Boarding Dog?

[dawz1026]

I need advice. I am the owner of a precious Yorkie who I have been lucky enough to keep home during vacations and have family stay with him. However this has changed. My options now are keep him home and have a neighbor/friend feed,play and let him out but he will be alone a lot. Or board him for his first time at a pretty upscale pet hotel (very costly). Do dogs get anxious in new enviornments? Will I cause too much distress? ugh he is family and I need to hear from others their opinion and what they do with their pets..

 

[FormrCastMbr]

I have a Shih Tzu that has stayed with family and also has been boarded. I have had good experiences with both (and he is attached at the hip to me when I am home). All dogs are different. What I would do in your situation is have your dog spend the day there and see how he/she reacts.

 

[pumba]

we board our baby (6 year old Dalmatian) when we go to Disney and sometimes we have to do it if we are having a large gathering at our home. I did a lot of calling around and asked our vet for recommendations....Go and bring your baby with you ....visit the kennels. Our kennel is a great place and they play in a large enclosure during the day with a caretaker. One on One..most kennels do not allow them to be in the same space with other animals......
We also know that the owners of our kennel are NOW Disney freaks like we are. But visit ..ask questions..let your baby spend a few hours or the day there......this is the only way you can be sure that it will be okey....
Being alone all day except to go potty and have someone feed them is not fair to your baby either......
Hope you find a good solution..

 

[DawnM]

My dogs are so much happier at home. When boarded they are mad at me for days and won't come over for attention. When staying at home they are not only happy to see me but want to spend time with me.

Dawn

 

[onelilspark]

We board our dog at the kennel attached to the vet. I feel better with him there. If anything happens, his doc is right there and they have all his files. Even at a kennel, they'll know how to help him. If he eats something at home, your neighbor that's taking care of him might not know what to do.

Really, I think it upsets us more than our pets.

 

[arminnie]

My dog is so social that he feels totally abandoned even with 3-4 visits a day if he is at home.

I have boarded dogs in kennels across the country (moved a lot). I always did a lot of research. I do not ever do cage boarding.

Another hint - if you have a cute friendly dog they will get attention all day long. One place that I used for years they asked me if it was okay if the grandson took him home for the night as he loved him so much. My dogs always get so happy to go into the kennel - never a backward look at me!

 

[DawnCt1]

I am going through the same questions with Connor. I have always had Jude and Connor's groomer take care of them when we were gone although I have never left Connor more than a night. I love his groomer, she is a wonderful person, but she has a lot going on in her life and the last time I left him with her, he looked "disheveled". Since then I have left him twice with a kennel about 30 minutes from me. The people live there. That was a big concern to me because if there is a fire or something bad happens, its good to know that the owners actually are on the premises 24 hours a day. They also liked Connor. He played nicely with their standard poodle. I mentioned that we are going on vacation next month to his legal owner and she was concerned that he would be in a kennel BUT she didn't know if she could keep him for a week. Oh well. Connor listens to me. He isn't on an invisible fence because he doesn't need to be and not being on the fence allows him to do his business in our woods. He won't always return to DSs when they call so I don't feel comfortable leaving him home. I also had a friend that offered to take him. She loves him, but she doesn't have a fenced in yard. I will send him to the kennel knowing he will at least be safe.

 

[arminnie]

Also for me in New Orleans the hurricane evacuation policy is EXTREMELY important. Most places ask for two people who could evacuate the dog, but make it very, very clear that they will NEVER leave a dog in an evacuation even if they cannot reach the contacts.

Unfortunately during Katrina there were way too many pets that were left. Most people thought they would be gone for a day or two and left some food and water - but it was weeks before people were allowed back in.

And are they very strict on vaccinations? I had to show my papers everytime. It was just so easy to miss a vaccination if they didn't check all the time.

 

[padams]

We use a boarding kennel with our dog. He loves going there and playing with the other dogs.

 

[jaminmd]

I had to board my dog last weekend for four nights & I'll never do it again. I had him on a webcam so I saw that he was safe but I missed him terribly.

Here is what bothered me, though. When I returned, I walked out back with the manager of the kennel to watch the dogs in doggie day care. The girl that was watching them was mean to them. She pushed them away & yelled at them when they were just being dogs. Beyond unfriendly - just plain mean. I wonder how she acts when the boss & customers aren't watching!

I told the manager that her employee made a very bad impression on me. The manager apologized for her employees behavior & said she'd speak with her about her behavior.

The dogs were doing nothing wrong. This girl (high teens or maybe twenty) doesn't belong working with children or animals. She was just nasty. Anyway, when I saw that, I felt terrible for the dogs. I know how much I love my dog & I'd be ticked if the person responsible for watching him pushed him away & yelled at him.

Since you have such a small dog, there are a lot of places that will accept him/her, even in the cabin of aircrafts. Sorry to be a Debbie downer, I just know how us dog people love our (spoiled rotten) animals.

 

[jsmith]

Dogs are by nature social animals-all canines ( wolves, foxes ect) are. Its actually better for them to kennel board them where they are around other dogs and humans all day than have someone come in and "visit" just to feed them and let them out-especially if you just have one-if you have two and a place where they can be outdoors most of the day so they dont have to "hold it" til the pet sitter can get there then i can see getting someone to come and care for them, partly because of the expense.
We always boarded our St Bernand-he was happy to get to the kennel-new smells-new dogs to get to know-and they had a huge wood lot they let the dogs who got along well with others out to play in for a couple of hours each day. He was also always glad to come home to his family-but then he was a pretty happy go lucky guy-we still miss him.

 

[Magalex]

We board our dog for vacations. It is a wonderful place & we had no problems with the kennel. I rather have professionals watch my dog for a peace of mind he will be safe.

 

[Angelhalo]

I think it depends on the temperment of your dog. Our dog is a lazy bum. We LOVE her but she does nothing but sleep during the day when we're not here. So having someone come over a ocuple of times per day would probably be just fine. She's probably prefer that over being stuck in some weird place with weird other dogs and locked up at night. Despite being a "social" animal due to being a dog, she's really not that interested in other dogs.

 

[quasar4legs]

We used to board our dog in a doggy hotel but she always came home sick. The kennel is well regarded, has a vet on site, extended play times etc and she even had her own room with a real bed, tv and out door terrace (yes we are crazy!!)

Bottom line is she got sick because she was fretting in a new environment.
The last 2 years we have had family members take care of her at home coming in and out morning and night and generally spending as much time with her as their schedules allow. Each day we organised for her to have 2 long walks so that she was extra tired and then she just pottered around the house as she usually does.

Our dog is now much happier when we are on vacation but she is the type of dog that is content to snooze on the lounge for most of the day and is only active in short bursts.

We are lucky because our extended family love our furbaby, I probably wouldn't be comfortable leaving her in the care of any of our neighbours.

Hope you can find something that works for your family.

 

[minkydog]

We take our old standard poodle Minky with us on about 1/2 of our trips, usually with the camper. He's pretty old now and he gets anxious in new situations. About 4 years ago we started boarding him for short periods with his groomer, whom he adores. We have never even considered having a pet-sitter for a couple reasons: He's old and needs to have access to the "bush" whenever he needs it and he gets anxious & frightend when left alone. Frankly, I'm afraid that he would bite someone if they tried to come in while we aren't here. And that goes double if there's a thunderstorm going on.

So he goes to the groomer and he's very happy there. One of the groomers stays with the dogs 24/7. Our groomer has 4 elderly collies to hang out with in their cage-free "family dog" room. They watch Disney DVDs during the heat of the day. She never puts Minky into the play yard with adult dogs, only the <1yo pups. There he can be the Big Dog On Campus. Those pups fall all over themselves when Minky walks through. He's very regal, like watching the Lion King or something. The adult dogs would just run him into the ground and he could really hurt himself trying to keep up with them. Minky has seizures sometimes and the groomer is very alert to that. She encourages us to call while we're gone and check on him. We have never had a problem--she even kept him for 2 months a couple years ago!

 

[houstonbch]

I am the proud Godfather of a Chorkie (Chihuahua/Yorkie mix), named Duke. We are lucky that we have not had to board him yet. He is small enough to travel easily to friends houses (and behaves quite well). No one has taken an extended trip, yet, but I assume there will always be family around to take care of him. If they leave town, and i stay behind, he can just stay with me. It's not the same as him being home, but I still think better than a kennel. Between myself and my roommate, someone is always home, so he would be short of attention.

I have seen some nice kennels, and know friends who use them. If the option was to leave him behind while everyone is out of town, I would much rather prefer he board than have someone simply stop in once a day to walk him and feed him. (I would hope they would visit longer and more than once a day, but I also know how people are.)

 

[DawnCt1]

We take our old standard poodle Minky with us on about 1/2 of our trips, usually with the camper. He's pretty old now and he gets anxious in new situations. About 4 years ago we started boarding him for short periods with his groomer, whom he adores. We have never even considered having a pet-sitter for a couple reasons: He's old and needs to have access to the "bush" whenever he needs it and he gets anxious & frightend when left alone. Frankly, I'm afraid that he would bite someone if they tried to come in while we aren't here. And that goes double if there's a thunderstorm going on.

So he goes to the groomer and he's very happy there. One of the groomers stays with the dogs 24/7. Our groomer has 4 elderly collies to hang out with in their cage-free "family dog" room. They watch Disney DVDs during the heat of the day. She never puts Minky into the play yard with adult dogs, only the <1yo pups. There he can be the Big Dog On Campus. Those pups fall all over themselves when Minky walks through. He's very regal, like watching the Lion King or something. The adult dogs would just run him into the ground and he could really hurt himself trying to keep up with them. Minky has seizures sometimes and the groomer is very alert to that. She encourages us to call while we're gone and check on him. We have never had a problem--she even kept him for 2 months a couple years ago!

I am glad that Minky is still doing well! Good for him being BMOC. (big man on campus)

 

[DisneyKT]

Have you thought about a pet sitter. My sister is a pet sitter and a Vet tech. She does this quite often. And if the other dog gets along with her pooch she keeps the dog with her. Sometimes she will stay at the owners house if they want.

Her vet recommends her to people. Maybe you could go through your vet for someone. Just a thought.

 

[minkydog]

I am glad that Minky is still doing well! Good for him being BMOC. (big man on campus)

Yeah, you know he tore up his ACL in June so he's had a rough summer. He's too old and decrepit to undergo surgery, so we just treat him with NSAIDS and try to keep him from running around much. Minky still struts his stuff.

 

[LuLuO]

We have boarded our dog twice in the last few months. She is a 12-14 year old rescue we adopted a couple of years ago. She did fine but she spent a lot of time in shelters so she is kind of used to it I think. I don't think I would leave her alone in the house and count on a family member or friend to be able to keep up with her schedule. I have a pet sitter who comes to the house to care for our cat and that works out well for the kitty, but I don't think it would work out well for the dog with needing to go outside often and all.

Another option would be a house sitter if you have a trusted friend or family member who could stay there with your doggie.