awesome and pay tons of attention to the dogs. Oh not to mention if they are great with other dogs they are out in the play yard all day and only put in the houses at night.


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Sounds like your dog has separation anxiety. The kennel help is not paid to stand watch over your dog 24x7 when it is there. Maybe it would have helped to do short stays there to see how the dog handled a kennel situation before you left it there for an extended period of time. I don't see this as the kennels fault at all.

Those injuries are caused by stress. People working at the kennels can't exactly stop your dog from feeling anxiety over you leaving him and can't prevent the hot spot from happening.Anxious dogs will rub their snout on the gates of the kennels that they are housed in or bite the bars and damage their teeth as you have described. The only good prevention for the kennel staff would have been to call you and have someone pick him up.

You should consider having a pet sitter come to your home next time rather than blame the kennel for something that they couldn't really prevent.

I'm so sorry this happened to your dog!!!

While I agree with Odin24 that the kennel is not paid to ensure that your dog behaves himself 24/7, IMHO, it is paid to take basic care of the dogs including seeking medical help when there is a problem and to do something to enssure that the behavior doesn't continue once the problem is noticed. Certainly broken teeth, scabby sores on the muzzle and hot spots would be something that should be attended to by a licensed vet and the dog's behavior modified.

Many years ago the same thing happened to my shy, fearful dog, Echo. I got back from a trip and his teeth were broken, bloody spots were on his face and other areas, etc. (he was white and these big red bloody spots and dried bloody spots were easy to see a mile off). I knew he was a ditz when I left him, but had no idea he'd misbehave in such a way. But what upset me the most was the guy who ran the kennel hadn't even noticed there was a problem (and it was very obvious), and didn't say a word until I mentioned it to him. He was clueless and even after I said something he was like so what? I never went back and told all my friends to avoid the place.

I forgot to put that they should have called you to inform you of what was going on and the dog should have been taken to a vet regardless.

Yeah like I said I have worked in a kennel myself so I'm well aware of that fact that no one can watch the dogs 24/7.
But a big scabby lump on his snout should not go unnoticed.
I was annoyed that they didn't notice he'd hurt himself, they had phone numbers to contact me or a friend at any time, as well as the contact info for my Vet.
Hex and Mojo were sharing a kennel because they are used to being together and to reduce stress on both of them. Hex has never shown any signs of separation anxiety as long as Mojo is around, they are used to me being at work during the day.
The fence biting with Hex seems to be more of an attention seeking thing, the guy at the kennel did say "oh one of them used to carry on when we were moving dogs around but I can't remember which one it was"
He was also surprised that they wouldn't share ONE dish of food - he told me he had to feed them separately because they growled at each other - when I said that was surprising as they always eat in the kitchen together he said "oh it was ok I just made up 2 bowls for them then they were fine" :shocked: Ok so maybe greyhounds share dishes of food - who knows.

Oh well you live and you learn - I'm just glad it wasn't worse!