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Originally Posted by WicketWWarrick
Hi all. Thought I'd toss in my thoughts on boarding facilities. Now, Friskyfemme, I don't know what sort of facility you used, so this may not really be applicable to your situation. Even so, I wanna toss this out.
I will not board my dog at a facility that is not devoted primarily to boarding. I worked at a vet clinic for 10 years. I don't wowrk there anymore, but several times boarded my jack russell there. I believe that she was ignored, yelled at - abused might not be too strong a word. The kennel folks - who I knw well because they were there when I worked there, told me how awful my dog was. The last time I boarded her there, much like friskyfemme's expereince, it took her weeks to recover. I was really afraid they had done permanent harm.
I asked around to see if other folks could recommend a good facility. One place in particular got quite a few mentions so I checked them out. The facility is a bit out of town, but they will come pick up your dog and then bring them back home. The facility is on farmland. The dogs there are assigned a primary care-giver, who gives a great deal of one-on-one time to the dogs. They are taken on long walks, taken to fenced in areas where they can run and play. The goal of the facility is to take the best care of the dogs as they can. They have my business as long as I am in the area - when Norah is brought back home you wouldn't know that she had boarded - zero anxiety.
I used to think that it was important to board where there was a vet clinic. I now believe that is not in your dog's best interest. I highly recommend boarding someplace where boarding is the primary service. Your dog will thank you.
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Hi, Wicket W. Warrick.
You make a really good point and it makes a lot of sense to me. At a vet clinic the focus would be on taking care of animals that come in for appointments and for the sick animals that are staying there overnight. It makes sense that since the primary mission of the facility is to take care of sick animals, that the healthy boarding animals could be unconsciously lost in the shuffle.
However, reading about how Norah was most likely treated hurt my heart. Not paying as much attention to the boarders in an unconscious way (due to the main mission of the facility being something else), is one thing, being unkind is another. I am so sorry that Norah may have not been treated well.
I, personally, am very fortunate that I have two neighbors who take care of my guy if I am gone for an overnight (they come next door and hang in my house for a few hours, put my guy in their yard, take him for LONG
, etc.) and I have retired parents that will watch him when I go away for several days. I am very, very lucky.
It sounds like the place you found now is utterly fantastic. I can imagine how glad you are to have found that place.
On a related note....after my dog's first full day of daycare yesterday, he was falling asleep on the way home while STANDING UP (strapped into his seat belt, of course!) I would say that he had fun!
I actually had an interview set up for him at another doggie daycare for this morning, but due to snow in rush hour traffic (and I didn't need to go out of the house for any other reason), I decided to wait and do it next week. There is nothing wrong with the first daycare, it is just that it is a new facility and there are not too many small dogs for him to play with, so I was considering somewhere else (yesterday there were 7 dogs there...I think that 3-4 dogs is a more common. The other place usually has about 20 dogs, per the receptionist).
Again, I am so glad that Norah now has a safe and fun place to go and that your heart can be at peace when you send her there!