Dog Boarding Dilemma

[MrsDuck]

In July DH and I will be off to Vegas to visit his parents. Sadly, we will have to leave our 1.5 yo Rottie mix behind . This will be his first time being boarded except for his one month at the animal shelter before we took him home.

My issue: I don't want to leave him at a facility that's just going to put him in a cage and ignore him. I've started to look into "cageless" boarding at people's homes. I see good and bad in both type of boarding.

Any opinions on which option is best to go with? At this point, cost isn't too much of an issue- I just want him to be comfortable and safe.

 

[mrsstats]

What about a sitter coming into your home?

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Try to find a place with a happy medium. A lot of doggie boarding places and pet hotels give them their own "rooms" with their own runs, and gives them exercise time every day. It can actually be less stressful for them to have a smaller area to themselves where they can relax and feel protected. A dog allowed to run free with other dogs in someone's house might feel like the have to be on their guard 24/7.

 

[SLP958]

We have used vet boarding in the past. Now we only use a "dog daycare" facility. At the daycare place they are only in cages at night and have scheduled playtimes, toys, and a pool.


I feel so much better leaving them there. It is a little more expensive but my dogs are large and being in a cage for days has to be awful.

Have you visited some of the places? You may be very pleasently surprised.

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

We use a boarding facility and pay extra for playtime. There is also an option to pay doggie daycare while they are there so they are out of their kennel more but we don't ever pay for it.

Sent from iPhone

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

I know it's hard but we boarded our dog and he was just fine. The first time we did, I cried like a baby when we left, I just felt so mean. We found a place that had indoor/outdoor kennels runs for him. We live in Texas so we needed a place with AC. They also let the dogs out 3 times a day in a yard to play ball with them. Also, be sure to schedule a bath for him on pick up day.

Go and visit the place and see what it smells like. Granted, kennels will not be spring fresh, just make sure it doesn't smell like poop. Watch how they deal with dogs and bring your dog with for a visit.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

In July DH and I will be off to Vegas to visit his parents. Sadly, we will have to leave our 1.5 yo Rottie mix behind . This will be his first time being boarded except for his one month at the animal shelter before we took him home.

My issue: I don't want to leave him at a facility that's just going to put him in a cage and ignore him. I've started to look into "cageless" boarding at people's homes. I see good and bad in both type of boarding.

Any opinions on which option is best to go with? At this point, cost isn't too much of an issue- I just want him to be comfortable and safe.

First time I boarded my collies was 2 years ago for a weekend. It was at a place called Camp Bow Wow. The dogs have playtime with other dogs during the day and are in their own "suite" at night.

My one dog we had since puppyhood did great. Our rescue was stressed out. She wasnt mean but was nervous most of the weekend . By the time DH and I picked them up on Sunday , the rescue wasnt eating and had diarrhea.

This summer we may have to board them again. I found another kennel who keeps the dogs seperate from the others, though my 2 will be together. There are indoor/ outdoor runs. The kennel is at her house so the owner is there all the time.
She let me visit and took me for a tour. While talking to her after the tour, I guess she could tell I was still nervous, so she told me I could bring the dogs to stay with her sometime before our trip to see how they do.

I will still be nervous but she seems like a very caring person. She has 6 bull-mastiffs she keeps in her house.

Talk to people, ask around, talk to "dog people". Thats how I found the kennel I will eventually use.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We use the service at the vet's. Works great for us.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

We board with our vet where the dogs have large indoor/outdoor runs (They share a run because the border collie needs to be near the GSD.) Honestly, the dogs get really, really excited when they see we are going to the vet. The moment we walk in, they are both happy and bouncing around. The kennel folks come out and from that moment forward, I might as well be chopped, raw broccoli as far as the dogs are concerned.

I've started calling it "doggie away camp" because that's how our dogs seem to feel about it. They get to be around other dogs and new people and get to have all sorts of new experiences.

So no, I have no guilt. A little pain when I see the bill. But no guilt.

 

[anniemck]

Mine stay home and the neighbor let him out in the morning and then puts him on our screened porch with food/water and one of his beds. Then in the afternoon he lets him out again to play in the yard. Then before dark he puts him back in the house.
Harley is almost 9 years old, is a wonderful Lhasa Apso and we have had him for almost 7 years.

 

[SAT]

I have a co-worker stay in my home as a house/pet sitter.

 

[sjs314]

I have a larger dog, Golden Retriever and We board her at our local kennel. she has a large 2 room kennel half indoors, half outdoors. she has walks, playtime and evening treats which are extra but I feel worth the money.

 

[Wendy31]

When I was trying to find a kennel for our dog last summer, I found a really good smaller kennel.

I decided not to board our dog at our vet because, after talking to an employee, I realized that the dogs are basically left in their crates except for one scheduled play time. Additionally, at the end of the day when the vet office closes, there's no one there.

I called a couple of other larger, well known boarding & doggie daycare places in our area, &, while I think the facilities are fine, I didn't like how the dogs are closed in their crates around 7:00ish & then not let back out until the morning - although, again, the facilities were great & the employees seemed really nice as well.

Last summer, our dog was just a little over a year old, & I was worried that he wouldn't be able to last from 7 at night until the morning. (At home, he normally goes out for the last time around 9.)

Anyway, I found a boarding facility that was owned by a husband & wife. The husband is the son of a local vet, & the wife has been rescuing dogs her entire life. Their home was right next to a large barn which is what they use for the kennels. The barn has electricity w/ lighting & heating/air conditioning. Each dog has his/her own personal kennel inside the barn plus his/her own personal kennel space outside the barn, & the dogs can go in & out until 10:00 pm at night when they shut all the dogs inside their personal kennel space inside the barn. Two or three times daily, they take the dogs outside to a larger, fenced field area for general romp & play. Before they agreed to board our dog, they wanted to meet him to make sure he would "fit" in well w/ the other boarders & to assess his general health & appearance.

Anyway, to make this long story somewhat shorter, our dog apparently gets nervous/anxious when we leave him - this was the 1st time we had boarded him. And he got sick while we were away. They took him to our own vet to make sure he didn't have anything serious going on (& paid the vet bill). Additionally, they decided he was too nervous to leave in the barn, so she brought him into their house & fed him boiled chicken breasts, broth, & rice until he was better. Additionally, she bathed him each time he was sick.

So, while their facilities weren't as impressive or as nice as some of the other larger boarding facilities, we were so happy w/ them & the care they gave our dog.

They were also half the price of the larger kennels.

I'm not sure they'll ever take him again though due to his anxiety issues! LOL! He's stayed w/ my parents & has mostly been fine. However, now my parents have a cat, so I'm not sure what we're going to do when we go out of town next. We will probably try to get DH's nephew to stay at our house.

Anyway, I was really impressed w/ this smaller boarding facility - I guess it was kinda like a home based daycare. LOL! I also like the idea of having someone come stay at our house.

 

[bekkiz]

We use one like mentioned above, where he in his own room/suite at night but spends the days in a few huge play yards with all of the other dogs. My dog LOVES "doggie camp" and gets so excited when we pull into the driveway! It is hard the first time, but if you find a place you trust, it will all be fine.

 

[MaggieBailey]

Mine stay home and the neighbor let him out in the morning and then puts him on our screened porch with food/water and one of his beds. Then in the afternoon he lets him out again to play in the yard. Then before dark he puts him back in the house.
Harley is almost 9 years old, is a wonderful Lhasa Apso and we have had him for almost 7 years.

I had to respond to this because we have a 9 year old Lhasa (and 2 other fur babies!) and she is a doll! They are the bes<3

 

[jsmith]

Your vet maybe able to refer you to a facility-my last dog boarded at a kennel where the dogs were in idividual runs during the day and then had a huge wood lot where they got play time-he LOVED that place. Additionally she had amazing groomers and his groomer cried as hard when we had to put him down as we did.
Current dog goes to stay with my Son and DIL or his breeder when we travel where he cant go-which is rare.

 

[horseshowmom]

I have had very good experience with PetSmart's Doggie Daycare/PetsHotel. I just makes sure I get the package that allows them the most playtime.

I live out in the middle of nowhere but have to go to our state's capital fairly often. They have one there, and he literally pulls at his leash to go in each morning. Someone is on staff all night.

In my case, it works out great because most of the time I keep him at the hotel with me. They have pick up until 9:30 so I have time to go out to dinner or whatever. Sometimes I do have to leave him overnight, and it has worked out great.

Nothing but good things to say about them. I also saw that Petco is opening some facilities as well.

 

[berryinDC]

We have a 3 year old Lab and we travel a lot. We've done dog sitters and cageless boarding. What worked for boarding was having her visit the day care facility a couple of times before so it felt familiar. And taking her back for brief visits so she stopped freaking out and associating it with only being left for days on end. Now she loves going. She was in a room on her own once though, and hated it.

A professional sitter is more expensive (daily rate) than the boarding options near us, but often ends up being cheaper overall because we're not paying for extra days/hours at the beginning an end of our trip when our flight times don't match the pick up and drop off times at boarding. Especially for smaller places, definitely check their availability window.

 

[Julia M]

We put our dog in careless boarding. Dogs are separated into areas for small and large dogs. They are brought out separately to be fed. You can request the dog be crated at night.

They do require a visit before you are allowed to board, to confirm your dog will be okay with other dogs.

 

[AndyLL]

I picked a doggy day care facility that also did overnight boarding for our 2 goldens.

They get 4-6 hours playtime outside which means they do nothing but sleep when in their kennels.

Some of the higher end ones have cameras where you can watch your dogs.

For shorter trips ( 2 nights ) we have our pet sitter come in 3 times a day.

Be careful of boarding your dogs in a pet sitters home. They often have multiple dogs and their is no guarantee someone will be supervising all the time.

My wife occasionally boards dogs ( she is a pet sitter ) but we will only have one families dog at a time.