Dog Boarding

[Kim]

A few weeks ago we had to attend an out of state funeral, so we had to find a place for Allie to stay overnight.  I wanted to take her with us and find an overnight place for her to stay so we weren't 5 hours away from her, we called the place that we normally have Allie attend Doggie Daycare when we are there.  They told us it would be too late to drop her off for the night we planned on arriving (around 7pm), then told us that no one is there with the dogs overnight!  We ended up finding a hotel that was dog friendly, so she was able to stay overnight with us and she attended doggie daycare during the day.  There is always someone in each daycare room during the day (you can watch on the webcam).  My Husband was very surprised to learn that there isn't anyone at the site overnight, and says Allie will never stay at a boarding facility overnight (what if there were a fire).  Is this practice normal?   I plan on going on vacation eventually, just the two of us (LOL) and would hate for this to become a big issue.  I guess if we had to, we could find someone to take care of her, but I was under the assumption that she would be better taken care of at a boarding facility.  Any thoughts?

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

This is how Dogtopia is - where Peri does daycare and where we board her. I dropped her off this morning and asked (because I couldn't remember) how long they are there alone at night. We are boarding her next weekend. They said they leave around 10:30 and are back by 5am. This just doesn't concern me too much because of the crazy alarm systems they have. For instance, there was a flood here in May and overnight Camp Bow Wow flooded. Their owners got the dogs out and to Dogtopia in the middle of the night for safety.
I agree with Leslie that the webcam, alarms, and all day play makes me feel comfortable.

[Kashmir and Joanie]

We are going to have to board Kashmir at Thanksgiving as we are going for a long weekend with all my family and the place isn't dog friendly. So I had known my Animal Hospital did boarding so I called them to find out, thinking we would leave her there since we really like the vet and staff. Well that was not the case, they only board real small animals and then I found out they are kenneled. But..... they gave me a name of a girl who had worked there and now has a place that she takes in dogs for boarding. So we checked her out and actually left Kashmir there for a couple of hours while we did some errands to see if everyone would get along. The girl was very nice, she lives right there on the premises. The building the dogs stay in each have there own room, half way walls and a door that latches. We can also bring her bed and toys. There is a place inside where they can play with the other dogs and also have an outside fenced in area. We really lucked out I think! She charges 30 dollars a day and nothing extra for the holiday, which I was expecting. The only thing is, this will be the first time we have left her overnite, so I'm stressing that a little bit, but I know she will have a good time, especially since she is dying to play with others!!!

[Kim]

That sounds like a great find!!! I'm hoping to find something like that.

[Sally]

Duncan and I LOVE our pet services. I have even become really close friends with the owner. (How could i not when Duncan is their favorite client). They started as part of a franchise called Fetch! but went off on their own recently as the franchise wasn't fulfilling their promises.

Duncan can have his sitter come sleep here at night when i go away. It's not cheap. I pay about $60 a night but it includes a pre-dinner walk. feeding dinner, a bedtime walk and a morning walk and feeding breakfast. I then schedule a couple more walks during the day for him. He really is most comfortable in his own surroundings. If i have to be gone more than a couple of days he can go to a sitter's home. Sleep in their bed and live just as comfortably as if he were home. I can choose a home with or without other dogs. I've even become and boarder for the company. We had a consultation with Harry a goldendoodle yesterday. The family will be leaving Harry with us overnight when they go to a wedding out of state.
And in November Carly comes to stay while her family goes to Disney World. I think it is good for Duncan too to learn how to "share" his territory. But obviously not everyone can shell out $60-80 a night. But if you can it really is better than a facility i think. Of course there are some dogs who really couldn't care less if they are kenneled for 12 hours a night. Duncan would probably have a heart attack. He's a bit high-maintenance.

[Kim]

That's also another great idea! I have never heard of anything like that!

You are right - there are some dogs who could care less if they are kenneled for 12 hours alone, I didn't start this discussion as a debate topic. So I feel kind of bad about it sort of becoming one. I am not telling anyone they are bad dog parents for sending their dog to an overnight kennel without staff. I'm saying that there is no way I would be able to have a stress free vacation knowing there is no one there, along with the fact that Allie is not the type of dog that would be ok with that. I will just do some researching other options before we go on vacation, or we will bring her with us - not a big deal!

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

If you go on vacation anywhere in the South, drop Allie off and Webber, Seda and I will let her sleep in the bed with us!

[Kim]

LOL, thanks Linda!!!

[Suzann, Rosey & Bandit]

Our doggie daycare is the same way, everyone leaves at 6pm and no one comes back until 6am. I too have always wondered about some tragic incident like a fire. Some dogs I guess do just fine, being in the kennels. I think R&B would have nervous breakdowns, and I know I would!! We have only had to board them one night but that was at a lady's home and someone is always there and they have free run of the house. We are trying to plan a trip to TX and I think we will either take them back there or have their sitter stay overnight.

good luck, it's a hard issue!! -

BTW, have you asked any of the workers at daycare if they dogsit? a lot of our staff does and that is where I found their current "sitter".. He does yard work too!!

[Camilla and Darwin]

We take Darwin to Camp Bow Wow, like others. It is only 30 dollars a night for us, and that includes daycare the day you drop him off AND the day you pick them up. Which means you could drop them off at 9am on a Saturday, pick them up 9pm on a Sunday, and only pay 30 dollars for one night of boarding. Darwin LOVES their daycare, during the summer they even have kiddie pools set up. During overnight boarding they give the dogs peanut butter stuffed kongs and pet and talk to them a little before bed, which I think is a nice extra.

Also, during the day they have a webcam for the daycare dogs, which I love watching. It's fun to see Darwin playing. The dogs are alone from 10:00 to around 5:30. I called them and they told me about their alarm systems for fire, break ins, etc, that automatically call the fire and police department. I wasn't extremely happy about him being alone overnight, but I called every daycare business in my area and leaving them alone is standard. This also holds true for the vets in my area. If at all possible we just take Darwin on our trips... but sometimes you just don't have another option.

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

It's $44/night for a single dog at our Camp Bow Wow! We get a 2nd dog discount so it's $40/dog for the 2 of ours. Darn NJ prices!!

[Camilla and Darwin]

yep, although they just raised the price to 33 dollars now that I look at the site. Still a great deal. Daycare is 22 dollars a day but usually they have a deal that brings it down to 15. And a bath is 11, all of which is great!