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Worried About Leaving Dogs In Kennels

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jeffmack

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We decided this year it would be nice to take a week holiday overseas as we have not had one since we got the dogs 4 years ago. Our 5 year old whippets have never slept anywhere apart from home so we are a bit nervous about leaving them in kennels.

Has anyone gone through the same experience.

Also I live in the Dartford , Kent area, if anyone has recommendations for kennels please let me know.

Thanks
 
We had to leave ours in kennels 2 1/2 years ago for four days to attend my God daughters wedding in France. Gracie was only 6 months and Jo, her breeder, kindly agreed to have her so she was fine. Tilly and Piip went into lovely kennels not far from where we live. They both had to have the puffer up the nose against kennel cough but all their vaccs were up to date. When we came back and collected them, they had both lost weight and Tilly had kennel cough which Pip subsequently caught and both ended up on anti-biotics. :( They have now installed webcams so that owners can view their dogs which is fine except that if I saw any of my dogs fretting, I'd be on the first plane home from wherever I was. I hated leaving my dogs, even though we paid for them to have 'superior' accommodation and they had each other. Unless I had a trusted doggy friend that I could leave mine with (and that's difficult with multi dogs) I would not consider going away without them. Having said all that, I'm an idiot about all my animals and drive my husband bonkers! :wacko:

What I would say is go by recommendation and not just from one person, preferably someone you know, trust and who cares for their dogs as you do yours.

Wait to see if they tell you, prior to your dogs being booked in, that they need proof of up to date vaccs

Call without an appointment and ask to see the kennels there and then

Ask about the type of bedding they use and whether you can take your own

I also insist on my dogs (and cats) being fed what they have at home and I provide it as they don't routinely stock the brand

They should have good secure on site exercise facilities and be taken out at least once a day

The kennels we used are heated and have piped music

There are probably things that I haven't mentioned that others will but good luck.
 
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We've used kennels once, when our whippets needed just 1 night's stay while we went to a funeral. The dogs seemed rather shocked by the experience, and it took a few days before they were back to normal. I think that being in a strange and noisy environment with lots of other barking dogs and alien smells, and only going for one brief walk a day was too much of a shock to the system, although I suppose they'd get used to it after some time.

For longer periods we've used house sitters a couple of times (we used Animal Angels), and the people we had were excellent. For 5 nights last year it worked out at around £50 a day including travel costs, and that meant the dogs could be in their own beds, eat their own food, go on their usual walks etc. so when we came home they were perfectly happy and healthy. Although £50/day seems quite expensive the kennel alternative was something like £35-£40/day for 3 dogs, so it's not such a huge difference. We were initially concerned about having strangers staying in the house, but the agency sends the sitters down to meet you beforehand, so you can decide whether you like them, and the agency has also vetted, CRB checked them, and insured them. Some household insurance agencies prefer you to use house-sitters rather than leaving the house empty.

Of course if you have friends who can house-sit for your holiday week then that's probably even better.

jeffmack said:
We decided this year it would be nice to take a week holiday overseas as we have not had one since we got the dogs 4 years ago. Our 5 year old whippets have never slept anywhere apart from home so we are a bit nervous about leaving them in kennels.
Has anyone gone through the same experience.

Also I live in the Dartford , Kent area, if anyone has recommendations for kennels please let me know.

Thanks
Click to expand...
 
Hi, you sound just like me!! I'm totally paranoid about leaving mine, so I never have. Have been married 45 years and we've never had a holiday unless it was to where we could take the dogs with us. They have never had a night away from their home. Once, a few years ago we had to go away, to stay in a hotel for my son's wedding. Almost considered not going, but knew I'd never get away with that!

decided to get a house sitter, met a girl, recommended by a friend, had her to the house to explain my rigid rules and introduce the dogs. She promised to stay with them, only go home to exercise her own dogs, and only take mine out for walks on their leads.

When we got home all seemed OK, though surprised the dogs seemed stressed and anxious. She told me they had a lovely time, though my neighbours told me she was hardly ever there and I found out she'd loaded the dogs into her own car.. no cages... and taken them to her house, about 10 miles away, picked up her own dogs... 3 rottweilers!!!... and took them all on the beach and let them off the lead "TO play"... My whippies were 17 and 18lbs, and one 20lbs versus 3 rotties !!! To say I was shocked and horrified comes nowhere near it!!.

So, dont know what the answer is, even though you try so hard to do the right thing for you dogs, you can never guarantee results. All I would say is, like others have said, research ,ask, get nosy only rely on really trusted recommendations..... or be like me.., a bit of a hermit, my husband says, who has many grand ideas of going to France.... personally I'll stick to Cornwall!!!Good luck
 
. or be like me.., a bit of a hermit, my husband says, who has many grand ideas of going to France.... personally I'll stick to Cornwall!!!Good luck

THANKYOU :thumbsup: I feel so much better that I'm not the only one who refuses to go abroad or anywhere that doesn't accept our clean, well-behaved and utterly gorgeous hounds!!!! :teehee:
 
Wow, sounds like you had a really bad house-sitter. I'd be furious about that and demand some sort of compensation.

The agency we used has a written policy for their sitters - they have 2 hours "off duty" per day, when they can leave the dogs & house, which seems fair enough to me (if they're there for any time then they need to do some shopping, visit the bank etc etc). If there's some specific arrangement of crates or rooms which the dogs have to be left in then I assume they would comply. I suppose that's the advantage of using a dog/house-sitting agency, that they have a stated policy which the sitters have to comply with, and you have some comeback if it's not all done to plan. The downside of course is that the agency adds a commission to the cost.
 
Thank you for all the suggestions and sharing your experiences. I think initially I will look at house sitters as I dont think my 2 spoilt brats will be happy in kennels. Now need to convince the wife about having strangers staying in the house.
 
How many whippets have you altogether, because if more than 1 they do keep each other company.

I dont like large kennels with lots of dogs, so I leave mine in one Ive used for a long time now...she only has room for

about 20 dogs and its much quieter and the dogs are fine with it..and also they share a large kennel and share beds so seem

quite happy now being left, and can assure you my 4 are pampered too at home with their own room and sofa bed to sleep on.

I personally think it does them good now and then, and they appreciate coming home again.

I wouldnt knock getting a house sitter, there arnt many round here, but Im sure someone living in your own house can bring

its own problems too, but I suppose that will depend on who you get.

Good luck
 
I live on my own, well I live with my two dogs, So I realised that their will be times I have to leave them. I looked round the kennels within a reasonable distance. One I knew very well as they run the training classes we go to and was quite happy with the staff and arrangemts but wanted a second option just in case. I started by putting them in for two nightsm then took careful note of the dogs reaction when we went to the kennels after. Both dogs were happy to walk in and greeted the staff. I have since had them in both kennels I liked and had the same reaction on taking them back, as both kennels have a shop attached its easy to take them in a day or so after I got them back. My reasoning is the dogs were there all the time and would react in accordance with how they were treated. As I said in our case they both reacted positivly.
 
I use sitters which for 7 is cheaper than kennels but if you have only two, you could also look at boarding them privately. There is someone on the Whippet Forum who takes in whippets which live in the house with hers (sorry, I've forgotten her name).

Gay

www.moonlake.co.uk
 
If I have to leave mine I use Centre Barks, they are a franchise and have a good standard of care across the group, my two sleep in the house there at night and have a stable to rest in during the day when not out playing with the medium sized dogs in a fenced in 4 acre field.

They have their own blankets and their own food and milk and a big plus for me is that the kennel cough vac is preferred but not necessary. Kennel cough vac is horrible to give, squirted up the nose, the dogs don't like it, and it is not effective, so mine don't have it. The staff are kind and knowledgable and the dogs are happy there so if there is one near you give it a try for a day to see if you and the dogs like it.

Good luck :)
 
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