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Weird idea for kenneling my GSD. . . what do you think?

2K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  doggiedad 
#1 ·
I've never kenneled a dog in my life -- always had petsitters come to my house.

Now that I have a 2.5 year old GSD I'd like to do a kennel for his sake. Staying home w/ a cat and a petsitter would be really boring for him. (Although the sitter could chuck the ball in our fairly large yard each visit.)

So I found a small kennel, family-owned, small staff that's been there for years with regular clients who do daycare and overnight boarding.

But I so wish I could clip an audio something-or-other onto his collar so I could hear how he's really spending his time when I leave him. Have you heard of anything like that?

How do you figure out whether a kennel is treating your dog right or not?

Please don't tell me I'm paranoid -- I already know that! :crazy:

Thanks,

Alley
 
#3 ·
My dog goes to doggie daycare once a week (on average). She LOVES it. It's nothing like a conventional kennel/boarding facility although the couple who runs it do overnight and long-term stays as well. What's the place like? Have you met the people? Are there a lot of employees? Is it a large facility?

I think the smaller the better, but that's just my opinion. Places that do daycare rather than just boarding should be smaller because they need to be focusing on exercising and playing with the dogs, and the dogs should (ideally) be out and engaged in exercise/play a lot of the day. And the owners/employees should know if your dog will play with others or if your dog needs to be separated, etc. I'd like to meet everyone who will be interacting with my dog and know what the daily schedule is like, and know that I can drop in at any time and check up on what's going on, and that they are fine with that.

I love our doggie daycare - it's much better for my dog than being locked in the living room - and she comes home tired from 8+ hours of solid puppy play :)
 
#4 ·
Your dog will let you know if he is unhappy at the kennel. Just listen to him.
 
#7 ·
I think anything like that you put on him is likely to be damaged or snagged in the chain link.

Why not take him for some short trial runs, pop in randomly to see how he is doing and gauge your experience that way? Personally, I would opt for the petsitter.
 
#8 ·
When I go anywhere I always go with pet friendly places. Shes part of my family and if she can't be apart of then they don't need my business. I'm mostly speaking of vacation. I don't travel for jobs. I wouldn't own a pet if I did. I don't think it would be fair. My brother does that. The dog spends 98% of its life with my mom. I'm surprised the dog remembers him sometimes

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#10 ·
My parents used a kennel in Virginia where they could log on and watch their dog in the actual pen/room she was in - they were given a link to a site and a password and they could log on and watch their dog whenever they wanted. It was expensive, but gave them peace of mind.

The daycare my dog goes to doesn't have anything like that but the woman who runs it posts pictures to facebook throughout the day, and frequently updates the fb page with information about what the dogs are up to, so you can see them having a good time and being well-cared for, which is really nice :)
 
#13 ·
As a person who worked in a kennel, collars come off for safety. Plus that's just really rude to me. If you don't trust a place, don't take your pet there. Don't try and 'catch' folks. It makes you look super paranoid and makes the staff feel like you don't trust them (which obviously you don't, if you feel the need to spy like that).

Instead, get to know the facility and do trial runs. Ask around for word-of-mouth reviews. And if you need to imbed a microphone into your dog to 'check' and be sure that the place is 'treating him right', you're not ready to leave your pet somewhere.
 
#15 ·
It's not a matter of "not trusting" . . . it's a matter of not knowing the people. When people started "spying" on nannies by using a nanny cam back in the 80's they found horrific abuses that would have otherwise gone undetected.

I'd like to know what's happening with my dog -- and there's no real way of knowing.

Alley
 
#14 ·
When I said "check in" I didn't mean "spy" - I really did just mean check in. Before we left Sookie at daycare for the whole day we did a trial run for a couple hours, (they required this, actually, to see how she was with them and other dogs), then we came back to see if she was having fun (she was!), went to the grocery store, and then came back again to pick her up.

The couple who runs the daycare is fine with people coming by at any time because they are always there (the converted stables that are the kennels are like 5 yards from their front door). The woman is a dog trainer and behaviourist, she has her own dogs out with the daycare ones, and there is only room for about ten dogs, so it's nice. Actually the converted stalls are super cute - each dog has its own stall complete with armchair, carpet, table, blankets (like a mini living room) - and these open onto a play area with agility equipment and kiddy pools where they can play. There are fields behind the property, and the whole thing is basically doggy heaven :)
 
#16 ·
This is the one thing that worries me about the daycare/boarding facility I found. They don't allow clients to just drop in at any time. They say that because they're small, they just don't have the staff to handle that kind of drop in situation. So they only allow tours on Tues. from 3 to 4. That's the only weird thing I've found.

I'd always heard to visit kennels without an appointment to see what they're like. Otherwise I like this kennel: small, very daycare/play outside oriented etc.

The other thing that's scary is that while the place is alarmed nobody is on the premises at night. Is that cause for concern?

Alley
 
#18 · (Edited)
Some places do have webcams so you can check on your dog while they're boarding or at daycare. I know some places around here do.
I think a lot of dogs, unless it's a dog who is used to going to a daycare all the time already, would prefer to be at home with a petsitter vs at a strange kennel where they won't get much individual attention.

I usually take my dogs with me on trips unless I'm flying, but a few times I have taken them to a kennel for "day boarding" while on a trip when we wanted to go somewhere that wasn't dog friendly and would take several hours. For example in Springfield when we went to the Lincoln museum, my GSD stayed at a kennel and we picked her up in the evening. I'd checked out the place ahead of time online, called them, looked up reviews etc...
I used to leave my terrier at home when I went on trips and had a friend watch him, because he didn't do well on car rides (whined the whole time, too excited). I boarded him once when I couldn't get a petsitter, but I didn't like it much. The place was very basic and they made me pay extra for him to have any bedding in the kennel, and he had hip dysplasia/arthritis so he could not sleep on a hard floor comfortably. After that though I discovered he actually would quiet down as soon as the car got on the expressway, so I started bringing him along. When I visit my brother I fly so I don't take my dog, but there's still family at home so they watched my GSD for those trips. I usually need a petsitter coming anyway though, to medicate my cats. Bianca my GSD would get depressed when I was gone so I tried having my petsitter walk her hoping it would help that. I think it did a little.
 
#19 ·
I don't need reviews from people I trust, I need to go there, like it, like the owners, and know my dog likes it. Trust your own opinion. If you think it's weird they don't let you come by unannounced and have such tight visiting hours (which I agree is odd) then I'd consider elsewhere or talk to them about your concerns. When we go on vacation a petsitter comes to care for my cats and degus, but Sookie requires so much exercise and attention I know we will have her stay at her daycare when we go away next. She loves it! I'm attaching some pics of the place so you can see what I mean when I say it's small, their house is *right* there, and the stalls are awesome :)
 

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#22 ·
there's day care/boarding place near me. they have a webcam setup throughout
the building and yard. they also have a phone setup that projects your voice.
you can call your dog. you let them know when you're calling and they bring
your dog to the phone.
 
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