Kenneling - Page 1

I was curious what folks do with their dogs when away on vacation. Ideally, one takes the dog on vacation, but its not always possible. Do you put them in commercial dog boarding. How do the dogs take it ?...how many days is reasonable. How long can you put the dog, before it affects them psychologically.

Vacation..... sigh... I don't remember what that's like.

On the other side of the coin, I have a friend boarding her 2 dogs with me for the next year due to deployment and have had
other long term boards. Being boarded for an extended period does not affect them psychologically IF and the key word is IF
the place you board them at challanges them mentally every day and gives them the physical activity they need. These 2 dogs
have toys that are changed out continually, are walked and run just the same as if they were my own. They are allowed to run,
play and join our family on outings (to the lake and such) as if they were ours. When the weather is feasible, they take 4 wheeler
runs also.

I think it is more a matter of are you boarding with a conventional kennel that houses 50 +/- dogs on a regular basis or are you
boarding with someone who doesn't take more then 2-5 clients at a time. The smaller the facility, the more one on one time your
dog will have with a person.

When we do eventually go away on vacation, 2 of ours will be left with one friend, 2 with another and the last at the vet because
she is a notorious escape artist, along with the 2 that I am keeping for my friend. That's just me though. All my friends are dog
people, so that makes it easier :)

Melissa

I personally would board with our trainer, or with the pup's breeder. They both offer boarding, plus I trust them with my dogs. We do have an awesome luxury pet boarding in our area, and I know the woman personally, and if I didn't board with our trainer or breeder, then they would definately be there. She's just as picky as I am about the dogs wellbeing.

We have had to board the dogs more than we normally would this year due to an illness/death in the family.  We board 2 of the dogs with the trainer I work with, they get lots of work and stimulation.  I have boarded dogs with him for 10 - 12 weeks when I was injured and unable to care for them.  The other dogs stay with a friend who runs a small boarding kennel.  They live right there, her son plays with the dogs and they are treated just like family.  In fact one of my GSD girls actually goes in the house and plays with their dogs. 

We just made an overseas move and had to send our dogs (and cat, but he's so easygoing he's not relevant for this) to a kennel ahead of us.  It's a boarding facility that family uses for occasional day/overnight boarding and the owners were very helpful and accomodating for our circumstances. 
We did check on them when we arrived, but the owners suggested that we not come every day (we really wanted to because we missed them) as it could have been confusing/stressful for them to see us, but not go with us.  We kept in frequent contact with the owners via phone, though.  By the time we arrived, obtained housing, and picked them up, they'd been there for three weeks.

My Lab did fine and other than being ecstatic to see us again, was her usual self.  The GSD didn't handle it as well.  She lost a little weight and for the first two days back with us wouldn't eat.  She slept A LOT and if she hadn't perked up and regained her appetite by the end of day 2, I'd already planned to take her to the vet just for good measure.  Fortunately, it wasn't necessary as she started eating again as things returned to our 'normal' (ie. walks, ball time, etc).  By about the 4th day, she was totally back to normal.  No long lasting trauma, but not something I'd want to repeat.

All of this to say that I think a lot depends on the dog's personality.  Ideally, we'd never have to board them, but it was unavoidable this time.  We've forgone doing a lot of things because we haven't wanted to board the dogs and this was just confirmation that we're not too far off base - at least regarding the GSD.  If we can't have family/friends watch them we just opt to skip some things (barring a major move or something).

Good luck.


 

If I ever go on holiday I'll place my dogs in a kennel/boarding facility that the trainer I use runs - have you ever been to a dog boarding facility that's quiet (no barking dogs)? His is... At the same time like in Judy P's case - they will get additional attention and training from a pro.

I'm actually thinking about sending my 14 month old for couple of weeks on "boarding holidays" by himself to get rid off some of that 'I love my mommy very much" behavior.
I think that some separation from me would do him good (he's with me 24/7)...



 
 

What everyone here said, either my breeder who has kennels and also trains (bootcamp!) or the trainer at one of the SchH clubs I am going to check out also has boarding. Thankfully. Can't remember the last time I took a vacation and how many times I have said can't go _____ for the weekend, dogs...

jra
thanks, for recounting your long term experience. My 6 month old was left for a weekend and he came back quite sober..

  I  have never boarded any of my dogs, as they all go with me everywhere , by trailor and truck and accross the usa together..WHERE I go they go or have gone.

  I make arrangements to stay with breeders, friends with gsd, or places where I am known with my dogs...

  I board all or any of the pups, adult grown gsd I sold over the years with me.. I have several that have had very very bad results in kennels and boarding even at their beloved vets .

 THe vet doesn't see to the dogs,   employees do and often night time part time employess with little or no experience just keepers of the cleaning and feeding ..

 NOT good with our kinds of gsd.

  Most of mine  are kept by training people of the ones I do not board.

  My family take turns now, making sure they are all cared for If I go off for a day or two.

  I am retired from all but the boarding and do keep that going as long as possible.

 YR

Mine are split between friend, kennel/trainer, and someone coming to the house. Since I now have 3 puppies in addition to 3 adult dogs, they get split up. The two adult males go on their "vacation" at a friends to vist their best dog friend. The puppies and their mom are staying at home with a friend coming twice a day; I figured this was the best option with puppies. -------- sometimes we use our trainer; especially if one or more of the dogs needs some intense training review.