Boarding a shy dog

[MicheleMarie]

I'm going to London and Paris for about 10 days in December and would like to get some opinions on the type of boarding that would best suit my dog. A little about her...She'll be a year old on Dec 2nd and I think she's kinda small, about 60 - 65 pounds. She's acts shy around other dogs, but she absolutely loves people. I've taken her to a small dog park twice and she was much more interested in the people and never played with any of the dogs. She did walk after them quite a few times like she wanted to play, but just wasn't sure how. We've been to a large breed puppy play time at Petsmart twice and could go twice more before I leave. When there's only a few dogs around, she'll walk after them and sniff their butts, but if they try to sniff her for more than a 20 seconds, she tries to hide behind any people that might be around. If a larger dog tries to paw at her or jump on her, she'll show her teeth. We've been going to an obedience class once a week since I got her and she's okay with the dogs in her class (except the one that has barked at her since the very first day, she just ignores that one). So, I don't believe she is dog aggressive and she actually seems interested in playing with smaller dogs. We met a Boston Terrier puppy at a park and they got along great and chased each other around for an hour. Sorry to go on, but I wanted to give you some background. She takes so much supervision and I don't have any friends that I can ask to watch her for that long. I'm trying to decide between two boarding options - one place where she will spend most of her time in an indoor playroom with other dogs and another where she'd be in a run all day. The run has indoor and outdoor access and for $5 extra a day, she could be in the exercise yard with other dogs for two hours. I really like the set up of the first one because the dogs are inside day and night, except for potty breaks or weather permitting, they have an outside yard. They also have a doggy daycare, so I could take Duchess ahead of time and leave her for a day to see how things go. I wondered if this would be a good idea or not. Since she's been shy around other dogs, would I be asking for trouble if I took her to doggy daycare? Any thoughts?

[Judi W]

Most boarding is just that. Boarding and not play groups unless specifically requested or discussed. It is not the same as daycare. You need to ask the facility if they put multiple dogs in the exercise area and how they sort them out if that is what they do. Not all facilities do so.

[MicheleMarie]

I'm going to tour the facility that has the daycare, but I visited the website and they said the boarded dogs are kept in the indoor play area or supervised play with a friend. They're only put in their rooms if they're not getting along and at meal and bed time. They have indoor rooms that looked a little more homey and I liked the fact that they require a vet check within two weeks of boarding and proof that they're on flea meds or they'll give them some kind of flea capsule. It's a little more expensive, but they don't charge extra for the play time and since most of the other facitilties do, it doesn't work out to be all that much more. I guess I'm mostly concerned about leaving her alone and whether the other dogs will stress her out. There's going to be other dogs no matter where I board her.

[Judi W]

Yes, but if her doing well in a group is your concern and you believe that she might not do well, then don't select that for her.

If you make the decision to go on a trip, and your dog is going to be boarded, just select the best facility you can and go with it. Most have experienced people and do very well by the dogs and are quite safe. Relax.

[K-9Girl]

Just a thought.....here where I live there are a couple places that offer at home care, they will actually come to your home to care for your dog. If you are worried about how your dog will react around other dogs, look into this possibility....hope this may help some...:)

Sara

[poohbearsmom]

For me, the key things that I would help me in my choice of a boarding kennel are:

Experience the employees have dealing with dogs.

Hygiene.

Require UTD vacs on all dogs.

Adequate exercise.

Safe, secure facilities.

Maybe I'm a bit of a fuddy duddy, but, I really don't like the idea of my dog(s) playing with a group of strange dogs that I know nothing about, while I'm in Hawaii sipping umbrella drinks. I have no control over the situation, or how my dog is handled.

I'd rather know my dog is in a secure kennel, with adequate care... he doesn't care if his room is appointed with a wet bar, or that there's a mint on his pillow with turn down service, he needs a caring individual to feed him and let him out to potty and frolic until I get home.

The kennels where I've worked, the dogs are boarded in runs next to each other... it's likely that when you drop your dog off, you hear chaos and mayhem, but normally, the dogs are pretty mellow, unless there is activity (exercise time, or a dog is coming or going)... the exercise yards give the dogs a chance to run the fences and frolic, if they choose, and the shyer dogs are left unruffled, because they have the choice to mind their own business, without other dogs bombarding them.. these are the dogs that get a little extra attention, as well. There's been many a day that I've sat my happy butt down and had a little "happychat" with a shy or stressed dog. :)

Hope this helps.

[Judi W]

Actually, a boarding kennel can be safer for an inexperienced dog than home care. If you have a dog that just might bolt out the door looking for you and not come for a stranger...............

The boarding facilities have good fencing, double gates and responsible keepers.

[chivas]

I hate boarding kennels - no matter how good they are, they have too many problems and rules for me. (like insisting on current vaccinations and wont take titer levels). I use pet sitters and never had a problem and with a shy dog may make the dog less stressed then in a noisy kennel.
JMO, but i will never board ever again.
Kim

[mmgy]

One little note, though............I've owned quite a few dogs that wouldn't interact with dogs outside the family, and some that were quite adamant about it. However, when they went into a boarding situation and I wasn't around, they were fine.

My first dog just really didn't like any dog outside the family, yet while boarding he always let himself into kennels with other dogs. The help would find him just standing there with some lab or collie, so they had to start tying his gate shut.