I posted this in the doggie hotel thread at the Resorts board, but wanted to let other people learn from our terrible mistakes:
This is just a word of advice for those boarding your pets at a kennel/doggie b&B at home while traveling:
Make sure you get everything in writing from the kennel, relating to your dog's care. This includes things like feeding the dog, providing prompt veterinary care, not giving them treats like rawhide (that they can choke on) and providing individual cages. It sounds so obvious that you'd think you wouldn't need to do it, but, sadly, we've learned from our own terrible experiences that you do indeed need to do so.
We boarded our dogs Molly & Moo at a local boarding facility on a recent 4 day trip. We were traveling for business, not pleasure, and we thought we could trust the kennel we chose. They were fully ABKA accredited, air conditioned, etc. We had toured the facilities and hadn't noticed a problem.
Unfortunately, both of our dogs were killed while we were on vacation, because the kennel was full and decided to put several dogs in each stall, instead of the individual kennels that we'd asked for and reserved. This was completely against our knowledge & wishes; we know how dangerous it is to leave dogs together, unattended. Poor Molly was killed the first day, and we don't even know when, because the kennel staff said they didn't even notice her screaming. They left her body on the floor of her kennel for 5 hours, after they did notice her, because they said that they thought she was past the point of medical attention by then.
Moose was injured and suffered a heat stroke (I guess at some point they had put him outside & left him there?) They did eventually take him to the veterinarian, but it was so bad that we had to have him put to sleep when we did return. The kennel didn't even bother to call us to notify us until 3 days after Molly had died.
And then they tried to stick us with Moo's veterinary bill, because they didn't have anything in writing from us, signed by them, that requested individual kennels not group kenneling. This, despite the fact that we had requested individual kennels, and despite the fact that, as ABKA members, they are required to provide individual sleeping spaces for each boarded pet.
Their insurance company turned down the claim & found them not liable, because we didn't have anything in writing that was signed by them guaranteeing individual kennels, though we did have their Pet Owners' Bill of Rights that said they would provide such. Apparently this is worthless unless it's signed by a kennel worker? That's what Travelers insurance company said, anyway.
We had a friend who did have a signed agreement from the kennel she left her dog at to keep rawhide away from him. They gave him rawhide, he choked & died, but they stuck her with the veterinarian bill because, while she had left written instructions with them, she didn't keep a copy for herself. They just destroyed the written instructions they gave her, and she, too, never got an apology.
For dogs, they're considered property. Our 2 were pound puppies, so worth about $70 each, not enough for us to even go to court about. We did speak to a lawyer, but he told us there was nothing he could do, without a signed agreement from the kennel.
Anyway, the point of this long & rambling e-mail is that, as a pet owner, it is in your best interest & in your pet's best interest to have a copy of signed care instructions when you board them, even with a veterinarian's office. If we had it to do over, we would print out the ABKA Bill of Rights, have the kennel sign, and then keep that signed copy. Something like this might have at least given us the leverage to get an apology, something the kennel owner refused to give us. To this day, she has been nothing but nasty about killing our 2 dogs, and she has shown no remorse whatsoever.
May all of your pups be safe,
Heather W
This is just a word of advice for those boarding your pets at a kennel/doggie b&B at home while traveling:
Make sure you get everything in writing from the kennel, relating to your dog's care. This includes things like feeding the dog, providing prompt veterinary care, not giving them treats like rawhide (that they can choke on) and providing individual cages. It sounds so obvious that you'd think you wouldn't need to do it, but, sadly, we've learned from our own terrible experiences that you do indeed need to do so.
We boarded our dogs Molly & Moo at a local boarding facility on a recent 4 day trip. We were traveling for business, not pleasure, and we thought we could trust the kennel we chose. They were fully ABKA accredited, air conditioned, etc. We had toured the facilities and hadn't noticed a problem.
Unfortunately, both of our dogs were killed while we were on vacation, because the kennel was full and decided to put several dogs in each stall, instead of the individual kennels that we'd asked for and reserved. This was completely against our knowledge & wishes; we know how dangerous it is to leave dogs together, unattended. Poor Molly was killed the first day, and we don't even know when, because the kennel staff said they didn't even notice her screaming. They left her body on the floor of her kennel for 5 hours, after they did notice her, because they said that they thought she was past the point of medical attention by then.
Moose was injured and suffered a heat stroke (I guess at some point they had put him outside & left him there?) They did eventually take him to the veterinarian, but it was so bad that we had to have him put to sleep when we did return. The kennel didn't even bother to call us to notify us until 3 days after Molly had died.
And then they tried to stick us with Moo's veterinary bill, because they didn't have anything in writing from us, signed by them, that requested individual kennels not group kenneling. This, despite the fact that we had requested individual kennels, and despite the fact that, as ABKA members, they are required to provide individual sleeping spaces for each boarded pet.
Their insurance company turned down the claim & found them not liable, because we didn't have anything in writing that was signed by them guaranteeing individual kennels, though we did have their Pet Owners' Bill of Rights that said they would provide such. Apparently this is worthless unless it's signed by a kennel worker? That's what Travelers insurance company said, anyway.
We had a friend who did have a signed agreement from the kennel she left her dog at to keep rawhide away from him. They gave him rawhide, he choked & died, but they stuck her with the veterinarian bill because, while she had left written instructions with them, she didn't keep a copy for herself. They just destroyed the written instructions they gave her, and she, too, never got an apology.
For dogs, they're considered property. Our 2 were pound puppies, so worth about $70 each, not enough for us to even go to court about. We did speak to a lawyer, but he told us there was nothing he could do, without a signed agreement from the kennel.
Anyway, the point of this long & rambling e-mail is that, as a pet owner, it is in your best interest & in your pet's best interest to have a copy of signed care instructions when you board them, even with a veterinarian's office. If we had it to do over, we would print out the ABKA Bill of Rights, have the kennel sign, and then keep that signed copy. Something like this might have at least given us the leverage to get an apology, something the kennel owner refused to give us. To this day, she has been nothing but nasty about killing our 2 dogs, and she has shown no remorse whatsoever.
May all of your pups be safe,
Heather W
I am so sorry for your loss of your pets. 
