Boarding for 4 nights

[Itims]

Hi all,

We will need to board Biba for 4 nights this week. The facility is recommended by a friend and we have visited and checked it out. 

One of our friends (another doodle owner) will check in on her and pick her up for us, since we will get back after pick-up hours. She has stayed away from us on 2 occasions (with friends and once at a hospital). Both times she was fine and even happy to go back to the hospital for a followup. 

So my question is, does anyone have any guidelines/watchouts etc.

1. Should we give her own bedding/bowls/toys etc. or will that remind her of home/us?

2. I'm working from home this week to spend more time with her before she gets boarded. She has been with me from Friday through today with only 1-2 hours of being alone on the weekend. Should I not do that? 

Thanks!!

UPDATE:

We got Biba back on Sunday evening. She is eating well and her poop is also fine. Doesn't seem scared or clingy. No visible injuries, shes not dirty and only slightly smelly. So all in all, I think she had a good stay. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I would not go out of my way to spend extra time with Biba but just go about a normal routine. I think you need to ask the kennel about personal items and be prepared that you might not get everything back.

[DJ & Chance]

I think dogs live pretty much in the moment, and so staying home with Biba may not matter to Biba, but it might be important for you.  I would insist that the kennel accept at least one item that has scents Biba is familiar with.

[Itims]

Thanks, F and DJ. Yeah, the spending time is more for me than her I guess. She is very social and loves playing with other dogs more than anything in the world so she might even enjoy the experience.

I called the place and they are OK if I leave a personal item as long as I'm OK if it gets lost. 

[Wendy and Myla]

When we boarded Myla for a week (she was 11 months old), they asked that we not bring a "bed" as they found that dogs would destroy them and the stuffing be all over the place, even though the dog would never do that at home.  We brought DH's old coat that she always lays on when she's keeping DH company in the workshop.  When I put it in the kennel, she went right over to it and layed down.  We also brought one toy that she loves to chew on but I was kind of worried that another dog might take it and she would get upset as she had never been with so many dogs before but everything was fine and we did get her toy back!

[Jen W]

I boarded my 7-month old puppy for 2 weeks. After lots of research I picked a place that doesn't use kennels and has a staff member on site 24/7. They would not allow me to leave a personal item for her b/c they find that dogs get possessive (and thus aggressive) about "their" things. I checked in on her several times using their webcam and every time I looked she was having lots of fun playing with other puppies or snuggling with the workers.

I worried so much about leaving her there, but for no reason.

[Lynda Kamrath]

I would say just act like it is part of a regular routine and don't make too much of a fuss.  She will be fine and just very happy to see you when you get back.  Ask the kennel what you should bring with you.  Usually they recommend you bring the food she is used to eating.  They are very experienced with this, so go with their recommendations and just say goodby and walk away like it is something you do every day.  We have a dog staying with us now while her family is away in China and another dog coming is August while his family is on vacation in Germany.  They just fit right in like another member of the family.  The two doodles are wrestling behind me right now.  You will get used to it.

[Itims]

The kennel asked us to only bring her vaccination records/vet info, food, any medications (probiotics in our case) and if we want to, one tshirt / non-toy type of item if we want to have something familiar smelling there. (Biba is not possessive about toys so far)

They have cubicle/room type of kennels with a see-through door, and walls that don't go all the way up so daylight comes in all through. They do have 1 staff member who sleeps on site. The facility was clean, smelling fine, and felt a bit like a kindergarten with about 6 (2x3) hours of play time, 4 (2x2) hours of scheduled naps/down time in the day, and 5 potty breaks through the day. Play time is supervised by at least 3 employees, watching about 30 dogs at a time (thats what we observed when we dropped in)

I wish they had a webcam. There was another place that was as good and had a webcam but no one was on site from 8pm to 6am so we weren't sure. We have a friend whose doodle goes to daycare there 5 days a week and they will check in on Biba.

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I know she will enjoy it.. And hopefully, she will come back physically and mentally healthy and fine. I'm prepared for tiredness, dirtiness, smelliness, mats or tangles. I'll share any updates/notes, if anything odd happens. 

[Wendy and Myla]

Oh, I forgot about that - when we picked Myla up I wanted to bathe her so bad - she just smelled of a week of playing hard with other dogs - but she's not a huge fan of baths and I didn't want to spoil her homecoming so I held off until the next day! 

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I have never made a fuss of Peri going to boarding/daycare. She loves it there - I take her, say bye-bye and am outta there.  I do the same thing when I take my human daughter to daycare/school. It's not big deal - it's life :)  I stopped leaving a personal thing with Peri because she chewed it up!  Ha, story of our lives.